So, this whole thing was inspired by the ramblings of the guys over at the RWBY subreddit discord chat. Thanks for giving me the idea guys!

Also, just as a note to avoid confusion, this is set in a 40s style AU!

Now have fun!

The day started of slow and all signs pointed to it staying like that.

Thick smoke hung in the air of the small office, coming from the ashtray on his partner's desk. Surprisingly, it has been a few weeks already since she used the last one to knock an unsatisfied customer out before throwing him through the door and onto the streets. Usually those things didn't survive two days...

The dusty old office that being a private investigator apparently brought with it had probably seen better days as well, but it had everything any serious detective needed. A coffee maker that's always empty when needed, a secret stash of whiskey in one of the file drawers and, most importantly, an old leather couch.

Even though the leather was ripped in a few places and the springs sometimes pricked him, Lie Ren couldn't help but try to claim it as his dominion as much as possible. Probably unsurprising to most, being a detective doesn't bring much sleep with it as is. But having an overactive partner didn't help at all.

Looking over to the couch, he considered to walk over and lay down, but he knew that once close to the couch, either a customer arrived, a call came in or his partner had an idea for something.

"Hey Ren, you know where I put my lighter" his partner asked, her voice sounding distressed.

"It's right in front of you Nora..." Ren replied calm, not even looking up from the old newspaper he was looking through.

Nora Valkyrie, his partner in every way of live, was without a doubt the muscle of the two. Just the sight of her bright red hair was enough for some bars to close up for the night and throw paying customers out, as they were not particularly interested in having to replace their whole furniture. Again.

"Oh" she said with a chuckle as she grabbed the small lighter, a hammer engraved in it, to light a cigarette "Right..."

After blowing out the first plume of blue smoke, she let out an relieved sigh and leaned back into her chair "I missed that..."

Raising an eyebrow, Ren looked at her for a moment "You just had one?"

"Yeah, but still!" Nora said, a grin on her face all the same.

Letting out a sigh and turning back to the newspaper, Ren noticed once again the inviting couch just a few feet away.

Even though reading the news should be part of a detectives job, Ren decided that reading a week old paper without even having a case that required it was good enough an excuse to stop than any. Therefore he now slowly stood up to walk over to the couch and just have some rest.

"Hey" Nora's voice pierced through the quiet and caused Ren to stop right in front of the object of his desire "How about we go out tonight? Have some fun?"

"Sounds good..." It didn't. All he wanted was to get some sleep.

With one final step, he reached the couch and immediately let himself fall on it, a spring pricking him in the back in the process. Even though describing the couch as comfortable would be a blatant lie, it felt like a cloud to Ren.

The moment he closed his eyes, he heard an all too familiar sound.

With a slight creak, the door to their office opened and two people stepped in.

"Damn..."

"So, what do two cops from the Vale Police Department need from some lowly PIs?" Nora asked as soon as the two potential clients were seated.

"Nora..." Ren only said to shut her up for the moment, in order not to scare them away, while he walked behind his desk and sat down as well.

Looking them up and down, he wasn't sure what the two police officers where in their office for.

They were about the same age as him and Nora, both wore the typical black uniform of the VDP including the badge and the belt over the coat that was used to attach their weapons to it, they both also seemed to be a little nervous.

The man had messy blond hair and dark blue eyes, his partner was a tall woman with red hair that she tied into a ponytail and bright green eyes.

"So... uhm... We'd like to utilize your... service to help us in a case." the scraggly man said, clearly nervous about them being in the office.

"What my partner wanted to say, was that we need you two to investigate in the machinations of two people." his partner quickly rephrased what he said and continued "The thieves and robbers that are mainly known as 'The Rose petal thieves' are wanted by order of DA Ironwood and now we hire you to find out who those two women are and who helps them."

