Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.

Blake, understandably, vanished behind the door to Team RWBY's dorm room. Pyrrha didn't even flinch at the loud slamming of the door, she was so focused on the tears running down Jaune's face. She felt a pang of sadness at seeing him so distraught, but also a small amount of pity and then, jealousy. Crying wasn't something that Pyrrha Nikos did, but one of the few times she had cried, it had been because of Jaune. So now, to see him crying over Ruby, it made her realize just how strongly he must feel about her. She stood there for a second and he didn't budge, he just stared after Blake, or more likely after Ruby, and cried mostly silently. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and reached out to touch his shoulder. He jumped at the contact as if he had forgotten she was standing there.

"Jaune…?" She started quietly, afraid that she would startle him again, afraid someone might overhear and come out to see what was going on, afraid of how he might react.

"I don't get it. I just wanted to show her how I felt. I wanted everyone to know how I felt." Jaune half mumbled, his lips barely moving as he spoke. He never even turned his head to face Pyrrha but still managed to nearly answer her unasked question.

"What did you do?" She sincerely hoped that Jaune had not attempted some sort of overblown show of affection. Ruby was a quirky, loud, spontaneous girl, but she was not the kind for over the top displays of personal matters. If he had tried something huge and overt it would no doubt have embarrassed her, but that wouldn't lead to a break up would it? Ruby was a better person than that.

"I kissed her… and we fought… then she left." Jaune's voice dropped with every utterance and Pyrrha could barely make out the last phrase over the low humming of the hallway lights.

"You fought? Over a kiss?" Pyrrha was certain there was more to the story than that. She was well aware that Jaune and Ruby had had their first kiss a long while ago now so kissing shouldn't be any huge deal. Jaune would certainly not have made some sort of obscene move on Ruby. And in the hallway of all places? No that wasn't a possibility. So what in Oum's name had happened out here? Jaune finally turned to face her and his eyes seemed empty, like he was staring through her, not at her.

"I lost her Pyrrha." Jaune's voice broke again and he collapsed back into Pyrrha's shoulder, sobbing once more. He turned into her and threw his arms around her shoulders and Pyrrha felt herself grab him back and pull him into her embrace. She lifted a hand and stroked the back of his head comfortingly, trying to sooth him if even slightly. How often had she wanted to be this close to him, definitely not under these circumstances. She had never envisioned their first embrace to involve him crying over another woman, but still, here they were. Suddenly the hallway felt very open and public, the harsh yellow lighting threatening to expose her inner thoughts.

"Here Jaune, let's go back to the dorm. You need to sit down." Pyrrha pulled just far enough away to smooth his hair and gesture towards their door. Jaune nodded his head and began to trudge towards the dorm room, one slow step at a time. He reached the door and hesitated with his hand on the latch. He cast a single longing glance over his shoulder at Team RWBY's door and started to turn. Pyrrha rested her hand on his over the knob to their room. She pressed her scroll to the lock and the door swung inward. "Come on Jaune." She gestured into their empty room and he turned away from the other, still closed door and towards his own bed.

Jaune moved in and sat himself silently on the edge of his mattress. He sighed and dropped his face heavily into his hands with his elbows propped up on his knees. Pyrrha stood silently and shut the door slowly behind her self. Once it had closed, the harsh buzzing glare of the fluorescent lights gave way to the gentle warm glow of their incandescent lamps. She took a deep steadying breath and closed her eyes to center her thoughts. Jaune needed her right now, he needed a guiding hand and a friend. She had to be there for him.

"Jaune, I don't know if you're comfortable speaking with me about it. But. If you want to talk-" Pyrrha started but was cut off as Jaune jumped right in. The comfort of his bed, and perhaps the privacy of their room seemed to have helped him recover slightly.

"Is it weird to want to kiss in front of people?" Jaune raised his tear stained eyes to Pyrrha's emerald ones.

"I…" Pyrrha didn't know how to answer that, "I've never kissed anyone Jaune. I wouldn't know." She just threw it out there. She trusted Jaune, they were partners. Why shouldn't he know just how little she had experienced.

"What?" Jaune recoiled in a muted shock, surprised even through his shroud of depression. "What do you mean you've never kissed anyone?"

