I don't own anything.

"Where are you off to?"

I looked up from where I was clipping Crocea Mors back to my belt, meeting Pyrrha's eyes from across the training room.

"VLYR's room. Ruby wanted to try out that new fighting game."

"Oh." The redhead didn't look all that enthusiastic about it, but her smile quickly reappeared. "Well, have fun."

Even as she said it, I could tell that something was still off. I didn't exactly want to leave her here to stew alone if something was wrong. But then again, I couldn't very well force her to come along, especially since I knew that Pyrrha wasn't the biggest gamer. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Want to come along?"

The way the question made her perk up was more than enough proof that I'd done the right thing.

It didn't take us very long to grab our stuff, shower, change and arrive at VLYR's room, where, after a quick knock, Yang opened the door for us.

"Rubes, Jaune and Pyrrha are here!"

"Great! Come on in."

The pair of us smiled as we walked into the room, and I had to marvel at the bunkbeds they had created once again. It was honestly a miracle that they hadn't collapsed during the night and crushed one of the prospective hunters, considering how rickety it all looked.

Unstable sleeping arrangements aside, I turned to Ruby, who was sitting on the floor with a couple of controllers arrayed around her and her scroll leaning against the wall in its enlarged state.

"I only have two controllers, but we can take turns!"

"Sure!"

I plopped down onto the floor next to her and grabbed one of the controllers. Pyrrha, on the other hand, just kind of stood there for a second. I was about to call out to her, but it wasn't necessary, as she lowered herself down onto the ground next to me, sitting cross legged.

"Here, you can have the first round."

I handed my controller over to my partner, gesturing for her to pick a character. She quickly selected Luke, who was one of the recurring characters between the Street Fighter games and rather beginner friendly. As the first game started, though, I could immediately tell that Pyrrha had no idea what she was doing.

So, I tried to give her some advice. Only, well, I wasn't very good at fighting games either.

"You can counter her throws by throwing her at the same time."

"How do I throw?"

"Press light punch and light kick at the same time!"

I frantically waved at the screen as Ruby brought her character's aura bar to zero once again, putting her at match point. Pyrrha, getting the hang of the controls, began to do a little better in the last round, but she still lost quite handily to the little reaper.

Then it was my turn, and I didn't fare much better than my partner. Ruby was a monster at the game, and I could barely do any damage to her before she managed to catch me in a combo that would more often than not leave me with virtually no aura. It was honestly a little frustrating how easy it was for the younger girl to dismantle both myself and Pyrrha in the game.

"Maybe you two should play a round against each other?"

It wasn't a bad suggestion, since the difference between Pyrrha and myself was probably still smaller than that between Ruby and myself, even if the redhead had only just picked the game up. Glancing at my partner, I could tell that the idea appealed to her. So, I gave her a grin.

"Ready to lose partner?"

"You're on."

The match was longer, neither of us really knowing how to do any of the combos that had allowed Ruby to knock us out of the games so quickly. Instead, we sat there and just kind of whaled on one another, failing our parries and counters more often than not. It would have been embarrassing to lose rounds to someone so inexperienced with gaming, if the girl wasn't having so much fun with it.

It was honestly heartening to see the carefree smile on Pyrrha's face as we duked it out on the screen.

And then I lost.

"What? How? I parried that!"

"What was that 'partner'? I can't hear you from way up here on the podium."

I looked at the redhead with narrowed eyes. For a moment, I considered my options. I could ask her for a rematch, but giving Pyrrha more time to familiarize herself with the game seemed like a bad idea. The other, well, it was a lot more childish. But then again, when had I ever been called mature.

I lunged.

Pyrrha and I wrestled on the floor like a bunch of idiots. I was stronger, but she was more skilled. And yet, neither of us was really able to get the other in a hold. We were too busy laughing.

"DOGPILE!"

And just like that, both Ruby and Yang joined in, laughing all the while.

I flopped onto my bed bonelessly. "I'm beat."

Classes had been brutal. I hadn't even had to spar in combat class, but Oobleck more than made up for it with the sheer amount of info he could pump into a double period.

"Hnnn."

I wasn't the only one who was tired, though. It had been Blake's turn to patrol with me the day before, and it showed. She was paler than usual and had dark bags under her eyes that were impossible to miss.

"Well, I for one, am going to get a head start on the essay Dr. Oobleck assigned."

Two guesses who said that, and the first two don't count.

"Do you want to come with me, Pyrrha?"

The redhead looked at her own bed longingly, but discipline won out in the end and she nodded.

"Sure, let me grab my bag."

"See you later!" I waved at them as they made their way out of the dorm, and I turned back to my girlfriend, who was lying face down on her own bed. For a moment, I thought she had already fallen asleep, but I was proven wrong a moment later.

"Jaune?"

"Yeah."

"Come over here for a second."

Rolling off the bed, I made my way over to her, and as I got closed, she rolled over and stuck her arms out.

"Hold me?"

