If you asked Fox what was so great about karaoke, he would tell you that it was only fun if you already knew the lyrics (he would be right, only under very specific circumstances). If you asked Weiss what was so great about karaoke, she would tell you nothing, what a ridiculous pastime, and how dare you suggest she would take part in such a thing (she would be wrong, and also lying).

If you asked Ruby what was so great about karaoke, she would tell that you could be anyone when you sang – you could be the real singer, you could be a stage persona, you could be no one in particular. But the best part was, you didn't have to be yourself (she would be right).

There was something incredibly liberating about karaoke, about being able to sing your heart out and not give a damn about who judged you for it. If fortune favoured the brave, then karaoke formed the fearless.

Ruby had grown up with the mic in her hand, endless fond memories of a worn, old couch, an outdated tv with a cracked casing, and sweaty palms around a mic that was used for hours on end. Duets with her sister, angsty refrains on the tough days of teenagehood, sassy songs sung to her father and uncle – when he was foolish enough to set foot anywhere near the den. Every kind of genre and voice had been mimicked in their small home, words bouncing off the walls and characteristic instrumental renditions echoing down the halls.

To say the least, karaoke was special to Ruby.

Of course, part of it lay in the fact that with karaoke, you could be anyone – and for a kid with a heck of a lot of social anxiety in her earlier school days, that meant a lot – and could therefore sing your heart out whether you were nailing the high notes or not. It was like singing in the shower, but with less judgment from the rest of the household; karaoke was a shield, a reason to screech and crack and butcher the everloving soul out of some classic tunes.

So, it was pretty easy to understand why, despite the unfamiliar arcade and the only-slightly-familiar woman at her side, the comforting habits of karaoke set Ruby in her right to make it through their daunting task. They sailed through Spice Girls, stumbled on Shrek, and made it most of the way through Abba, before Ruby's anxiety caught up with her and pointed out the growing crowd around them.

Then Weiss stepped in, and pulled them through to the final round.

The final round being, of course, even more terrifying than the previous ones put together – mostly due to the thinly veiled threat in Fox's grin.

"Just in case you haven't murdered the word from overuse yet," the blind man began, "would you like to ask each other about your preparedness, yet again?"

Weiss rolled her eyes; Ruby scoffed, genuinely offended.

"Hey!" she shot back, pointing a menacing finger that, similar to every other physical gesture, had absolutely no purpose, "don't insult the 'ready' tradition!"

Fox feigned shock, reeling back and placing a hand dramatically against his chest.

"I would never," he gasped, Yatsuhashi now joining Weiss in impersonating the 'wheels on the bus' song with his eyeballs, "I was just making sure that there was absolutely no doubt left in any of your atoms, because I assume you're down to that level of clarification."

Ruby muttered something rude under her breath as she sank back into the cushions, causing Fox to give her a half-grin in return.

"If it makes you feel any better, Rose, I would have made fun of any catchphrase either of you created."

"Astonishing reassurance, thank you, Fox."

"No payment needed. Although–"

Mid sentence, Fox held up his hand, revealing their last lien, clutched between his finger and thumb.

"You'll need some kind of payment to finish your challenge."

Both women began to groan, but he cut them off before they could finish with a single action. A shift in his grip, and suddenly, one coin became two.

Ruby's brow furrowed, the girl sitting up to lean closer as she spoke in confusion.

"I thought we only had one coin left," she said, "after all, didn't I waste our spare on one of the greatest musical achievements of all time?"

"For the last time," Fox grumbled, frowning to the side in clear disgruntlement, "the Shrek soundtrack does not, and will never qualify as a musical phenomenon."

"Says you," came the snarky reply, steamrolled completely by Fox's voice picking up in volume.

"It is an insult to anyone with perfect pitch," he explained flatly, before smiling wilily, "and I, in case you've forgotten, have that exact talent, and will be using it to judge your final performance tonight."

"If it's our final performance," Weiss interjected, finally deciding that her presence was required to move the conversation past petty comebacks, "then why are you holding up both coins so gleefully?"

"Ah," Fox stretched out the sound haughtily, "that would be because thanks to a recent development, there has been a change for the last challenge."

White and brown eyebrows perked at the sudden introduction.

"To make a complicated story short," Fox continued on, "and not bore you with the details, I found this lien after wondering what exactly was sticking into my side for the past two and a half songs. Honestly, I thought Yatsuhashi was just excited to see me."

Fox cut off with a sudden yelp, the man mentioned having swatted him lightly across the back of the head for the comment. The blind man frowned, rubbing his head and sending a glare to his companion, while both Ruby and Weiss tried to hide their rather disturbed reactions over the insinuation.

"Okay, that was a joke," Fox clarified for them all a moment later, seeming to sense the general displeasure, "but this lien did get stuck in between the cushions, and made a rather pokey reappearance when we sank into the couch's clutches."

"For one," Weiss interrupted, "please stop trying to make the couch sound like a villainous cartoon character; secondly, how does this change how we approach the final challenge? Or have we simply been granted a retry, on the highly likely chance we fail to achieve perfect pitch?"

Ruby snorted beside her, for some reason offended by the statement that was far more of a prophecy than a possibility. Fox only grinned.

"Absolutely not," he answered, sadistically cheerful, which seemed to be a running theme for him that evening.

Ruby tipped her head back in a long groan, while Weiss simply opted to bury her head in her hands. 'Hopeless' no longer seemed to encapsulate their evening. Fox rubbed his hands together eagerly, nearly dislodging the extra lien from his grip back into the couch depths, before he pointed to the TV.

"An extra feature to this machine," Fox explained to the pair, "is that if you have two lien to cough up, and can find the extra mics, then you can do an ensemble number!"

He garnered no reaction from either girl, who appeared for all intents and purposes to have mentally checked out of eternity. Fox, seeing none of this, and who also would not have cared even if he could, continued on anyways.

"Luckily enough for you two, the extra mics have blessed us by being here the whole time, and the pair of batteries you need for the last one appear to have also been stabbing me through this couch cushion the entire time I've been sitting here which, quite frankly, makes much more sense than a single lien."

In retrospect, Weiss would wonder if perhaps Fox had planned the dramatic reveal beforehand and simply hid them to begin with, but would eventually discard the theory in favour of blaming the gods who clearly had nothing better to do than shower them with complete misfortune.

"So, on top of the perfect pitch requirement for this challenge, you also have to involve this lovely crowd!"

He gestured to the pack of people who had slowly gathered around them; the few audience members sober enough to have a semblance of attention gave a small cheer at the mention of their presence, which ignited a drunken response from the rest of the crowd.

The pair's only answer was complete silence from Weiss, and an encore of Ruby's previous soul-escaping groan. Predictably, Fox smiled.

"You did say you were ready," he taunted, as Ruby's groan finally ran out of both air and existence.

"We weren't exactly aware from the start that we would have to perform with an ensemble, now were we, Mr. Rules Explainer?"