"I mean I've never had any sort of romantic partner Jaune." Pyrrha looked at the ground, stained and darkened at the doorway from their boots tromping over it after hard days of training. She could feel his judgment boring into her. How could she not have had any romantic partners? Was she that great that she just turned everyone down? Did she see herself as so high and mighty that no one was worth her time? That's what everyone else thought.

"But…..?" Jaune seemed at a loss for words, "How could no one have ever asked you out?" Jaune stumbled over his own words as they poured out of his mouth.

"Jaune, you're getting distracted." Pyrrha desperately wanted to get the topic off of herself and needed to find out what had happened so she could help Jaune repair his relationship with Ruby. The longer they spent talking about her, the longer Jaune spent focused on her, the less she wanted to help Ruby. But she had to. Ruby had been so amazing for her since she and Jaune had started dating. She had made every effort to tone down their affections in front of her, she had even basically apologized to Pyrrha for dating Jaune. She needed to help her now. "What happened between you and Ruby?"

"She said that she didn't want to kiss me in front of other people." Jaune's head dropped again now that they were refocused on his troubles. "Then I kissed her out there, even though no one was around… she just- she freaked out. She started getting mad and I didn't know what I did." Jaune looked out the window and Pyrrha followed his gaze to see their broken moon floating past the window. If it was on this side of the dorm building, that meant that it was nearly the end of the night already.

"She told you she was feeling uncomfortable with kissing and so you kissed her?" Pyrrha cocked her head to one side, allowing her dark red ponytail to sway over her shoulder and brush lightly against her skin. Why in the world would he jump to physical contact if she had just said she was uncomfortable with that.

"Whuh?" Jaune seemed startled out of staring at the moon despite the fact that Pyrrha had given him only a few seconds before she responded. "Uhh, no. I kissed her and then she said she was feeling weird." Jaune shook his head to try and focus his thoughts. "We were walking together around the halls, holding hands. I put my arm around her and then she went over to the window. I tried to come and hold her and she stepped away. I told her there was no one else around so we kissed but it was like I was the only one kissing so I asked her if she was okay and that's when she exploded at me." Apparently the headshaking had done its job as Pyrrha finally started getting Jaune to actually explain what had happened so she could wrangle with all the different emotions he was presenting.

"Had she ever told you that kissing made her feel uncomfortable before?" Pyrrha wanted to go sit on the bedside with him, she wanted to rest her hand on his shoulder, or his thigh and tell him it would be okay, that he and Ruby would figure it out or that he didn't need to figure it out with her. But, she kept the same distance she would have if Ruby had been right there with them and stood solemnly by the door.

"Yeah." Jaune barked. He sounded exasperated, exhausted and at his wit's end, "She told me she didn't want to kiss in front of our friends because it made her uncomfortable." Jaune threw his hands out to the sides in frustration, "But there was no one else out there so why did she freak out? I was doing what she asked. Wasn't I?"

It sounded to Pyrrha like Jaune had very much, not been doing what Ruby asked if her reaction was anything to go by. She knew that he wore his emotions right out in the open and had absolutely zero talent at subtlety. He could not pick up on signals, nor could he do anything with any amount of discretion, he always just leapt in head first and gave it his all. That overly honest, no holds barred attitude was one of the things she liked about him. You never had to worry about Jaune's intentions because he always made them very clear. And his devotion was unwavering, once he made a decision he went for it completely. So he probably thought that his physical shows of affection would prove to Ruby how much he cared.

"Did you though Jaune? What about today when you were out with Ren and Nora?" Pyrrha had the thought to glance around the room and noticed the other two still had not returned. They were most likely still out enjoying one another's company, had possibly even gotten a hotel for the night. That was good though, it meant that she and Jaune could have this discussion without interruption and without Jaune trying to hide anything from the other two. He was never dishonest, but he did get embarrassed.

"Well that's different though, isn't it?" Jaune tangled his fingers in his short blond hair and pulled hard, gritting his teeth against the pain and frustration, "That was a date. We were out on a date with them. Shouldn't I kiss my girlfriend on a date?" He stood from the bed and gestured towards her in askance, "If we were dating, wouldn't you want me to kiss you when we went out together?"

