When you lived with someone you got used to them. The way they move, their voice, and their musical tastes. Their habits, ranging from the adorable (such as how Jaune always made sure to make enough coffee or tea that there was some left for Ruby), to the annoying (like how Ruby had plastered a poster of Grimm cross-sections onto the back of the toilet door) to the infuriating (like how Jaune seemed to shed hair everywhere and Ruby found herself pulling blond hairs off of her typically dark clothing).

And habits were something Jaune was musing about as he prepared to go to bed. Ruby had an hour ago when the film they were watching had finished, but Jaune had stayed up to do his emails. That was a habit of his of course, just like how leaving her light on as she fell asleep was one of Ruby's. She said the light made it easier to fall asleep, that it was a holdover from the war, sleeping huddled around campfires, or sleeping when she could in the day. Not that Jaune minded, he usually flicked her light off for her when he walked past her room, something she had said was alright. She needed the light on while she fell asleep, but once she was asleep turning it off was fine.

Except tonight, Ruby didn't seem to be fine, her usual gentle snoring was replaced by muttering and she tossed and turned. Jaune watched her for a couple of seconds before shaking himself, writing it off as just being an overly intense dream and moving to hit the light switch. Until Ruby yelled, "Leave them alone!" as her fingers scrabbled for purchase against her sheets

Ruby was dreaming of the acrid smoke and the blood-soaked battlefields of the war. The screeching of weapons and relentless Grimm and monsters who had plagued them over the course of the war, and finally of Salem and the torture she and the others had faced at her hands. The way pale fingers had ripped through flesh like tissue paper, and the burn of Cinder's fire. Of watching her friends be hurt and dying, while she was helpless to save them.

"Hey, Ruby, c'mon wake up." Jaune was yelling as he shook Ruby, concern etched over his face. He knew nightmares too well, he had suffered many of them over the years, and couldn't count the number of times he had woken drenched in sweat as someone stared at him.

"It's not real whatever - ah fuck!" Jaune reeled away from Ruby as her fist collided with his nose.

Ruby sat bolt upright in her bed, heart pounding and breathing heavily, mind racing the after images of her nightmare still flashing through it.

"You're awake thank the Gods," Jaune said as he stood back up. "You're okay wherever you saw you're fine. Whatever it was, it wasn't real. You're here you're in Vale, You're-"

"You're alive." Ruby launched herself at Jaune, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Alive. Not dead. It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare."

Jaune nodded as he sat down on the edge of Ruby's bed while she still clung to him. Her heart was racing and he could feel it through both their shirts. "I'm alive, yes," Jaune said slowly, rubbing her back in small circles like so many others had done for him during the war.

"You woke me up," Ruby said, still breathing heavily. "You're alive and you woke me up. and I punched you I'm so sorry." She pulled away from the hug to check Jaunes face where she had hit him, feeling guilty for the bruise that was already forming.

"Don't worry about that." Jaune brushed Ruby's hands away as she touched the bruising. "I'm fine. It hurts a bit, but I've had worse. Are you okay?"

"Just a nightmare, it would have passed eventually." Ruby knelt back on her sheets. "You didn't have to wake me up." She stared into space. "But thank you."

"I know what the nightmares can be like, it's no problem," Jaune said. "Are you sure you're okay, it seemed intense?"

"I've had worse." Ruby repeated his words back to him and Jaune's heart froze. The leftover mental effects of the war had been the hardest for him to deal with, and he hated to think of his friend going through what he had.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Ruby said as she wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Okay," Jaune said as he stood up. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I might not sleep tonight, but I'll be fine." Ruby fiddled with the fabric of her pyjamas. "You really aren't going to press me about it? Because Weiss did a few times and Yang and it really just -"

"Made it worse? Yeah, I understand that."Jaune said, giving her a long look. "I've had my share of nightmares, the shit I dream about, reliving it isn't any more fun than having them. I'm not going to press you about this."

"You get nightmares?" Ruby's voice sounded small. "Like you still get them?"

"I used to," Jaune said softly. "Not often these days, but I did. I can talk with you about them when you want to, but I'm not going to push you. I know that doesn't help."

"Thanks," Ruby said as she watched Jaune stand up. "Can you stay with me for a little bit? I'm sorry it's silly but -"

"It's reassuring to have someone near right? Don't worry I get it." Jaune said as he sat back down and swung his legs onto the bed. "I'll stay here as long as you need me to." Jaune watched her carefully. "If you don't want to talk about it do you want to watch a movie or something? To distract yourself?"