Yatsuhashi stifled a snort at Weiss's term, the white haired woman clearly running out of vocabulary as fast as her patience.

"Well, for a business major," Fox answered lightly, "I would have expected you to know that you should always demand all the terms and conditions up front."

He paused, grinned.

"No takesies-backsies."

Weiss, who wasn't sure if she should react more to the taunt or the terminology, began to puff up like some kind of demented bird. Before she could release her rage, though, a finger rose into the air, attached to an arm that stemmed from where Ruby was trying to metamorphose with the couch.

"That's bull," the redhead protested flatly, not even bothering to move her head from its position of staring up at the stained ceiling, "I accept things all the time without reading the full terms and conditions, and I don't know a single business major who does when it comes to signing up for Neopets accounts."

Weiss blinked in confusion as Fox gained an expression of contemplation, then nodded in acceptance.

"Fair point," he conceded, before he returned to his general state of egotism, "but this isn't Neopets, and we aren't playing games here."

He leaned forwards, steepling his fingers.

"We're playing Bohemian Rhapsody."

Weiss's head tilted; Ruby's eyebrows attempted to become astronauts. A beat of silence, then–

"Like the song, or what?"

"Exactly like the song, Rose," Fox answered, as Yatsuhashi snagged the karaoke book and began to scroll through the list of numbers, "one of the conditions you didn't wait for me to list was that for the ensemble number, I got to pick the song. And, well, what better number is there than the crowd-singing classic?"

Ruby shrugged and nodded in vague agreement, Weiss stared at them both, then scoffed and shook her head.

"I'm not singing Bohemian Rhapsody," she objected, frowning and closing her eyes as she crossed her arms heavily and slumped back.

"Oh, but you are," Fox countered, leaning towards her with a pointed finger and tone, "unless, of course, you really want spend the rest of your life in handcuffs, because that's what you get for not finishing the challenge."

He shook his head, closing his eyes as his voice took on an extraordinarily disappointed tone.

"And I didn't think we'd raised a criminal, Weiss."

Ruby smiled in spite of her partner's steadily building ire at the mental image of Fox, Velvet, and their equally dysfunctional friends raising Weiss as an adopted daughter.

Weiss, who had opened her eyes to stare at Fox in abject horror halfway through his statement, spluttered, momentarily speechless.

"I – I didn't even – you stopped talking! You didn't make it seem like you had anything left to say!"

"Ah, that's a weak defense, and you know it, Weiss," Fox waved away her argument entirely, ignoring her barely-contained screech of outrage, "besides, what do you even have against Bohemian Rhapsody?"

"Yeah, Weiss," Ruby echoed, "what do you have against it?"

Weiss turned to stare straight at her partner, betrayal splashed all across her face.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Sorry," Ruby mumbled, shifting uncomfortably as she turned away from Weiss's piercing stare, "you just insulted possibly the best karaoke song."

Weiss took a moment for herself, staring blankly at Ruby, before she exhaled heavily, closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, and froze for a moment. Then she sighed, opening her eyes to stare at Fox.

"Look," she sighed, lines furrowing between her brows as she spoke, "how exactly are we even supposed to achieve perfect pitch with a crowd like this? Between the amount of alcohol spread out across this place, I'd be surprised if they could even sing a line, much less carry a tune."

Fox shook his head, his form of a reassurance.

"You're overthinking it, Weiss. You don't need everyone in here to hit perfect pitch, just you and Ruby – and if you're concerned about the other pair joining you, then, well, I guess you'll just have to search for the soberest of them all?"

"Mirror mirror on the wall," Ruby muttered, just as a new voice introduced itself to their conversation.

"I think we could help with that," a man said, a dark hand reaching down to pluck one of the mics Yatsuhashi had dug out from the cushions.

Silver and cyan eyes sought out the speaker, startling slightly at the oddities that stood behind Yatsu and Fox. They were certainly odd characters, particularly when placed side by side – a young man who looked like he'd walked out of a jazz bar, with a woman at his side who looked like she'd been swallowed by a rave, then spat out into seven different pride parades, with a furry convention along the way.

Weiss and Ruby blinked for very different reasons; the former out of disdain, the second to clear her vision of the colour blindness she was suddenly experiencing.

Then, once the shock had worn off, the recognition set in.

Weiss squinted, eyes narrowing on the man who was currently twirling the mic between his fingers.

"… Flynt?"

The man in question laughed, a steady, smooth sound that was a little too pleased with their current situation.

"Hey, Schnee," Flynt replied, grinning easily, "Neon and I thought you might need a little bit of help with your… ah, questionable theme of activities this evening."

Ruby frowned at the way Weiss glanced down at Flynt's comment. Fox, unable to see his friend's aversion, only scoffed and answered for them both.

"Now, I have no idea who you are, but please, try and refrain from insulting our guests," the blind man interrupted, "they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. That said, I'll let you off the hook just this once, considering you volunteered to join the madness. Who the heck exactly are you?"

Flynt chuckled, Neon giggling beside him.

"Flynt Coal and Neon Katt at your service," the jazzy man answered, gesturing to each of them respectively, "ready to join in for the rhapsody."

Fox grinned brightly.

"Well, Weiss, I'd say you lucked out! Either you have attracted the apparently only sober people in this place, or these two are incredibly good at acting the part while drunk, in which case you're still good."

"Fashion sense notwithstanding," Ruby muttered, just enough that Weiss could hear it. The comment earned her a soft chuckle, clear of snark and clearly honest; when Weiss looked up a moment later, Ruby was relieved to see that the brief apprehension on her partner's face had disappeared.

But still, there was a note on her face that spoke of something – a worry, an unshared concern, perhaps – that was worn into her face the same way wrinkles become etched over time. Whatever was worrying Weiss was something that couldn't be fixed in the immediate moment, the same way a band-aid could not heal a broken bone. Some things were healed by time, and others were simply formed by it.

"Weiss?"

The white haired woman startled at the soft tone in Ruby's voice, her name threaded with care. Weiss stared back at silver for a moment, searching her partner's face for something before she sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes.

"It's nothing, Ruby," she answered, knowing as she spoke the words the redhead was bound not to believe in.

"Are you sure?" Ruby pursued, the crease between her eyebrows only deepening, "because if you don't want to sing with these guys, I'm sure–"

"It's fine," Weiss cut her off, her words sharper than she meant for them to be. Ruby's eyes widened for a moment, then the redhead looked towards Flynt and Neon, narrowing her eyes at them as if searching for a visual reason for Weiss's discomfort.

The part of her that wasn't rapidly trying to rebuild her walls, or regretting her choice of tone, felt some kind of contentment over seeing her partner stick to her side. Then that part – the piece of her that didn't have the Schnee brand stamped all over it – led her to take hold of Ruby's hand, pull the redhead's attention back to her, and smile.

"It's not Flynt and Neon," Weiss explained.

The pair in question shifted, Flynt grumbling something about 'right in front of them.' Neon elbowed him, clearly caught up in whatever dynamic Ruby and Weiss had going on.