Pyrrha coughed in surprise and turned away towards the wall to hide her immediate and fierce blush. She felt her voice catch in her throat and couldn't make any sort of noise besides a strangled hacking as she tried to regulate her breathing even if somewhat. Jaune rushed forward to her when she started to choke and put a caring hand on her back. She quickly brushed him away and took a step towards the bathroom. She tried again to use words, make her opinion known but just choked on her own voice again. She settled for holding a finger up behind her to indicate she needed a moment and stepped into the bathroom.

Once the door was shut behind her she felt her throat relax at least a little. She quickly turned on the water so she could cover her coughing noises and possibly take a small drink to try and collect herself. A few seconds later and she found that she could breathe normally and possibly even speak like the highly educated, rational human she was.

"Sorry, just one moment." She called out through the door. Hoping to ease whatever worry she may have created in Jaune. She was pleasantly surprised when her voice rang loud and true enough that he undoubtedly heard her. She took just another moment to steel herself, shut the water off and returned to the room.

"Are you okay Pyrrha?" Jaune was waiting attentively by the door and had obvious concern in his eyes that had somehow overridden his feelings about what had occurred with Ruby. Pyrrha stepped past him, further into the room and towards her night stand.

"Yes I'm fine. I'm sorry I worried you. I just…" she hesitated here, she had not considered at all what she would tell him had happened since she obviously could not tell him the truth. "I just swallowed a little funny I guess. I'm very tired." She eased her hands up to her forehead and lifted her bronze tiara off her head to make a show of getting ready for bed. Jaune pulled out his scroll and sighed audibly when he checked the time.

"Oh Oum, it's so late. I shouldn't have kept you up with all of this." Jaune threw his scroll on his bedside with a humph and then collapsed alongside it, face down. Pyrrha sat gently on her own bed, facing him and crossed her hands in her lap.

"No, don't worry at all. We're partners right? Let me help you figure this out." Pyrrha tried to sound reassuring. At first Jaune didn't move and she feared he may have fallen asleep immediately but then he rolled over with a groan and slowly pulled himself to a sitting position.

"What is there to figure out? She dumped me." Jaune's voice fell back to forlorn sadness.

"She dumped you… because you kissed her too much?" Pyrrha set her tiara on her night stand and pulled further back onto her bed so that the backs of her knees were pushed against the comforter.

"That's what she said yeah," Jaune pulled himself together a little and drug his legs up onto the bed so he could sit cross legged.

"Did she say anything else?" Pyrrha was certain that Ruby wouldn't have just broken up with him over kissing. She was certain Jaune had said something else earlier but he had been rambling so much she wanted to hear him say it again now that he seemed more focused.

"Well…" Jaune scratched the back of his head in thought and mentally ran through the painful argument again in his head. "Yeah, she said that we must make other people feel uncomfortable. That everyone was still her friends and she didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable. But why would anyone be uncomfortable with us dating? I thought everyone would just be happy for us. Is there someone who wasn't happy?" Pyrrha felt her voice catch again but was better prepared this time and forced a hard cough into her hand to clear it.

"Of course not Jaune. We were all very happy for you two." Pyrrha had to physically force herself not to tear up as she told Jaune yet another lie to cover her own affections for him. She understood now what may have happened. Of course Ruby had asked him to tone down displays of physical affection. She had been worried about Pyrrha seeing them together and feeling jealous or sad about her and Jaune's relationship. Of course this was another example of Ruby putting someone else before herself. But she had let it get to the point that it drove the two of them apart? There had to be more there that Jaune hadn't picked up on.

"So why then? Why would it matter if we kissed around everyone else?" Jaune nearly had tears in his eyes again and seemed to be bordering on hysteria.

"Jaune. I think you need to talk to her." Pyrrha said softly and Jaune opened his mouth to retort but she cut him off with a simple, raised hand. "Not right now, in the morning, perhaps in the afternoon. After you have both slept and had some time to think. To clear your heads." Jaune let his hands drop and clamped his mouth shut. "But Jaune. If you want to make it work with Ruby you need to respect her desires. She doesn't want to be public with your displays of physical affection. That's all that should matter there. You two need to find a way to make that work, regardless of why it is she wants it."