Ruby nodded as she reached for her scroll and tapped it a few times, activating the Light Screen projector on her dresser. "A comedy?"

"Sounds good to me." Ruby said as she settled back against Jaune's shoulder, enjoying that he was just there, and the sense of security as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder

At some point during the film Jaune dozed off and Ruby switched to reading a book, listening to the rhythmic sounds of Jaune's breathing, his occasional snoring, and the low almost imperceptible whirring of his internal prosthesis, drawing comfort from his presence. Hating how she had dragged him into helping her, but still glad that he had offered to stay with her, it helped remind her that what had happened to them was over. That Salem was gone, that they were safe, all of them were. That what had happened wasn't going to happen again.

But even though she knew that they were safe, and everything was over, it hadn't stopped for her. The things she had seen and the things she had been forced to do still haunted her, chasing themselves around her mind and setting her on edge. But at least tonight, in the aftermath of her latest nightmare there was some comfort to draw from Jaune as he snored beside her.

And for that she was thankful.

Video game tournaments were becoming a sort of tradition in the apartment. Once a week when both were in Vale, usually on a Friday, Jaune and Ruby would find a video game, often one from their childhood, and compete to see who was the best. This week the pair were playing Dust Derby (Ruby's choice), sitting cross-legged on the floor, scrolls in hand as they slung insults at each other.

"Keep up grandpa!" Ruby yelled as her character sped past Jaunes, taking the lead for the first time all evening.

"I've won every game so far," Jaune mumbled, eyes never leaving the screen as he activated a powerup, using the resulting speed boost to reclaim his lead. "You just don't learn do you, those wheels are only good on ice terrain."

"Yeah well we'll get an ice terrain soon," Ruby said as Jaune sped across the finish line for his fifth consecutive victory. "The randomiser can't hate me forever. And anyway, this was the set up that always used to beat Yang and Qrow."

"They were letting you win."

Ruby scowled at him. "They were not, I would win fair and square."

"Ruby, I know you don't understand because you are a youngest child, but we older siblings have a code, you always let the younger ones win."Jaune said. He was the third oldest of eight, well versed in keeping his youngest siblings happy, and only playing video games properly with his two oldest sisters, who knew he was well good enough to beat them even without them letting him.

"Bullshit."

"It's true, ask Yang," Jaune said as he waited for the randomiser to select the next course. "It's code, especially if they're sick.

"I don't believe you." Ruby turned her face to the screen. "And if it is true, that's kinda mean. Oh look, ice!"

"Well, you should have some experience with that." Jaune said, a sly grin on his face as he neatly dodged Ruby's elbow.

"Dick."

"Bitch."

"Bitch who is going to kick your ass!" Ruby had her eye trained on the screen as the race began, easily taking the lead in the first few seconds.

And win she did, by a landslide. As Jaune had pointed out her cart's set up was much better suited to the icy terrain and her victory had been all but assured as her cart had zipped around the track while Ruby swayed in time to the game's upbeat music.

"Yeah suck it!" Ruby dropped her scroll and jumped up for a victory dance

"Well done," Jaune said with a mock bowed after his cart crossed the finish line. "I'm gonna go make some coffee because even though I wasn't hurt, I'm exhausted from my last mission and I feel like you aren't going to want to stop playing anytime soon."

"Not really no,"Ruby said as she followed Jaune into the kitchen. "Well I do want to play more Dut Derby, but I also want to talk to you." She took a deep breath. "About the nightmare."

"You want to talk to me about the nightmare?" Jaune repeated to her slowly, paused in the middle of their kitchen, coffee pot in hand.

"Do you not want to-"

"No, I absolutely do want to talk about it if you are up to it," Jaune said as he pulled out a chair at the table. "Take a seat, where do you want to start?"

"I'm not sure how to."

Jaune thought for a minute as he busied himself with the coffee. "How about at the start, when it all began."

She took a deep breath, hand's twisting in her lap as she spoke. "I suppose about six months after the war ended. It wasn't bad at first, and I could shake them off most of the time. But they kept getting worse, and -" She choked on her words, ashamed at admitting her own weakness.

"How long has it been this bad?" Jaune asked as he sat down at the kitchen table setting mugs and the coffee pot between them. "You don't have to tell me, but I want to help."

