Hello again! In with another chapter of Blake & Jaune's Infinite Playlist, and man, this one was a bitch to write. It just did not want to be written. So here is this train wreck of a chapter, and while it certainly still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I hope you guys like it more than I do. PLEASE leave criticism; I'd love to hear it all.

Oh, and just so we're clear, I changed the chapter titles. I initially had this grand idea to have all the titles be questions, but that got stupid real fast. So they're all song titles now! Of course, in relevance to the chapter theme, because if it was just any old song that would be stupid, too. "Young Journey" from Ch 1 is by Moon Taxi (such a lovely song) and "Get Away" from Ch 2 was recently released by one of my all-time fav bands, CHVRCHES.

This chapter's song is "Settle Down" by The 1975, another of my favorites. Come to think of it, Kimbra has a song called "Settle Down", too... oh well. Go listen to them all.

Beta: Maxaro. Yes, dragons are awesome... I'm actually not sure what you meant by that.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Settle Down

"W-Weiss?" stammered Jaune. "W-what are you doing here?"

Weiss frowned. "I'm here to see your show, you dolt! You didn't think I was going to miss it for the world, did you?" she said sweetly.

Too sweetly, thought Blake, shivering as she felt a nauseating wave wash over her. This was Weiss's Jaune? I can't believe I got nervous talking to Weiss's sloppy seconds- no, wait, I didn't get nervous, I was just caught off-guard. Off-guard. Right. Not nervous. She looked back at Jaune, who looked like he was about to fall over again. Poor guy. No wonder he's such a mess.

Jaune struggled to find words. "Well, uh, right. I'm glad." He shuffled in his seat. "Did you, uh… did you ever get my calls? I called you, like, four times-" (remember kids, it was five. Jaune's in denial) "- but you never responded."

Weiss smiled sheepishly and looked at the floor. "I did. I just thought it would be better if I could talk to you face-to-face."

Bullshit, thought Blake darkly. Meanwhile, the inebriated Yang had a look of utter confusion on her face, still trying to connect the dots of how Jaune and Weiss knew each other.

Weiss looked between Blake, and Yang, and addressed the elephant in the room. "So how do you guys know Jaune?"

"We just met," said Blake bluntly, and Yang nodded vigorously, trying not to fall behind in conversation.

"Oh," said Weiss flippantly. "Didn't make you out to be the 'meeting people' type."

Blake glowered in return, but before she could say anything she regretted, a friendly voice reached the group.

"There you are!" A charming, well-dressed man with blue hair emerged from the sea of people. "I've been looking all over for you, Weiss," He reached over to hug the white-haired girl.

"Not now, Neptune, I'm busy," she snapped, wriggling out of his grasp.

Neptune looked disheartened for a split instant, then immediately grinned at the rest of the group.

"Well, you haven't introduced me to any of your friends, Weiss. They seem like really cool people! I'm Neptune." He lazily extended a hand towards Jaune.

The blonde boy stared at the hand, but didn't make a move to take it.

"Uh…" Neptune glanced nervously at Weiss, who threw him a condescending glare.

Yang took this moment of uncertainty as an opportunity to reinsert herself into relevance. "Pleased to meet ya! My name is Yang!" she beamed, and shook Neptune's outstretched hand rather violently, effectively rattling the boy inside and out.

"You too…" murmured the poor boy in a daze.

Blake stepped away from the situation for a brief moment to gather her wits; with each additional person, she had felt increasingly unnerved, especially considering that one had completely made her lose her cool by just falling into her arms and one other she loathed completely. As her nerves gradually calmed, she spotted the remaining members of The Juniperberries, along with an unfamiliar lady with majestic red hair approaching them. The one called Nora stopped dead in her tracks, and her usually cheery demeanor drastically shifted to serious at the sight of Weiss.

"JAUNE!" The boy looked up to see a flash of ginger hair dashing up to the group. "Looks like you made some friends!" exclaimed Nora. She turned to glare suspiciously at the white-haired girl. "And then some."