Jaune dropped his eyes to the floor and seemed to steep in thought. Pyrrha watched as his usually crystal clear eyes clouded over with a mixture of fatigue and internal conflict. He looked so absolutely troubled and it hurt Pyrrha to see him in such turmoil.

"You need to rest Jaune. You aren't thinking clearly. I don't think either of you were." Pyrrha wanted some kind of response, she needed him to look up at her. He didn't.

"Yeah okay. You're right." Jaune rolled over on the bed and dropped his head to the pillow without ever lifting his gaze. Pyrrha's chest tightened, because for the first time since they became partners, she had failed to help Jaune. He was going to sleep, upset, angry and confused.

"Hey Pyrrha?" Jaune called out without moving to face her. She lurched her head up just to see the matted hair on the back of his head. "Thank you."

"Of course Jaune. What are partners for?" Pyrrha felt a single tear slip down her cheek and quickly stood and turned to the bathroom door. "I'm going to take a shower before bed." Jaune didn't respond, he just pulled the blankets over himself and tucked them into the crook between his shoulder and neck. Pyrrha reached the doorway to the bathroom and cast one last look at Jaune before flicking off the light and stepping into the bathroom.

She closed the door and quickly stirpped out of her training clothes and what little armor she wore all the way to the room. She left most of the larger pieces, her breastplate, leg guards and arm guards, even her weapons in the rocket lockers they were all provided. But, she did bring a few pieces, such as her tiara and gloves back to the dorm with her. After all the years of training, she just felt exposed without armor of any kind on.

Once she had stripped all the armor and dirty, sweat soaked clothing off and cast it aside to be dealt with later she turned the water on strong and cold. She gave it just a second before stepping in and letting the chilly water flow through her hair, over her shoulders and down her back. The exercise with Blake, the stress of finding Jaune crying and the tension of their entire conversation had left her hot and miserable. She felt like her skin was clinging to itself and like her hair hadn't been washed in weeks even though she had showered this morning as she did every morning.

After standing underneath the steady stream of water for a few moments Pyrrha reached over and turned it slightly warmer to try and help ease the stress away. The cold had woken her up and now she needed to process what she was feeling. She leaned her head back and exposed her neck to the stream, feeling the water run down her chest and wash away the day's troubles helped her focus.

Jaune and Ruby had very possibly broken up today. That was terrible. They had been so happy together and Ruby had agonized over the entire process. So, for that to come crashing down around them was just horrendous. It seemed like she and Ruby had just barely reconciled as well. They had come to terms with each other and with Ruby and Jaune's relationship. Things were beginning to settle into place with Ruby and Jaune as a couple. Just as it all started to seem normal their entire world was thrown into chaos again by all of this.

Pyrrha desperately wanted to talk with Ruby about it and see what had happened. She wanted to thank her for the concerted effort to not make Pyrrha feel uncomfortable around them but tell her it wasn't so important that it should ruin their relationship. But, it wasn't her place to confront the little brunette team leader about it. Jaune needed to talk with her and Pyrrha just had to live with what came of that.

She couldn't imagine Jaune had been forcing himself on Ruby. That seemed impossible. Jaune was not a predator in that sense. She could see though how Jaune might have missed signs that she was pulling away or that his affections embarrassed her. That was completely possible and directly in line with who she knew Jaune was. But she had explicitly mentioned it to him and he had ignored that? There must be some part of the puzzle she was missing, some item Jaune hadn't mentioned to her.

Pyrrha reached for her shower loofah and began to lather herself with soap, running the hardened sponge across her skin and scraping at the spots she knew were dirtiest. But, what was she supposed to do? Pyrrha couldn't deny how she still felt. She still had feelings for Jaune. She still regarded Ruby as an extremely close and considerate friend, someone very deserving of any help she could offer her. How was she supposed to reconcile these two desires within herself?

On one hand she knew that they made each other happy and that she wanted to see them happy. Ruby had been nothing but glorious as a friend and was a simply incredible person. How could Pyrrha betray her in any way? But Pyrrha was also loyal to her partner, her leader, the boy she was pining after. She had been more than willing to help him chase after Weiss if the opportunity for her assistance ever arose. When he had expressed desires for Ruby, Pyrrha had simply wanted to make sure that he was certain about his feelings and that it wasn't just a passing crush. Once he had explained how he felt, and Pyrrha had seen the sincerity of his emotions she had given him her full support.