"It's just…" Weiss trailed off, not noticing Yatsuhashi sitting up straighter, or Fox leaning in to catch her words, both of them watching with comprehension.

She took a breath, then met her partner's eyes straight on.

"This just isn't something I'm supposed to do."

Ruby's brows furrowed at that, clear confusion written on her face as she replied.

"What, karaoke? What's wrong with doing that?"

Weiss shook her head, her words suddenly unable to explain what she meant.

"Not just karaoke," she sputtered, gesturing with her free hand to the scene around them – the arcade, the crowd, the general grunginess, "I – my family – it's just… this kind of thing."

Ruby's frown only grew deeper.

"Like, the kinds of things you have fun doing?"

It was Weiss's turn to look bewildered. Ruby took it as a sign to continue.

"Because, I mean – and pardon my language, that's a steaming pile of bull."

She said the last bit with such vehemence that somewhere in the crowd, some drunken soul let out a whoop in agreement, completely oblivious to anything but the tone.

Ruby continued on, shifting her weight as she looked away in thought.

"Yeah, things are tough, and people don't always approve, and I can see why singing Shrek on a date with handcuffs is a little weird–"

To the side, Fox mumbled something over the Shrek comment; Yatsu nudged his shoulder to signify the overuse of the joke, before picking up the blind man's phone.

"—but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, if you're having fun. And I think you're having fun. I mean, as much as you can, given the circumstances, and well, you were rocking that ABBA song, so–"

Ruby huffed, pausing to blow a piece of errant hair out of her eyes before she met Weiss's gaze again.

"It's okay to do things just because you want to, you know?"

Weiss only stared back, her expression something almost forlorn. Ruby, panicked by the lack of response, started backtracking.

"Er, well—"

"Ruby," Weiss interrupted, a slight smile melting the frozen expression, "thank you."

The redhead blinked, then returned the grin tenfold.

"No worries," she replied, before Yatsuhashi broke in, his tone gentle and even, a welcome contrast to Fox's sharp, varying pitch.

"You don't have to worry either, Weiss," he spoke smoothly, "before you arrived, we spoke to the staff. There's actually a no-camera policy here, just to keep people from regretting enjoying their time here."

"And we wouldn't let them record it, anyways," Fox cut in, rather defensive and surprisingly comforting, "after all, we already threatened a bunch of people for the bathroom incident, and I doubt they'll have forgotten that quickly."

"So you're free to have fun," Yatsuhashi finished, a smile playing at the corners of his eyes, "your identity – secret's safe with us."

Ruby's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you mean 'secret identity?'" she asked, before her words caught up with her, "Wait, Weiss, you have a secret identity?"

Weiss stifled a sigh, while Fox snorted soundly.

"What we meant, Rose, was that her family won't find out."

Ruby 'ahhhed' in response to that, Weiss glancing up towards Fox. The blind man was looking back at her, eyes fixed resolutely in her direction. As though sensing her gaze, he gave possibly the most comforting smile he had all night, before he turned to face Ruby.

"Ready?" he asked, some of his previous joviality creeping into his voice.

Ruby grinned and Weiss nodded, the last trace of worry gone from her eyes.

Yatsuhashi chuckled in response, setting Fox's phone on the table and reaching for the second pair of mics; Fox took the laugh as a signal, frowning over the lack of an audible response.

"You have to say 'ready' back, it's tradition," he mimicked in a cringe-worthy falsetto; both women ignored him pointedly.

Ruby glanced to her partner, silver eyes brimming with anticipation.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready," Weiss replied softly, echoing with a smile of her own.

Satisfied, Ruby whirled to face Neon and Flynt, the former grinning and the latter looking somewhat still disgruntled.

"Ready?" she called to them, earning a thumbs up from Neon and a satisfactory head tilt from Flynt.

Seeing – or rather, hearing – his chance, Fox bounded to his feet, threw his arms in the air, and addressed the drunken crowd around them.

"Ready?"

"READY!" came the bellowed reply, most people having caught wind of the pattern that had begun.

Fox grinned blindingly, dropped back into his seat, and bowed at the waist. Knowing what the gesture meant, Yatsuhashi tossed the spare mics to Flynt and Neon, and Ruby plucked up the remote for the final time.

She clicked her way down to the song – admittedly, a shorter journey than the previous songs – and turned to look at Weiss.

"You do want to do this, right?" she asked, doubt sneaking into her voice despite the earlier confidence, "I mean, it might be fun, and besides, going along with it might be the fastest way to get us out of these handcuffs, and out of this date."

Weiss frowned at that, unexpectedly bothered by Ruby's statement. It wasn't like Weiss hadn't made the insinuation that she wanted her freedom back, and as soon as possible – but something about hearing her partner imply it felt wrong, and for a sudden moment, Weiss felt her heart drop as she wondered if that's how Ruby had felt every time she'd said it.

The expression the redhead had had then – and the same one that was beginning to creep onto Ruby's face the longer Weiss held her silence – certainly indicated as such.

"Ruby, I…"

She swallowed, staring back at her partner, and for a second, Weiss saw in Ruby a version of her sister, many years ago.

So then, there it was. A childhood of rejecting things, of pushing Winter away, of trying desperately to fill a pair of shoes she never truly wanted, of acting above the things that made her happy. And there was Ruby, just like her sister, waiting for her to realize that happiness didn't come from empty pride.

And this time, Weiss didn't want to lose her partner.

"I do want to do this," Weiss replied suddenly, subtle joy blooming in her chest at the sight of relief unfolding on Ruby's expression, "I do."

And not just to be free, said her heart, though the ice still around it kept the words within. But the first part of admission had proven to be enough for her partner, if the smile was any indication.

"I think it's a little early for marriage proposals, don't you think?" cut in Fox, unable to see or sense the emotional journey of self-realization that Weiss had just gone through. In retaliation, or perhaps to simply save Weiss the effort, Yatsuhashi elbowed him hard, earning a yelp from Fox.

"Look, it was either that or another comment on how these two seem to make effortless innuendos!"

His 'defense' only earned him another elbow.

Ruby smirked at the grumbling Fox, before she clapped loudly, pulling everyone's attention back to her, and smacked play.

Say what you will about karaoke. Say it's good, say it's bad, say it's childish – it doesn't really matter. Because if there's one true fact about karaoke, it's that if you play a famous song – especially if that song is Bohemian Rhapsody – then you will draw a crowd. A particularly collaborative crowd. It's an unstated truth to the universe.

And it was one that Weiss and Ruby were, both expectedly and completely unexpectedly, about to find out. Quite dramatically.

The second the title of the song lit up on the screen – in comic sans, no less – the first couple of viewers soberest and closest to them caught wind of what was about to happen, and let out a preparative cheer.

This, of course, caused the rest of the crowd to cheer in return, and by the time the first lyrics appeared on the screen, Ruby and Weiss, along with their ensemble duo, had caught the attention of over half the sober crowd in the arcade.