Weiss hmphed smugly. "Good to see you too, Nora." As the dark-haired boy and the red-haired stranger met up with the rest of the group, Weiss added coolly, "And you Ren."

Ren hummed in response, the expression on his face mirroring Nora's.

Yang, in her infinite wisdom and timing, once again chimed in. "Well, hello! You guys must be friends with Jaune here!"

"Considering that we played together on stage a while ago, I'd say that's plausible," deadpanned Ren, whose attention still rested on the girl in white. His sarcasm, however, seemed to fly right over Yang's intoxicated head.

"How wonderful! My name's Yang and this is my really really-"

"I'm Blake."

"Dammit Blake, you messed up my line!"

Ren and Nora finally regarded the odd pair. "Well met," greeted Ren.

"Sorry, you guys might have come in at a bad time," said Nora apologetically. "Although I guess you can't be blamed. We didn't know that she at was gonna be here." Nora gave a sideways scowl towards Weiss, who narrowed her eyes.

"Nora, please. Let's not do this here," pleaded Jaune weakly, and in the background, Weiss smirked complacently.

Nora gave a sigh. "Sorry Jaune. I lost my cool." She turned back to Blake, and offered a smile. "So, what were you guys and Jaune talking about?"

Blake looked at Yang, then back at Nora and took a deep breath. "We, uh, we just heard that you guys were heading towards the Casey show and, well, we don't really have any clue where they would be playing…"

"I told them to talk to you," added Jaune.

Nora peered thoughtfully at Blake before brightening considerably. "Neither do we, but we can find out together, if you'd like! The more the merrier!" she declared happily.

Blake smiled appreciatively, and Yang threw her fist in the air, proclaiming, "New friends on the search for the most mysterious band in the world? I predict the best night ever!"

Weiss turned to Jaune and touched his shoulder tenderly. "We're actually going to see Casey as well. Can we ride along?"

Jaune hesitated. "Uh… well, I guess I-"

"Sorry, we agreed to take Jauney out to have fun tonight," Nora intervened, regarding Weiss coolly. "A promise is a promise, and frankly we don't have any more room in the van for you. So why don't you go on with pretty boy over there?" She motioned towards the blue-haired boy, who looked hurt at the comment.

Weiss crossed her arms. "Fine," she replied shortly. "We'll see each other at the show anyway." Her hand lingered for a moment on Jaune's shoulder before it slid off ever so delicately. "Bye Jaune."

Jaune's eyes intently trailed the girl's slender form as she turned on her heel and strode away in a deliberate fashion. "Let's go, Neptune," she called.

Neptune looked between the group, then Weiss, then back again. "It was nice meeting all of you," he blurted, before running off towards the girl in white.

Blake let out a breath that she didn't even know she'd been holding in. Beside her, she heard dark mutterings.

"You know, I could've taken her in my car," scowled Jaune.

Blake stared at him. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Jaune shot her a glare that caught her by surprise. "What's it to you?"

His angry gaze made Blake extremely uncomfortable, and she quickly looked away without responding.

Nora took over. "Jauney, it's for the better, okay? She doesn't care about you. The girl's hurt you in the past, you don't need that shit in your life."

"Look, she came over and talked to me, okay? She cared enough to come to the show and talk to me. Maybe it's not much, but you had to come over here and break us apart. What gave you the right to do that, huh?" Jaune turned and slammed the rest of his drink.

Nora put her hand on his shoulder. "Jauney, I'm not trying to fight you. I'm just… I'm just saying that you should just take today for just yourself before you decide if you wanna try to… uh… get back with that bit- I mean, Weiss."

Jaune did not respond. All was restlessly quiet for a while as the white noise of the bar droned in the background.

Until Yang yawned. "So are we gonna find us some fuckin' Casey or what?" She stretched her arms then jumped out of her seat. "Let's get going! Time's a wastin'!"