"It's been on and off since the war," Ruby said as she stared at the coffee, refusing to meet his eyes. "It's better sometimes, usually when I'm on a mission. I think having something constructive to occupy me makes the nightmares less frequent. And Weiss was good with helping me through them."

"But you never sought help."

"How can I Jaune? I'm the hero of the war, I'm the one who stopped Salem. There is an expectation that I'm strong, that I'm better than everyone else. If I sought help for this I'd be showing everyone I was weak. I have to be stronger than this. I should be stronger than this." Ruby said frustration in her voice as her fingers traced the pattern of a knot in the table. "I am stronger than this."

"You don't always have to be strong you know that?" Jaune said as he looked at her. She looked tiny with her hunched shoulders and bowed head. "You know who told me that?"

"Everyone?" Ruby attempted to distract him with sarcasm.

"You." Jaune said. "Look at me. You told me that during the war, you told me that after Pyrrha died. Everyone told me that. Pyrrha, my parents, Ren, Nora, everyone. And honestly, you were all right. Sometimes there is strength in weakness."

"Yeah but you don't understa-"

"Yes I do." Jaune cut her off and met her eyes as she looked at him. "I spent a year and a half trying to die because I couldn't make it stop. I had - still have - nightmares, I was constantly paranoid, I was hallucinating Grimm just outside my field of vision. I had a panic attack because there were fireworks in a village I stayed in and it reminded me of having guns blasting in my ears constantly. And I'm still fucking terrified that it's all going to start again, that the war that we fought wasn't enough. But I also learned that I had to get help, and I did, I started seeing a therapist because that's what I had to do, I ended up on medication because that's the only thing that has helped me with managing the anxiety. I learned that for me there was strength in the weakness. The PTSD, it's just another fight, and it's one a lot of us are in. It's one your uncle was in and he didn't fight well. You keep trying to solve things like he did with alcohol. You might not have noticed it, but half the time your first reaction to a problem is to drink. And Yang told me you are overly cautious like he was, that you keep trying to buy Serafina weapons at to teach her how to fight. She's just a kid."

"My uncle was right!" Ruby yelled as she glared at Jaune. "He was right and everything he did protected me!"

"And it wasn't healthy," Jaune said, keeping his tone even. "He was paranoid, overly so, and his coping methods were even less healthy, and that was something you told me during the war as well." Jaune leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry, I took us off topic."

Ruby sat quietly for a moment, staring into her coffee, eyes wide with shock. "Am I really acting like my uncle?"

"Only a bit."

"But still more than I should be."

"By a long shot yeah," Jaune said before taking a deep breath. "Are you okay?"

"I hadn't realised," Ruby said. "I knew that the nightmares were bad, and the paranoia and fear were things he and Dad dealt with. That Dad was over protective because of what happened to Mum, and that Qrow drank because of the things he had seen, and because he couldn't reconcile his involvement with the maidens and Ozpin."

"But when the behaviours manifested in you, you rationalised it as coping?" Jaune said.

"Yeah. How did you?"

"It's how I rationalised my self-destructive tendencies, as being what I needed to do to make it all stop," Jaune said, running a hand through his hair. "And it took Ren and Nora telling me that what I was doing was not the best way to cope for me to get help and learn other ways to do so."

"And did it help?"

"I'm alive and inside the kingdom half the year so I guess so?" Jaune said, voice thick with emotion as he admitted things he hated telling even to himself. "Sometimes it helps even just to talk to someone about it."

"And I can talk to you?"

"If you feel comfortable doing so yes, but you might benefit more talking to a professional."

Ruby took a deep breath. "Because the thing is, I don't just dream about what happened, or imagine it happening again, I see it happening and things are so much worse. More people are dying, or being hurt. And that night I had to watch as Salem, as she lined everyone up and she killed them all in horrible, horrible ways. And I couldn't stop her. I could try and I could try but nothing I ever did was enough to save anyone. She just went down the line and she kept killing." Ruby stopped to take a deep breath. "It's a recurring one."

Silence hung between the pair as Jaune thought over what Ruby had said for a minute. "Is that the worst of them?"

"No. But I don't want to talk about them right now." Ruby said as she rested on her elbows. "I don't want to think about it anymore for a while. Talking about it takes a lot out of me."

"Do you want to play some more Dust Derby?"

Ruby gave a small smile. "Yeah. And Jaune?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

As always, shout out to Bryce, the story would not be half as good without him to bounce ideas off of.