But on the other hand she knew that she could also make Jaune happy if given the chance. They were partners and she was closer to him than she as with anyone else, closer than she had ever been with anyone else and she knew she would be a good fit for him. She would love to have his attentions lavished on her, it might be embarrassing at times and she would certainly blush and push away at him. But, knowing that he cared about her constantly would feel so reassuring. Pyrrha would always be there for him when he needed it as well, she already was. She was sure that if they did split, that Ruby would recover as well. They hadn't been together very long at all and it seemed like Ruby was the one who wanted to end the relationship at this point. So, it would take time for her to heal but she would. Her team was incredible, they would help her wouldn't they? And of course Pyrrha would be there to support her as well as she could.

Pyrrha slammed her fist against the shower wall in anger. How could she even think that way? How could she actually want to see Jaune and Ruby break up. They would both be devastated. They were her friends, she should want to help them. But, she wanted to help herself too.

"Pyrrha? Are you okay?" a bright bubbly voice, laced with concern, called out from the other room and Pyrrha realized Ren and Nora must have returned while she had been showering. Pyrrha cleared her throat to try and mask the emotions she was feeling.

"Oh yes, I'm alright. I didn't realize you had returned." Pyrrha gave the knobs to the water a quick twist to shut them off and stepped out into the bathroom, wrapping herself in a towel before using another to dry her hair. She picked up her scroll and checked the time, it was already past five in the morning. She must have been in the shower for nearly a half hour. She quickly gathered her armor pieces, moved her dirty clothes to the hamper and poked her head out into the room. "Nora, could you please hand me my running clothes? I forgot to bring them in with me." Nora waved happily at her and moved to the dresser.

"Are you headed out for your morning exercise now?" Ren asked from the bedside where he was removing his shoes.

"Yes," Pyrrha forced a smile, one she was all too accustomed to wearing, just usually not around her team, "Even if it's the weekend I can't slack off, even for a minute." Ren nodded his head sagely, as usual, and Nora bounced over to the door and handed Pyrrha a deep red tank top and some golden bronze running shorts. "Thank you Nora."

Pyrrha pulled her head back into the bathroom and changed into her workout attire. A run would help her clear her head. She couldn't let them know that she had been up all night with Jaune though. If they knew she had been agonizing over this they might ask what her plans were. Pyrrha had to act as if everything was normal for had pulled all nighters before, she just had to be sure not to put herself into any situation where she had to think too quickly and she would be fine.

Once her clothes were on she fastened her gloves into place and reached for her tiara which she realized was still on the night stand. She breathed deeply to try and steady herself. For now, she would just do nothing. If she did nothing then she wouldn't risk doing the wrong thing and letting her own emotions influence Jaune and Ruby's relationship. There was a word for doing nothing but she couldn't drudge it out of her memory at this point in time. She shook her head and slapped both cheeks to bring a little color into them, and avoid looking like the walking dead zombie she knew she was at this point, and then stepped into the dorm to greet her teammates and the new day.

A/N - Goood morning! Who else went to the Volume 2 screening last night? Wasn't that fun! I really loved the bonus episode of Chibi and Cabose's lesson on makings friends. Rooster Teeth does a great job with these Tugg events. I hope everyone who went had as good of a time as I did.

Are you guys getting a little more feel for how the story will bounce around between perspectives now? I know it stayed heavily on Jaune and Ruby for the start but now we have been inside a few other character's heads as well. Like i've said this story is really rather long and so there will be lots more jumping going on, lots of new perspectives and you'll get a chance to see most everyone's take on most things that happen.

Thanks for keeping up and reading along through this story. I am loving hearing from you all as you go, the good and the bad. Ruby and Jaune's "Little Talk" got a lot of mixed opinions. Ruby's talk with her team seemed to quell some of the worries about what I was doing. Hopefully Jaune and Pyrrha's talk does the same. Please let me know what you think. I love talking to you all.

I also wanted to give a shout out to user ZHsteven who took the time to go through and read and review every single chapter of this story. It was so great to see someone move through the story and watch their mood change and shift with story over the course of an afternoon. Thanks for doing that.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading so far. Big things coming this weekend.

-Zach