Slowly, Jaune turned. "Sure. Blondie's got a point. Let's go."

"You're blonde too, dipshit," Yang grumbled, and Blake snickered.

Nora's somber expression turned to relief as she cheered. "YAAAAYYYYYY! We're gonna find us some Casey tonight!"

The rest nodded in silent agreement, and slowly but steadily the motley crew headed out.

As they reached the van, Ren unlocked the doors, and Blake and Yang graciously thanked him before climbing inside. Nora, however, paused abruptly by the door. "Oh, before I forget, you don't have to worry about playing that drum machine anymore. We found a drummer!" Nora motioned exuberantly towards the red-haired stranger. "This is Pyrrha!"

The girl waved politely. "Hello!" she smiled warmly. "I saw you guys play earlier and I loved your music! I just thought I would volunteer myself as a drummer if the drum machine didn't work out for you."

Jaune looked her straight in the eye, unimpressed. "Do you even play?"

"Rude," Blake murmured, not checking to see if the blonde boy heard her.

Luckily, Pyrrha took the backhanded question in stride. "I do, as a matter of fact! I played jazz in college, but I've dabbled in just about anything, really."

Jaune nodded. "Forgive me if I don't trust these guys' judgment calls," he replied, pointing at a pouting Nora and shrugging Ren. "They haven't given me much to work with."

Pyrrha giggled. "I understand."

Ren added, "We thought that if we took Pyrrha along with us tonight, we could really find out if she's a match for the band."

"Good to see you found room for her and not Weiss," scoffed Jaune. He suddenly shook his head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have. Let's just go. I'll take my own car."

Ren frowned. "You sure? The van's not small, you know."

"I'm sure." Jaune walked off in the opposite direction towards his car.

From inside the van, Yang called out, "You shouldn't let him go all by himself, y'know! He should have some company… like Blakey over here!" and slyly pushed the startled faunus girl back out of the van.

"W-what? N-n-no, he doesn't need to- I mean, I don't, uh- I can stay here!" Blake protested as tried to scramble back in the van with little success against Yang's unwavering resistance.

"Nonsense! I'm sure the both of you could enjoy some quality time together!" Yang proclaimed with a wide grin.

Nora seemed slightly confused, but Ren nodded. "It would be useful if we split in groups. Finding Casey could get a bit easier that way."

"That makes sense!" Nora was on board immediately.

Blake felt her stomach sink. "But… but I- I should take care of Yang!"

Nora beamed. "Don't worry about your friend. We'll take care of her, don't you worry!" She leaned in close. "Also, it would do Jauney some good to have company, and you seem like a nice person. I'm sorry if he kinda gave off a bad vibe, but I promise he's a great guy, and he could use friend."

Blake's eyes narrowed. "Well, then why don't you or Ren go?"

"Well, Ren's driving the van, so I should stay back to keep an eye on Yang as well as get our new drummer familiar with us!"

The redhead waved. "Hello again!"

Nora turned back to Blake. "Please? I swear, Jauney's not as insensitive as he lets on. He just needs a little TLC, that's all."

Blake looked pleadingly at Yang, then Ren, then Pyrrha, then looked back at Nora. She sighed deeply and shoved the sinking feeling back down her throat. "Fine. But this can only end badly…" she muttered. Turning back to Yang, she asked, "You sure you'll be okay?"

Yang grinned brightly and slumped in her seat. "I'm a big girl. Don't be so worried. You go have fun."

As the rest of passengers loaded the van, Ren turned to Blake. "Remember to call Yang or get Jaune to call if you find any signs of Casey."

Blake nodded faintly. "I will." Then, preparing herself for the worst, she walked reluctantly towards the Crown Victoria.

"Hey."

Jaune looked out from the driver's seat to see the girl with the bow in her hair walking up to the car.

"What are you doing here?"