Of course, because things in this story could never progress predictably, Ruby pressed pause right before the music began. She ignored the rather loud groan emanating from the crowd behind them, choosing instead to wildly gesture for Flynt and Neon to come towards them.

"You've got to stand behind us!" she stated, quite emphatically, "there's four of us, that's nearly non-negotiable."

Flynt rolled his eyes, but followed Neon as she trotted over to join them. They took their positions, echoing the sight of the very famed music video they were about to put shame to.

Ruby nodded, satisfied, before glancing back to her partner. There were no 'readys' this time, only a nod in return and Ruby counting down in, "3… 2… 1…"

She pressed play.

What followed was an event neither Fox or Yatsuhashi would ever forget seeing – or, hearing – and that would be half remembered by the drunken audience of the entire arcade.

Some have never sung karaoke; that is fine. But there is a universal bonding experience to be found in singing Bohemian Rhapsody, and you'd probably be hard pressed to find someone who has and tells you that it was not an amazing experience.

And, just like every other previous instance of it having been sung before then, Ruby and Weiss would later feel much the same.

"Is this the real life?"

Fox let out an appreciative whoop with the rest of the crowd, before reminding them:

"Remember, perfect pitch, ladies!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but her voice improved slightly. So did Ruby's, if you count singing to screeching as an improvement.

"Is this just fantasy?"

Flynt and Neon stood stoically behind them, taking their roles surprisingly seriously as they sang along. All in all, they didn't sound half bad.

"Caught in a landslide, no escape to reality."

The full crowd hadn't yet caught on yet – though the opening notes of Bohemian Rhapsody were, well, incredibly fun to sing, they weren't always the first thing to draw one's attention in a busy arcade, especially one with competing noises from the dance machine.

"Open your eyes… look up to the skies and see."

Weiss pulled the long note, while Ruby pulled in a deep breath and took on the only role there was to take in the song.

"I'm just a poor boy–"

"Poooor boooooy," cut in the remaining trio, the three who were relatively able to harmonize.

"—I need no sympathy."

Fox suddenly grinned wildly – those closest to the couch had begun mouthing along to the lyrics, and a few were even singing quietly.

"Because I'm–"

The dam broke, and the quartet was joined by a smattering of alternating voices as the song began to build, the pull of the song overtaking the usual social rule of letting people perform on their own.

"Easy come–"

"Easy go–"

"Little high–"

"LITTLE LOW."

Ruby and Weiss both startled slightly at the volume that surged from behind them as the more drunken members of their audience remembered the lyrics, but carried on quite well.

"Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter… to me."

As the piano broke in from the choppy tv speakers, the somehow harmonized voices of Flynt, Neon, Ruby and Weiss faded out, replaced by claps and cheers of the appreciative, steadily building crowd behind them, someone whistling loudly. Someone else was pulling a high falsetto on the final "to meeee."

An unspoken conversation was struck up in the sudden gaze between Ruby and Weiss, both asking which of them would start off the rest of the song. In a rare, and definitive act of courage, Ruby raised her mic to her mouth first.

"Mama…"

It was like someone had set off a bomb. Of applause. Evidently, the crowd approved of Ruby's singing voice, which had thankfully lessened in volume.

"Just killed a man…"

The anxiety which had begun bubbling up in Ruby's throat, flickered away as she met eyes with Weiss, then glanced towards the coach seating their judges. The arcade became her living room; Weiss, her sister; Yatsu and Fox, her father and uncle; and the crowd – well, someone had left the radio on in the kitchen.

"Put a gun against his head," Ruby sang again, her voice picking up strength as her confidence built from her love of karaoke, "Pulled my trigger, now he's dead."

Weiss got as close to a grin as she ever did, while the crowd cheered their appreciation of Ruby's change.

"Mama… life had just begun–"

Yatsuhashi smiled at the building volume, a clear sign Ruby was starting to forget where she was.

"But now I've gone and thrown it all away!"

As Fox drumrolled along to the song, the redhead threw her head back, and let the song pull her in completely.

"MAMAAA!"

Most people will find, when singing this song in a group – "Ooooh" – that it is impossible for most people not to chime in with the infamous "mama" lyric, least of all a drunken mob of twenty-somethings.

"Didn't mean to make you cry," she crooned to Weiss, the white haired woman laughing in spite of herself over the dramatic expression on her partner's face, "if I'm not back again this time tomorrow—"

"—Carry on, carry on," Flynt and Neon harmonized as the rest of the crowd came dangerously close to throwing off Ruby's pitch, "as if nothing really matters…"

Weiss laughed as Ruby's part finished on a high – er, low note, the redhead grinning and mock bowing in response to the applause that had risen up for her. As the music drummed up to the next verse, Weiss raised her mic, and sang freely for the first time in many years.

"Too late, my time has come…"

"Sends shivers down my spine, alright," Fox muttered, as the crowd (and Ruby) gaped at Weiss's voice.

"No body aching all the time?" came a new voice, emanating from Fox's phone, which at some point had begun a call with a contact named 'Door Destroyer." A whole host of voices shushed the first one, echoing from the tinny speaker. Thankfully, neither woman heard them.

"Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go," Weiss sang, half the crowd still staring at her in shock, "got to leave you all behind and face the truth…"

The song began to pick up, and those still left in amazement managed to catch on in time to join into what had become at this point a group lyric. A group, one should add, that had become most of the arcade at this point.

"MAMAAAAAA!"

Flynt and Neon joined in with half the crowd with the, "Any way the wind blows~"

Very few people managed to harmonize.

"I don't want to die," Ruby's eyes were shut, basking in the thrill of getting lost in the lyrics, the rest of the audience joining her as they grew progressively more hyped as the music built.

"I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all!"

The music tipped over into a great deal of air guitars, Weiss bursting into startled laughter at Ruby's over exaggerated Gibson Gestures. Fox was busting out his own moves on his side of the couch, while Yatsuhashi was very casually turning on the 'video' option in the call.

Then the wild guitar solo began to roll into the rest of the song, and what was possibly the most impossibly unharmonized group performance began. Through some more unspoken decisions, Ruby grinned, and started them off.

"I see a little silhouette of a man–"

"SCARAMOUCHE, SCARAMOUCHE," drowned out Weiss's return, before she answered with, "will you do the fandango?"

Fox, handed the conductor's chance he'd only ever dreamed of, gestured wildly to the "thunderbolts of lightning, VERY VERY fright'ning," before the—

"ME!" cut him off rather spectacularly, so high pitched it sounded like a cat being stepped on.

"Galileo!" Ruby laughed.

"Galileo," Flynt warbled.

"Galileo–" Weiss falsettoed.

"GALILEO FIGARO," what might have been the entire arcade boomed, while Flynt and Neon feably tried to harmonize in a "magnificooo."

Ruby returned to her part, grinning back at Weiss, all traces of her anxiety gone as she reprised her previous role.

"I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me," she sang, before she half grinned, half winced, and put her hands to her ears in preparation for the assured ensuing echo.

It was a good plan.