Surprisingly, the last article that Ren read in that old newspaper currently lying on his desk was about the duo. The last coup they pulled was the robbery of a small Dustshop in another part of town. 'From Dust till Dawn' was the name and with the exception for the monetary loses, everybody involved was unharmed. From what he could tell so far, the job might turn out to be a challenge.

"The VPD is lowering itself to hire outside investigators now? Times sure are desperate..." Nora told their newest clients as she pulled out the contract from one of the file drawers.

"Hey! We are not desper-" the man shouted insulted before being silenced by an elbow to the side from his partner.

"Sure..." Nora gave them a long look as she handed them the contract "Would you kindly both sign here and there." she added in a fake sweet voice.

Both police officers hesitated before the redhead took the pen Nora held out and signed her name on the contract. Her partner followed her example and signed as well and then handed the contract back to Nora, who had already a case folder ready for it.

"Thank you, officers. We will be sure to let you know as soon as we have a lead in the case." Ren told them with a smile as he stood up and led them to the door "And don't worry about the fees, we will discuss those once the case is closed."

With a forceful push, he shoved the two out onto the streets and closed the door behind them. As soon as they were gone, he let out a groan and walked over to the drawer with their stash of whiskey.

"Officers Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos" Nora read out their names, mimicking the voices of their newest clients "Do you think they have a thing?"

"Nora..." Ren sighed as he pulled out a bottle and fetched two glasses.

"What? I can't ask the important questions?" she replied with a grin as she took one of the glasses.

A smile came to Ren now as well as he filled both their glasses with the amber drink "I'm sure they do..."

"Okay, if the Captain finds out, I'm gonna take the blame."

"Jaune"

"I mean, it was my idea after all. Well, most of it anyways."

"Jaune"

"And don't get me wrong, I don't think the Captain will have our asses if she finds out, I just want to make sure that IF we get in trouble we-"

A ligth touch on his shoulder stopped his ramble and Jaune Arc looked at his partner.

"Don't worry about it Jaune, we won't get in trouble over it." she told him with a smile "Besides, if we get in trouble, I'll go down with the ship as well. We're partners after all!"

"Well, at least it was a nice ship as long as it lasted..." Jaune muttered as he and Pyrrha walked up the stairs of the precinct.

Once they walked past the captain's office, both froze as they heard her yell their names "ARC, NIKOS! In my office!"

"We're so screwed..." Jaune muttered under his breath as he opened the door for his partner, who seemed to have lost all the color in her face.

"Could one of you two explain to me why Junior Xiong is sitting in a jail cell the second time this week?" the captain yelled at them both.

"Well, he was hindering our investigations regarding the Rose Pedal case, ma'am." Jaune answered her "Also, he insulted both of us, which warrants an ar-"

The ice cold glare the captain gave them both caused the blond to stop mid sentence. Aptly nicknamed 'Ice Queen' behind her back, the former atlesian military officer expected the same militaristic precision from her subordinates and did not tolerate slip ups.

"I assigned you this case because the DA already has my ass for not having any leads as of yet and all my other officers are either on the Torchwick case, are Port and Oobleck or on the payroll of one of the families." she told the two through gritted teeth "Lucky for me that I have two officers left that are too stupid to be bribed..."

"Hey! That only happened once!" Jaune blurted out offended, before quickly shutting up again.

"Anyway..." the captain continued after shooting another glare at the blond "I expect more results in the next week than arresting Junior Xiong yet again without a valid reason! Understood?"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha saluted "Understood!"

Though not looking satisfied at all, the captain nodded "Good. Dismissed."

"You were right... we're screwed." Pyrrha said with a sigh as they walked out the office and toward the kitchen.

"But at least we have a chance to prove ourselves now." Jaune said as he took two cups and filled them with coffee.

"Hey Jauney Boy. You dropped something." another officer told him with a smirk as he knocked the cup out of his hand.

With loud shattering, the cup burst on the ground and spread it's contents over the floor.