The girl looked uneasy as her eyes darted and avoided Jaune's. "The others said we should separate into groups to look for Casey. It'll be a little easier that way."

Jaune shrugged indifferently. "Tell them-" He heard a hum of a familiar engine and looked up to see the van drifting out of his field of view. Nora waved emphatically at Blake and Jaune from the passenger window and soon the vehicle disappeared with the brief honking of Tchaikovsky.

Sighing, Jaune unlocked his doors. "Get in. Blake, right?"

"Yeah." The girl gave a brief smile and walked to the passenger side before entering.

An awkward silence washed over the car as Jaune pulled off the side of the curb and started driving. He reached over to play CD, which Blake attentively noticed had the words "The Closure Tapes, Pt 9" written carefully in sharpie. After a brief pause, the CD began to play a Casey and the Red Rosies song, and the atmosphere in the car became a little more bearable.

They drove around the city for a spell, neither quite willing to initiate conversation. Street lights washed over the car one after the other as the car moved deeper into the heart of Vale. The city was especially bustling tonight, and the ambiance of it all blurred past the Crown Victoria in waves of people, colors, and just a hint of a collective euphoria.

Blake drew her eyes away from the window and its kaleidoscope theater to observe the boy she'd been forced to ride with. He still seemed as distracted as ever, although Blake figured it was not by the bright lights or the search for Casey. His hands clutched tightly at the steering wheel, and the expression on his face was one of unrest.

The dark-haired girl fidgeted anxiously. She refused to be held captive by Jaune's brooding mood. Steeling her nerves to engage in social interaction, she desperately grasped at any small talk she could rack up.

"I… uh, I really like your music," she tried.

"Mmmm," hummed the boy in response.

Dammit. He's not giving me much to work on. Nevertheless, she pushed on.

"I meant like your taste in music. You've got a really great mixtape, I'm really digging this. N-not to say that I didn't like the music you played at the bar! That was pretty good too…" Blake bit her lip in frustration. Why am I so nervous? Is he just that off-putting or am I just this bad at conversation?

Jaune smirked ever so slightly. "Thank you. I feel like you're sugarcoating it a bit; I did flub on that stupid-ass drum toy."

Blake returned the smile, reveling in the possibility that the conversation might not crash and burn. "No band should have that… thing… as a drummer. It's not a great image to project."

"You can say that again," chuckled Jaune. Another good sign.

This isn't going so bad, thought Blake, relief bubbling in her chest. "But seriously, I really do love this mixtape, especially that one Casey song. Casey and the Red Rosies has to be one of my favorite bands. Ever."

"They're one of my favorites, too. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to seeing them tonight."

"Me too, actually. If we get to see them."

"Yeah. I might have a few ideas on where they could be hiding some clues, though." A pause. "Which song's your favorite?" inquired Jaune.

"Oh… God." Blake thought for a moment, and replied, "I wanna say 'From Shadows'."

The boy's eyebrow lifted. "Really? That's one of their more obscure ones. But good choice." He pondered a moment. "Mine has to be 'Shine'. It's a great dancing song."

"You dance? Really?"

"A bit. Living with seven sisters does that to you."

"I've got to see this dancing one of these days. It is a really good song, though."

Jaune gave her a sad smile. "It's funny. It's my favorite song, but it's got that first line, right? 'Baby, it's time to make up your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind'," he sang softly. "Seems really ironic now, since I can't seem to make up my mind about… well, recent things."

A momentary, mirthless quiet.

Blake, in sympathy, gave him a small smile. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Shoot."

"What do you see in Weiss?"

She saw the boy stiffen and almost panicked, wondering if she had said too much. Then, his shoulders slowly relaxed, and he heaved a great sigh.

"Can I ask how you know her?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine. I've been with her a while, and maybe she might seem cold and bitchy at first, but deep down, she's a really nice person. She helped get the band where we are now, she stuck with me through some really shitty times, and she even made me get my shit together when I felt like giving up. So, sorry if my idea of what kind of a person she is doesn't match up with yours, but it's the goddamn truth." Jaune's words were not without ire.