"HE'S JUST A POOR BOY FROM A POOR FAMILY," Weiss nearly lost herself in laughing as what was certainly the entire arcade followed up with her lines, "Spare him his life from this monstrosity!"

Several people in the crowd nearly lost an eye as they – and Fox – conducted away to the infamous violin riff.

"Easy come, easy go," Ruby continued, a warmth in her chest as the familiar lyrics and the encouraging entourage more or less drop kicked any pressure from her mind, "will you let me go?"

The entire street heard the ensuing "BISMILLAH, NO."

"No, we will not let you go–"

Fox's phone had nearly vibrated itself off its table perch from both the crowd in the arcade, and the one audibly enjoying themselves on the other end of the line.

"Let him go!"

Ruby was heartedly laughing now, not even bothering to sing.

"Bismillah!"

Weiss was still trying somewhat, but her expression hadn't changed from a wide smile in a while, and it was clear her attempts were mostly for the sake of keeping her redhead partner laughing.

"We will not let you go–"

Flynt and Neon were still singing along – but where Neon was evidently enjoying the experience, Flynt was starting to watch the pair on the couch with understanding dawning in his eyes.

"Let him go!"

Yatsuhashi had long ago settled into the cushions, watching the spectacle play out with a knowing smile; Fox was content to conduct and listen to Ruby and Weiss absolutely butcher the song.

"Bismillah!"

Say what you will about karaoke. Say what you will about ABBA, and Shrek, and even Bohemian Rhapsody. But the truth is, getting lost in a song is only easy when you trust the people you are with. Not all the bops, the bangers, and the top 20s in the world will break that rule entirely.

"We will not let you go–"

And it was clear to everyone watching – even to the blind man, yes – that Ruby and Weiss were definitely getting lost in the song.

"LET ME GO!" Ruby had managed to rein in her laughter just in time for her line, though laughter was still evident in her voice.

"We will not let you go," Weiss returned, getting into her role by lowering her eyebrows enough to make her look like a 90s cartoon villain.

"Let me go!" sang half the crowd, somehow coherent enough to split themselves in two, the other side following up with the final "we will not let you go!"

"Let me goooo~" sang Flynt and Neon, and the rest of the arcade.

"Ah–" said Yatsuhashi, and he reached out to muffle the phone speaker just in time for all hell to break loose.

Did you really think a drunken crowd was able to time their "no" segment together? The answer is–

"No,nO-N-no, nO, NO NO!"

There were about seventy variations of the word no at about seventy different times, but that was okay. They still cut off in time for Ruby to nearly solo sing the:

"Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia, Mammia Mia – LET ME GO!"

"Beeeezlebub has a devil put aside," Weiss began, and Fox cranked the TV volume as loud as it would go, so the mics would still be heard over the growing roar.

"For me –" Flynt and Neon sang, as the crowd behind them began cheering and clapping.

"For me–" Ruby followed, stomps starting to rattle the furniture and quiver their cups.

"For MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Weiss's voice cut loud and clear throughout the entire arcade – somewhere, the toilet seat vibrating to her vibrato – and the song tipped into absolute pandemonium.

Wild guitar spilled from the speakers, the crowd screaming their approval as Flynt and Neon riled them up with the universal 'raise the roof' gesture, leaving their post behind the couch in favour of mingling with the drunken mob.

Ruby and Weiss were both laughing when the former grabbed the latter's hand, grinning and yelling 'come on,' her words nearly lost in the roar, and certainly not picked up by the phone's overworked mic. Then Ruby was pulling Weiss to her feet, both women wobbling a bit as they rose, trying to find their balance on the wimpy couch cushions – but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but the laughter they were lost in and the moment stretched between them and the warmth where their hands met.

Yatsuhashi didn't even worry as he picked up the phone and pointed the camera to the now dancing duo. The song spilled back into lyrics, clashing text appearing onto the screen as the crowd headbanged out the last of the transition.

"So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?"

Ruby and Weiss were singing together, leaning in close, grins wider than ever on their faces.

"So you think you can love me and leave me to die?"

Flynt and Neon, at some point, had found their way up onto the pool tables, and were now dancing and singing with wild abandon.

"OHHHH Baby!"

Sun's woop was audible on the other end, a woman's laughter just as clear.

"Can't do this to me baby!"

It really was a performance they would never forget.

"Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here!"

It was absolutely the kind of line Fox would have typically made a comment on, but, well. Around the time Ruby and Weiss had gotten to their feet, Fox had gone oddly quiet – even now, he wasn't joining in with the wild guitar solos, though Ruby was putting on quite the show for Weiss's entertainment. Instead, he was only listening – tuning out the crowd and the tv, somehow, and focusing on the laughter of the two women he'd been teasing for the last hour, and the way their voices had let go of the tension they'd carried in at the start.

Yatsuhashi nudged his shoulder, the larger man smiling in a similar fashion, both watching the pair perform without even noticing the crowd.

"Yeah," Fox said quietly, words almost drowned out by the speakers and the awful screeches that were supposed to be drunken attempts at a guitar solo, "I know."

He smiled a little wider then, listening to Weiss laugh harder than he'd heard in years.

"I know," he repeated, and the song slowed down into its final refrain.

"Nothing really matters," Weiss began, taking the lead this time as the crowd quieted, a few cheers for her voice arising, "anyone can see."

"Nothing really matters," Ruby continued, Flynt and Neon oddly quiet from their pool table perch, "Nothing really matters…"

"… To me," the pair sang together, staring at one another as the piano mingled with their words, tipping into the final line of the song.

And in the quieted arcade, amongst a sweaty crowd of drunken fans, underneath neon signs and ignoring the last chirps from a long abandoned dance machine, Ruby and Weiss finished their second challenge.

"Any way the wind blows…"

The cymbals crashed from the speakers, and for a moment, time was frozen as the song came to its close. Weiss, panting a little, smiled gently at her partner – and Ruby, long ago having forgotten Fox and Yatsu and the crowd watching them, smiled back.

Then the moment broke, and the crowd burst into uproarious applause.

Amidst the clapping and cheering, it was like the energy that had swallowed them into the song faded, and the pair sank back down into the cushions, a little more than breathless.

Fox was clapping along, his smile for once without malice, without teasing; Yatsuhashi was discreetly ending the call, hiding the phone behind the songbook and pretending to intensely peruse.

Weiss sat there, catching her breath – Ruby giggling a little beside her – when a hand fell onto her shoulder, squeezing slightly as a familiar voice muttered into her ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear over the fading applause.

"Well played, Schnee."

The voice was soft, without mockery. There was a pair of taps nearby as Neon set the extra mics back onto the table, winked at the red and white pair, and then she and Flynt disappeared into the crowd.

A few minutes passed, multiple people congratulating the pair on their performance, the more drunk of the gathered losing attention quickly and drifting off to whatever had entertained them previously. Before long, it was just the four of them again, their couch corner left relatively alone. A stretch of silence, and then–

"Well," Fox began, and the mirth began to slink back into his smile, "I certainly wasn't expecting that entertaining a performance."