"You are going to clean that, right Jauney Boy?" the taller man taunted him laughing as he filled himself a cup of coffee, emptying the coffee pot "Oh, and would you be so good an make new coffee as well?"

"Very mature Cardin..." Pyrrha told the taller officer while Jaune simply began to make new coffee.

"Oh, do you need to be protected by your partner out on the field as well Jauney Boy?" Cardin taunted Pyrrha's partner, who ignored him and began to clean up the coffee that was spilled.

For a moment Pyrrha considered telling Cardin her thoughts about him, but decided not to, so he would just leave.

After kicking away a few shards of what remained of Jaune's mug, Cardin laughed and walked away again.

"Someday..." Pyrrha said, gritting her teeth, while Jaune put away the last shards of ceramic.

He then laid a hand on her shoulder and shook his head "Don't bother, it's not worth it, trust me..."

"Yeah... you're probably right."

It was a rare thing to be alone in the office, but for the cases when Nora needs to stock up on cigarettes or other things, Ren enjoyed the silence.

Surprisingly enough he managed to fall asleep in his office chair for a few moments, before the creaking of the opening door woke him again.

The characteristic sound of high heels walking over the wooden floor drew his attention however, as Nora didn't wear shoes like this.

"Good evening, what can I do for you?" Ren asked, still groggy from his short rest, while he looked the newcomer up and down.

A young woman stood in front of him, wearing a long grey coat and what he could only guess was a white business dress beneath. Over one of her eyes, the woman had an interesting scar that seemed to have come from a fight.

"I believe the better question is what I can do for you." she said nonchalant as she pulled a wallet from her purse "It's come to my attention that you were hired to track down the Rose Petal thieves?"

"That's non of your business lady..." Ren told her, now sitting upright again and watching her closely "With a job like mine discretion is important."

"Well, I came here nonetheless to make you an offer. I will pay you whatever you want in order to... let important clues disappear, if you know what I mean." the woman continued without even acknowledging his initial refusal.

"Listen lady, all I want is to keep a roof over my head, have a steady flow of customers and finally have a good nights rest-" as the last part crossed his lips he stopped and hesitated.

Nora usually woke up at 5 am and the first thing she did was wake him up as well, because of this and the fact they usually worked till past midnight, he was deprived of sleep the most days. Being in a relationship with an hyperactive woman certainly had its benefits, but this wasn't one.

"Very well then..." the woman said, a hint of disappointment in her voice "I am sorry we could not come to an agreement..."

"Wait." Ren stopped her from leaving "My girlfr- My partner usually stands up very early, causing me to miss on much needed sleep. If you... could make sure she is too tired to stand up tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. For now."

Smiling, the woman gave Ren a nod "Excellent. I do wish you a good night then."

"We'll see about that..." he muttered as the woman left the office again.

It wasn't too long after that Nora returned again.

"You won't believe what just happened!" she exclaimed exited as she burst in their office "Remember Yang Xiao Long? We went to school with her! She and her sister are in town and invited me to go out with them!"

"They did?" Ren asked surprised, before quickly adding "Uhm, I mean why are you still here then?"

"So you don't mind if I go out with them and leave you alone?" she asked surprised while she put her cigarettes in her desk.

"Don't worry, I'll close can close up shop on my own as well." he replied with a smile "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"You are the best!" Nora exclaimed exited as she gave him a peck on the cheek and left as quick as she came in.

Not too much later Ren decided it was time to close and go home. While making sure everything of value was locked away and no files were lying around openly, something occurred to him. It's a strange coincidence that their old school friend shows up and invites Nora to go out the same evening as that mysterious woman came to bribe him. Could it be that there was a connection? Maybe Yang and her sister were working for the Rose Petal thieves? Maybe they even were the Rose Petal thieves?

"It's probably just coincidence..." he said to himself as he locked the door, dismissing his earlier notion.

As soon as he came home, he fell into the bed and fell asleep, hoping that the next day wouldn't start as early as usual...