Blake wanted to point out how Weiss left him in such a miserable state, how she didn't answer his calls, he she had moved on easily as he had remained stuck in time. But she realized it wouldn't be tactful of her, and perhaps he wouldn't be willing to listen to her reasoning. Maybe not yet, anyway.

So instead, she nodded. "I wish that was the Weiss I knew, because she's never seemed like that for the time I knew her. We went to high school together, and somehow we managed to stick together past then even though I… well, I sort of hate her guts, especially since she's always been a bit discriminatory to my kind."

Jaune cocked his head. "Your kind?"

"Oh, right!" Blake unraveled her bow, and the uncovered cat ears twitched. "I'm a faunus." She then anxiously tied the bow back up, surprised by her own actions. Did I just reveal to him my ears? Do I really trust Jaune that much?

Jaune chuckled. "They're kinda cute. Why do you hide it?"

"Well…" Blake felt her face flush, and she looked towards her feet. Cute!? Really? "Being a faunus isn't the greatest social status a person could have, considering the politics and whatnot. Quite a bit of people still remain very bigoted about the whole issue, and it's infuriating."

"I understand completely." His expression turned pained. "Weiss said bad things about the faunus? That… I can't even imagine her saying anything that shitty. Did I really have the wrong idea about her…? Even after all these years? That can't be right! It just… I don't wanna believe it…" The blonde boy slumped back in his seat.

"We're all a little wrong about things sometimes," said Blake reassuringly. Like my first impression of you. Then, more hesitantly, she asked, "But you're completely okay with my real identity? When people find out I'm hiding who I am, they usually get really agitated … among other things."

"Why wouldn't I be? That's stupid." Jaune honked the driver in front of him, who was on his phone. "Those people who give you shit for being you are morons."

Blake smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate that."

Jaune returned it. "No prob-"

The car suddenly braked as a very drunk couple – the man with bright orange hair topped with a bowler hat and the woman with amber eyes and a stunning red dress – stepped clumsily in front of the vehicle's intended path.

Jaune and Blake looked at each other in shock, before returning their attention to the man banging his fist on the hood of the Crown Victoria.

"What the hell, man?" exclaimed Jaune.

"Jesus, taxi, we almost missed ya there," jeered the man, and lethargically led the lady to the right side of the car.

"Not a taxi," Jaune retorted, which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

"Yeah yeah, shut the fuck up." The man went to open the door before Jaune could react, and his lady friend slipped in to the backseat, followed by the man himself , obnoxiously slamming the door shut. "Junior's on 10th and Duquette, please."

"Not a fucking tax- oh for fuck's sake!" Jaune's rear view mirror gave him a front-row seat on the drunk couple as they began to make out like live fish on a chopping board.

Blake half-snickered, half-cringed, simultaneously amused at Jaune's fuming and repulsed by the couple's very loud and increasingly inappropriate tangle of limbs. "So, I guess we're going to 10th and Duquette, then?"

Jaune grumbled. "10th and Duquette." And with a lurch, the Crown Victoria set off once more.

I'm teasing ships already. Hehe. Where's that iceberg when you need it?

This part of the movie when Nick and Norah are in the Yugo is one of my least favorite scenes in the whole thing (my stomach's not great, so you can guess what my absolute least favorite scene is). I rewrote things a bit so that the conversation wasn't, again, petty, and nor were the characters completely unreasonable, either. Whether that worked or not... I guess is up to you, the reader.

Oh, and I suppose that Roman and Cinder cameo should be acknowledged. Get a room, you two.

I'm so glad that this chapter is done. Now I can get to the meat and potatoes of the story... or better yet, my other project, Ten Little Hunters. It's already a blast writing that one, so go check out the riddle that I've already posted in my stories!

Until next time, you lovely, lovely people!