Weiss flushed at that, frowning; beside her, Ruby appeared to suddenly realize what she'd done, and the past ten minutes of staved off social anxiety hit her almost as hard as puberty hits a teenager.

"Oh," Ruby said flatly, blinking quite quickly, "we did that."

Weiss quirked an eyebrow at the lame declaration. Then, Ruby's hands slowly made their way upwards, and a very red Ruby buried her face in them.

"Oh, my god," Ruby whispered, "Yang is never going to let me live this down."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

Fox laughed, waving a flippant hand in her direction.

"Glad to see you know us well, Rose," he confirmed, "Well enough to know this will somehow get back to your sister finding out."

Weiss shot him a look over the implications.

"Not by video!" Fox rushed to clarify, holding up his hands as though he'd somehow sensed the white haired woman's glare, "Just word of mouth. Friend of your friend is my friend, and all that jazz."

Yatsuhashi nodded, and it seemed to be enough to placate Weiss, for the time being. She leaned back into the couch, settling alongside Ruby, who had apparently recovered enough to sit back up, though she was still a little red around the edges.

"Anyways," Fox continued on, "I'd say that was a song quite well done. Although…"

There was enough threat woven into the way his voice trailed off that both women were immediately reminded of their original task, and both of them sat bolt upright.

Yatsuhashi cleared his throat, fighting back a smile at the panic settling onto the partners' faces. Weiss somehow seemed paler than normal, if that was possible.

"And on the verdict of perfect pitch," Yatsu began, Fox tapping out a drumroll against his knees, "the jury is…"

"Still out," Fox finished, smiling innocently at the pair. He let the silence stretch on for an extra second or two, before he laughed and shook his head.

"Kidding," he said, closing his eyes.

"You pass."

The look on their faces was to die for. Perhaps don't inform Fox of that fact.

The silence that followed his words, however, was enough to clue the blind man in on their feelings towards the matter. Yatsuhashi's rumbling chuckle beside him only cleared up any doubt.

Weiss's eyebrows had skyrocketed beneath her bangs; Ruby's mouth was hanging open enough to count how many wisdom teeth had been removed. There was a moment as the pair tried to collect their thoughts, before they managed to burst out at the same time.

"What?"

"You're joking."

Startled, the pair glanced at one another, then back to Fox – all in perfect sync. Yatsu bit his cheek to keep from laughing outright. Synchronized staring; now, that would be an Olympic sport worth watching.

"Seriously?" Ruby asked, eyes searching Fox's expression for some kind of kidding. It was a warranted reaction.

"Seriously," Fox confirmed, nodding sharply. Weiss's face had turned contemplative, her eyebrows having returned from the stratosphere and now drawn together in thought.

"Wait," she cut in, "that's impossible. I know I broke pitch a couple of times – that crowd is impossible to sing with – and, let's face it, Ruby's singing is a little less than perfect."

She ignored the silver glare shot her way – not that there was much defense behind it – and instead focused on Fox's reaction. It wasn't exactly what she'd expected.

The blind man raised an eyebrow, staring at her with vague incredulity.

"Let me get this straight," he began, "you're attempting to overthrow your own success at the challenge?"

Weiss startled at that, Ruby backtracking for her and spluttering out immediate denials. Fox's laughter brayed at the reaction, falling into snickering as Weiss huffed and crossed her arms heavily.

"I was only–" she began, only for Fox to interrupt her gently.

"I know," he cut in, his voice softer than before, "it's not a victory by your standards."

He paused, chewing on his cheek for a second, as though debating how to phrase his next line best.

"But," he began, and there was a hesitancy in his tone that immediately pulled their suspicion, "I… might not have been entirely honest about the rules from the start."

"What?!"

The women yelled in tandem, a mixture of outrage and surprise across their features – the ratio between the two of them is probably pretty predictable.

"You mean – we didn't have to – bohemian?"

Ruby's dialogue didn't make a lot of sense, unable to form a complete sentence from shock, but the meaning was pretty clear anyways. Weiss had gone both oddly silent and oddly still, and Fox was sensing that perhaps his horoscope's warning of 'death in near future' should possibly not have gone ignored.

Yatsuhashi cut in, thankfully, before the couch could become a murder scene.

"What he means," the low voice began, even and pulling the pair's attention, "is that the stakes were never that high to begin with."

"Yeah!" Fox continued, sounding a little relieved over his partner's save, "we just had to give you sufficient motivation, is all."

"But, you–" Weiss's tone was still tinged with anger, and maybe a little frustration.

"Weiss," Yatsu interrupted once more, "we knew you wouldn't agree to a duet outright."

"And really," Fox finished off, his voice gentler than they'd heard it all night, "did you really think I'd expect you to be able to hit perfect pitch through all of that?"

Weiss opened her mouth to reply, but it was Ruby who answered first.

"Well, it is a fair assumption," the redhead replied, staring at the mics on the table, "she is a little paranoid when it comes to you, I had to sneak into a bathroom because of that."

Apparently, some bridges hadn't been completely burned yet.

Fox couldn't help the grin as Weiss threw up her hands in surrender, slumping back into the cushions.

"Fine," she huffed, in a tone that clearly suggested it wasn't, "but why did you have to pick that as your challenge? Asking us to draw a crowd or get the audience involved would have been sufficient enough as motivation."

"Well," Yatsu hummed, in a voice that was almost slightly sheepish, "it might have had something to do with a particularly relevant movie."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Weiss, haven't you seen Pitch Perfect?" Fox interjected, leaning forwards a little too enthusiastically, "It's not about them being able to sing; it's all about Beca learning to love herself and accept friendship."

"Um," said Ruby.

"Fine," Fox grumbled, "it's half about them being able to sing."

They'd spent long enough with the blind man at this point that they knew that was as much of a success as they'd get from him.

"Movie plots aside," Yatsu continued on, "inspiration did come from that movie. The point was never to get you to reach perfect pitch; it was just for the two of you to trust each other enough that you were able to sing together."

The truth in his statement resonated in the silence that followed, neither woman able to come up with a response. Fox cleared his throat a few seconds later, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a folded slip of paper.

"And for that," he said, "I'd say it was a job well done."

Then he held out the paper to the pair of them, both men smiling at the duo.

Ruby took it tentatively, glancing at it, but not unfolding it.

"Is this…?" she began, hope creeping into her voice.

"The next clue," Yatsu confirmed, his smile a little wider, "we figure we've monopolized enough of your time tonight."

"Freedom at last," Fox echoed, snickering when he glanced at their handcuffs, "well, in one sense, at least."

Weiss rolled her eyes, before Ruby gave the chain a hesitant tug.

"Actually, about that…" the redhead began, looking relatively wary.

Weiss perked an eyebrow in a silent question, Ruby chewing on her lip for a moment before she smiled sheepishly at her partner.

"… the milk returns," she said in lieu of explanation, earning an almost immediate groan from her partner, and a round of laughter from Fox.