"Gladly." I smiled at her, slipping out of my shoes as I got up onto her bed and crawled into the bed with her. I could feel my heart pounding as butterflies raged through my guts. Sure, we had kissed before, and it got pretty heated whenever we did so, but sleeping together, even if we had our clothes on was something else entirely.

Vanilla and wildflowers entered my nose as I settled my arms around her, and I relished in the heat she radiated.

For a moment, she turned her head towards me, and the taste of strawberries lingered on my lips when she drew away. I wasn't left disappointed for long, though, as Blake twisted in my arms to face me, rolling us over so she was on top of me. She brought her lips down to my own again, and we stayed like that for a while. Languishing in one another's company as we shared kisses every couple of moments.

Just for a little while, none of the tension that had seemed to hang over the two of us existed. We could just be boyfriend and girlfriend, cuddling up on a lazy afternoon. Not a team leader and his stubborn teammate clashing over a difference in approach to a terrorist organisation of all things.

After a while, though, our exhaustion caught up to us, and Blake settled on top of me, her head resting on my chest and the tips of her furry ears brushing against my chin. The scent of wildflowers and vanilla was overwhelming now, and for the first time in months, I drifted off into sleep.

We had been so caught up in one another, however, that we never noticed how the door to the dorm had opened just a crack some time ago. We never noticed the pained emerald eyes that looked through that crack either.

Pyrrha POV

As we walked towards the library, I felt around in my backpack for my scroll.

"Hey, I think I forgot my scroll in the dorm."

"Hmm? It's fine, we can just use mine to look up the online resources."

"I would still rather have it with me."

And I would, the people who had access to my scroll's number were few and far between, but those who did have that access meant a lot to me. The thought of those few loved ones and friends being unable to reach me if they needed something made my heart clench uncomfortably.

"Can I borrow yours to open the door, I don't want to knock and wake Blake."

Weiss let out a sigh. "Alright, but hurry back."

She handed me her scroll, and I quickly began my trek back to the dorm. I made it back in record time, scanning Weiss' scroll to the keypad. The door cracked open with its usual quiet click. What wasn't usual, were the sounds coming from the room.

"Mhhhm~"

I felt a pit opening in my stomach, the void growing with every heavy breath, every moan or grunt that sounded out from the room. Did I risk taking a look? Maybe it was nothing, some part of me whispered, denying the reality that I might just face if I peeked into the room.

'Don't kid yourself.' Some other, more realistic part of me insisted. 'You know exactly what's going on in there.'

Did I? All I had to do was take a look, and I wouldn't be left wondering. Surely it was better to know than to stick my head in the sand.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I had pulled at the door lightly and peeked through the crack, and I immediately wished I hadn't.

Jaune wasn't on his own bed. No, he was lying on Blake's. And Blake, well, she wasn't lying on her bed either. No, she was lying on Jaune. She straddled his lap. Her hips over his and her legs on either side of him. My eyes involuntarily followed the curve of her arched back, where Jaune's hands roamed freely, messing up the white dress shirt of her uniform.

Even further up, my eyes landed on their heads. The sight made the yawning pit in my stomach open up so wide that it felt like it would swallow me whole. I felt like dropping right to the floor and crying.

They were kissing. No, that was too tame a word. They were making out with each other. Jaune was leaning forward, pushing off the bed a little to push into the girl sitting atop him further. Blake, on the other hand, had her hands buried in his hair, running them through the soft, blonde locks as she pulled his face to hers.

I couldn't breathe.

The image was burned into my memory forever now. I don't think I could forget it even if I wanted to. And oh, how I wanted to. Looking at it hurt, it turned the void that had formed in my gut into a raging inferno. Just as hollow as before, but now it hurt, burned as well.

'Why couldn't that be me?'

I recognized the feeling as jealousy. It wasn't a foreign feeling. Every time I had seen people hanging out at Sanctum, I had felt it. Every time I saw people relaxing with friends, people who cared not a bit for what the other was, only who. But never before had I felt it burn quite this hard.

I distantly noted the wetness on my cheek and the fact that my breathing had grown heavy, but none of it seemed real to me.

Without another thought, I turned away from the dorm and began walking. No one met me in the hall as my feet carried me through the school. I finally stopped at a closed door. It was the music room.

I sat down on the stool where Jaune had played his music.

No one heard the sobs.

Wow, this became a lot more emotional than I had planned. To be honest, the original plan was for Weiss to stumble across them, but this somehow felt better.

Also, I think Terracotta Tortilla had an amazing take on the whole situation with Jaune and his interactions with Yang and Weiss in the last chapter. He isn't simping at all, he has a shitty nickname from a friend and Weiss and him banter back and forth all the time. She's also exhausted, so he's cutting her some more slack that he usually would. Not every little barb and jab from friends is an insult to your character that you need to attack them over. Relax a little.

Anyways, I did a little experiment with the dialogue here. I didn't include a single he said, she said or any variation thereof in the chapter, despite it being relatively dialogue heavy. I did it mostly to see how distinct my characters are, and how clear my dialogue is. So, let me know if you had any trouble telling who said what.

Have a good one!

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