Ruby tugged at the handcuffs again, frowning petulantly, before glancing at the duo across from her.

"Can I pee in privacy, this time?" she asked, and Weiss couldn't resist.

"What happened to friends peeing together and staying together?" the white haired woman whispered under her breath, earning an immediate look of surprise and indignation from her partner.

Fox, not having heard the comment – a small mercy to them both – only blinked in confusion, before he decided not to press any farther.

"Yes, Rose," he replied, while Yatsu fished around in his pocket for the key, "you may tinkle on your own."

He paused, then grinned.

"Well, within reason, of course," he tapped Yatsuhashi's bicep, "we'll be sending a guard to make sure you don't flee when you're done."

Weiss rolled her eyes, Ruby shook her head, but neither of them bothered complaining. As Yatsu leaned in to unlock their cuffs, the blind man continued on.

"Do try and be quick about it, though," he said, "there's a certain freckled friend waiting for you at your next challenge, and we wouldn't want you to miss out on that one."

"Freckled friend?" Ruby repeated, brows drawing together in confusion.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Fox waggled his finger, then mimed zipping his lips, "no more hints for you. I am the best secret keeper."

Weiss's snort went ignored by all parties except those standing several feet away. There was a clack, and the handcuffs fell away for another time that night; Yastuhashi unlocked both their hands, giving a bit of a break to both their wrists. Ruby and the giant headed off – the redhead could be heard asking 'freckled friend' to Yatsu, in the same way kids ask their other parent for permission when the first one says no.

Fox and Weiss were left in relative silence, ignoring the blips and bings of the arcade still lively around them.

Weiss was content to sit in the peace, rubbing at her wrist and enjoying the slight reprieve from her captivity. Fox, predictably, was not.

"Sooooo," he drawled, receiving a slight cyan glare, not that it affected him in the least, "having fun?"

Weiss scoffed, refusing to comment. Truthfully, she could have lain into him, yelled at her friend for the ridiculous evening – but something kept her from following through. Some emotion that felt very similar to the one that popped up every time she was a little too cold to her partner.

Fox hummed, taking her silence in stride.

"You know," he continued after a moment, evidently content to be the only one speaking in the conversation, "this night wasn't exactly thrown together on a whim."

That got Weiss's attention, the white haired woman glancing up towards the blind man, who continued on.

"Well, perhaps the original pairing was, but not the rest of it. We did plan out all the challenges for a reason – and we wouldn't have let this happen if we weren't sure you'd eventually enjoy it."

Fox tilted his head, staring right towards his friend.

"Did you think we'd only planned this for the two of you to suffer?"

"Yes," she said flatly, but didn't jump to defend it when Fox lifted an eyebrow incredulously. Weiss fell into silence, fiddling with the chain.

"It would have been nice if we'd been given some warning of the night," she answered eventually, her words still on the cooler end of the spectrum, "rather than being thrown into this chaos with no time to prepare for it."

"Ah," Fox hummed in response, "but then, would you really have let us go through with it?"

Weiss's silence was answer enough.

"And anyways," he continued, his tone even, "this way, you don't have time to put walls up to hide who you really are."

Cyan slowly found milky irises, Fox seeming to sense her gaze, not for the first time that night.

"Weiss," he began slowly, as though speaking to a startled animal, trying not to scare her off, "She doesn't see you for your family."

"You mean she doesn't recognize who I am," Weiss snarled, her voice cold enough to make her wince. Fox, however, didn't react to the sharpness in her tone.

"Not what I said," he answered, "and not what I meant."

She frowned, then felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

"Even if she realizes who you are," Fox continued as she pulled out the device, finding a message waiting on the screen, "I don't think she'll care."

"And how do you know that for sure?" her attention returned to the blind man for a moment, her words accusatory and defensive.

"I don't," came the quick, even reply, "not for sure. But I know enough about Rose to know that she won't just think of you as Weiss Schnee, the 'ice queen.' She'll know you as Weiss, who drank spicy noodles to keep her honour, and who's too white to dance well, and who knows all the words to the Wannabe rap."

Weiss frowned, glancing back to her phone and the messages on it.

F.C. (11:43 pm): you've changed.

F.C. (11:43 pm): for the better.

F.C. (11:44 pm): Neon says to let us know next time you want to do karaoke again.

"Weiss," Fox said again, and she looked back up at him, finding nothing but reassurance in his gaze, "Neptune said he thought you two would make a good pair. I… didn't believe it entirely, at first."

That surprised her, white brows knitting together.

"But now I do," Fox finished, "because Ruby only sees you for Weiss, the woman she's handcuffed to. And you're the ice queen, and you're cold, and you don't know how to relax–"

He smiled before she could protest the rumours.

"But she's making you melt, Weiss."

She scoffed again, incredulity written all over her face – Fox laughed in return.

"I know, I know," he said, his tone returning to more of its previous joviality, "it sounds cheesy. But it's the best I got."

He shrugged, as though that were any kind of real defense. Weiss scowled, glancing at the tv that had returned to cycling through foreign scenery, waiting for a new song to be chosen.

"It's not like that," she began, though her own voice sounded doubtful, "we're just… stuck with this. No reason to be rude and make it harder on the both of us."

Fox's hum was all levels of disbelieving, but he didn't outright call her on it.

"Right," he said, playing along, "but here's the thing. Earlier, when I asked you if she didn't know, and then told you that you didn't have to be the ice queen?"

Weiss frowned, remembering the words not long ago, spoken over the thrum of the dance machine, Ruby beside her with a look of confusion and her hands pressed over her ears. Fox had realized that her partner hadn't yet caught onto the identity of the woman handcuffed to her, and had told her, somewhat sympathetically, that she didn't have to be cold to someone who didn't know how to judge her.

"Please don't go having flashbacks to things that happened half an hour ago, Weiss," Fox said flatly, correctly sensing her reminiscence in the lack of a reply.

She pointedly chose not to answer him.

"Anyways," he continued, "I was somewhat wrong in saying that."

Weiss looked up at him in surprise; Fox was grimacing as though he'd eaten something unpleasant, but he didn't take back his words.

"I meant the whole 'don't be cold thing.' But I was wrong about Rose. I think, even if she does figure out who you are – and she might not, I don't know – but I don't think she'll care. I don't think she'll judge you for your name."

"And how do you know?"

Her words were the same as before, but they lacked the ice, and in its place was what could almost be called desperation.

"I don't, Weiss. But you're handcuffed to her, have been the whole night. So I think – I think if anyone's going to know, it's going to be you."

Weiss frowned, turning back to the handcuffs.

Fox sighed, knowing his words weren't quite convincing the woman.

"But either way, you aren't just your name. I know that, you know that – Coco, Yatsu, Velvet – we all know that. You just have to trust that Ruby will know it, too."

Weiss didn't reply, but the 'and if she doesn't?' still hung in the air.

"Look, if you can relax enough to sing Bohemian Rhapsody at full tilt, and dance to the Cha Cha Slide, and just be the dork we know you to be behind all that ice – then I think she's something good for you. And if she isn't, well. Then the handcuffs come off, and the night ends, and we all apologize dearly for it and never bring it up again. But – I really think she is."

She glanced up in time to see him cross his fingers, and lay his other hand over his chest.

"Scout's honour," he said, completely serious, despite not having been a scout for 14 years. She snorted in spite of herself, Fox grinning back at the tension disappearing.

They sat in silence, Weiss fiddling with the chain, letting the cuffs slide into her lap, before she spoke quietly, unsure.

"I don't know if I can," she said, before adding, "trust her, I mean."

"I know," Fox answered, "but would it really hurt to try?"

Weiss didn't have a reply.

The blind man leaned back into the dusty cushions, crossing his legs and picking up the songbook as he did so.

"In any case," he finished, "she hasn't judged you yet. You've been cold, and she still hasn't tried to break those cuffs – hell, she put them back on in the bathroom. So that's something."

Weiss smirked, huffing a laugh in memory.

"Yeah," she echoed, "that's something."

"Fox," a familiar voice cut in, "why are you reading the songbook?"

Weiss startled at Ruby's sudden reappearance, whirling around in time to see her partner approaching, Yatsu close behind.

"I'm not reading, per say," Fox drawled out, his tone back to normal as though they hadn't just been speaking on something deep like, say, trust issues, "I'm simply taking in how this book smells like tequila even when it's a foot from my nose."

"Yeah, well," Ruby replied, flopping back into her spot on the couch, dust obscuring her figure for a moment, "I think the table's been re-varnished with it, so that might be why."

Fox snorted as Yatsuhashi returned to his side, albeit with a much more controlled descent than Ruby's.

"Gosh, it seems like bathroom breaks really do your sense of humour a favour, Rose," the blind man teased, earning an eye roll from his target.

"Does it ever," Ruby shot back, turning to glance at her partner's reaction. Upon finding a lack of one, though, the redhead sat up a little straighter, her indignant expression smoothing out into one of concern.

"Hey," she said, her voice lower and softer, startling Weiss into attention, "you okay?"

Worried silver met wary cyan, before a loud cough pulled attention back to Fox.

"She's fine," Fox assured, "we were just discussing how surprising it is you haven't judged her for her performances tonight."

Ruby's brow wrinkled as confusion overtook her features, the redhead frowning at the statement.

"What?" she said, "they weren't all that bad."

Fox snorted while Weiss threw her a glance over the mediocre compliment.

"Besides," Ruby continued on, oblivious, "I wouldn't judge you over that."

Fox's eyebrows went up, a pleased expression settling on his face as he turned to look at Weiss as if to say 'told you so.' The white haired woman only stared back at him flatly, unmoved.

"I mean, like, maybe if you did the chicken dance on the dance machine, but even then," Ruby kept going, frowning as though she was putting a little too much thought into Weiss's hypothetical performance.

Yatsuhashi cleared his throat into his hand, resetting the attention.

"Perhaps instead of dwelling too hard on that," he began, pointing to the neglected handcuffs, "we instead get you started on the rest of your night?"

"An excellent suggestion!" Fox agreed brightly, earning himself scowls from both women, "why don't we get right to it?"

Sighing, Ruby held out her hand expectantly; Weiss handed the cuffs over to Yatsuhashi, who easily clasped them around the redhead's wrist once more. As he moved to connect Weiss, however, Ruby batted his hands off, shooing him away. He pulled back, puzzled, meeting Fox's questioning gaze.

"Friends that pee together, stay together," Ruby explained, unhelpfully – Fox, unfortunately, heard that entirely, and the look that took over his face was pretty entertaining. Fortunately, however, Ruby kept talking before he could say anything on the matter.

"But," she said, her voice sounding rather sage where it really had no right to, "dates that stick together, succeed together."

She glanced at her partner, meeting uncertain cyan. Ruby held up the open cuff, smiling tentatively.

"Ready?" she asked.

Weiss stared back at hopeful silver, finding only open trust in her partner's expression. She glanced at Fox, frozen – and on the other couch she found Yatsu giving a thumbs up, Fox smiling and mouthing 'trust' back to her.

She turned back to Ruby, who was patiently waiting, her smile not slipping in spite of the seconds passing. Some kind of emotion passed through her – a warmth, almost – and she found herself smiling back.

A breath in, and then–

"Ready."

A/N: Well, hello! I know. I KNOW. Believe me, I have not spent over a year forgetting that I have a very popular fic just waiting to be finished. If you would like to know the reasons why this took so long, read on. If not - just know that I have not given up on this, and I can start writing freely again following May. So, no updates until summer, likely.

As to why this took a year to write… well, four main reasons. Firstly, this chapter is the hardest thing I've EVER written - Bohemian Rhapsody is a bitch to write out, lyrically, and still remain interesting to read. Secondly, I moved out last January - right around the time of the last chapter - and then got very busy trying to be an adult. I also lost a lot of commute time, which is good for me, but bad for writing, because I didn't have a designated hour and a half every day for it. And third, I've been doing my thesis since September - it's very, very, VERY busy, and I honestly just haven't had the time to write.

But the main reason, honestly, is that Volume 4 was… not my cup of tea, to put it lightly. Personal reasons aside, the characters changed in a way that made it hard for me to enjoy writing them - and, because fan works changed as well, it was hard to find the same inspirations to rely on. The characters I'd seen from the beginning (and watched fandom develop long before canon had the time to) disappeared along with a good chunk of the writers and the artists of the time. Even when I had the time to write, I couldn't look to the show for the characters, and the muse was pretty much gone. With Volume 5, though, they're returning - and there are new authors and artists who are picking up the mantle. So the inspiration is somewhat back, if just a little bit slow.

For those of you still reading - I have no idea if any of you have stuck around from the start, but if you have, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those joining along the way, or just starting now; thank you as well. And for those who've left comments telling me what they've enjoyed - you're the reason I never came to tell you I was ending the fic. I owe my hours of work to finish the night, and these girls - but I also owe all of you. We're far from finished, and I can't thank you enough for joining me on this journey. And if you didn't find this chapter worth the year long wait, or don't like it - well, know that I'm not a huge fan of it, either. But it's done, and gone, and I can move on with the rest of the story now.

(On another note, the only one who doesn't get thanks is whoever left a review complaining about the year long wait. Buddy, I know it's been ages, but I'm also not paid for this, and I also have a life beyond the fic.)

TL;DR? Adulthood and thesis eat up all my time, Vol 4 killed my motivation but Vol 5 brought it back, and never write Bohemian Rhapsody. Ever. And I can't thank you guys enough for sticking around.

Like I said, thesis ends in May, and I should be able to write again then - but likely, no update until then. But, like I said before, I have no intentions of giving up on this fic. I don't think it'll be a year again - I want to write the next chapter, my god do I ever - but like, no promises. We all know how that turns out.

Thanks again for reading. Lattes and late night talks await y'all after May… Until then.