"Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character. However, a person's Semblance can be similar to-"

Pyrrha's eyes trailed dreamily over the print of her textbook, seeing but not reading. At the moment, her mind was far too preoccupied. She glanced idly Jaune, who was sitting across from her at the library table, reading what appeared to be a large comic book. Her gaze carved its path through the gentle curve of his lips, the dorky smile that she had come to know and endear. Jaune reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes, briefly tilting his head up, and Pyrrha quickly returned her eyes to her book, not wanting to be caught staring.

Even if his attention was off of her, even if he wasn't nearly as close to her in proximity as they had been in the past, Pyrrha still felt unbearably and delightfully warm by his very presence. She gulped before sighing quietly, her entire body shuddering.

It was too much. This was too new, too strange. Both her physical and mental state were completely indescribable to her; she didn't if she wanted to let this tension within her build ceaselessly, keeping the awful strain while retaining the joyous warmth, or to try doing something about it and risk losing everything.

Jaune chuckled at his comic.

Pyrrha nearly had a heart attack.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Jaune looked up from his comic at her curiously, briefly smiling at her before returning his attention to the graphic novel. Pyrrha did the same with her own book. Anything that could occupy her thoughts would be more bearable than thinking of Jaune's smile, or how he stood up for himself to Cardin instead of betraying their friendship, or how he kept her company at the dance, holding her close in his arms as they spun-

Pyrrha blinked, then growled in frustration. She had flipped through a full ten pages of her book, but had read absolutely nothing. Irritated, she shut the textbook and pushed it to the side of the desk. Jaune looked up once again, as taken out of his reading experience as Pyrrha was with hers.

Well, maybe not quite as much.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Jaune asked somewhat timidly, not wanting to overstep any bounds.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Pyrrha asked almost immediately. She knew that Jaune would voice his concerns. After all that they'd been through, the dance particularly, Jaune had seemed almost too eager to come to Pyrrha's aid, no matter what the situation. He was only trying to make up for how thick he'd been in continuing to batter the fact that Pyrrha wasn't asked to the dance over and over again, even if it wasn't his intent.

Pyrrha was appreciative of his attention in most any situation, but in this particular one, it was the last thing she wanted. It was also the first thing that she wanted, but she didn't know if she should want it, or if she had the right to want so much of his attention.

"Oh, uh, no reason," Jaune said, stepping back from the conversation. Pyrrha inwardly screamed at herself. Her quick answer had come off as irritated and annoyed. Granted, she was irritated and annoyed, just not at him. She was only irritated and annoyed at herself, and her ceaseless indulgent thoughts of her leader.

"Thank you, Jaune," Pyrrha added after a pause between them. "But I really am fine. I just...have a lot on my mind, I suppose."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Pyrrha paused. That was an invitation. She didn't have to bring it up out of the blue, because he just gave her an in. All she had to do was articulate feelings that she couldn't even begin to understand into the English language, and hope that it didn't completely ruin their relationship that they had been building through hours of after class sparing, nights of study sessions, and months of being on the same team which they would have to share for a whole four years.

Yeah. That's all.

"Not now, but perhaps later, if, um...if I'm feeling up to it," Pyrrha worded carefully. Jaune, now that the conversational line had been drawn, just nodded with a supportive smile.

Pyrrha burned from within, and her legs shook under the table, despite how hard she was trying to not let her emotions show outwardly. She didn't trust herself to speak with Jaune further, or even be near him the time being. Pushing her seat back, she got up, desperately trying to keep her legs from shivering.

"I'm going to get another book," she excused herself, giving Jaune one last conflicted smile before walking towards one of them many aisles of bookshelves. As soon as she turned around, her face fell, her forced smile wilting into a frown of distress.

As she walked between the bookshelves, she felt her heart become more isolated with every step she took, every inch she put between herself and Jaune turning her insides into ice. The cold spread throughout her body, and it was only until she was completely out of sight from Jaune that she allowed herself to crack. She leaned her back against the side of a bookshelf and slid down to the floor, groaning from the back of her throat and shutting her eyes as her walls fell.

"Ahem."

Pyrrha looked up quickly, afraid that Jaune had walked over. Instead, she saw Ren standing in front of her. His arms were crossed, and his face held no trace of a smile nor a frown. As ever, he was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

"Oh, um, hello again Ren!" she said cheerfully, her position betraying her false tone. Ren didn't say a word, instead deciding to sit down next to her. Pyrrha continued, "Where is Nora?"

"She went to the bathroom," Ren answered briefly before sitting down next to his teammate. Pyrrha hummed in acknowledgement, suddenly realizing that not only did she not know Ren well enough to carry on a conversation, but also that this was probably the only time he'd seen him apart from Nora. He didn't seem to be too bothered by it, given his flat expression.

A silence stretched between them for a while, and from in Pyrrha's honest opinion, Ren most definitely wouldn't be the one to break it. However, just as she was about to say something, Ren did just that.

"Has Nora ever told you how long we've been friends?" he said, looking straight ahead. Pyrrha took the innocent topic in stride, having been worried that he was going to confront her on what had happened during breakfast.

"No, but from the way you two get on, I'm sure it's been quite a while."

Ren readjusted himself before answering; his hands sat idly in his lap, one of his legs was nearly flat against the ground, the other was pulled up, and his head leaning back against the bookshelf. His face remained nearly expressionless.

"Two months ago, we knew each other for exactly twelve years," he revealed unceremoniously. "We've known each other for nearly three quarters of our lives."

"I'm glad you've had such a long standing friendship," Pyrrha said, honestly impressed. Her longest standing friend was probably...

...Jaune. Huh.

"There were a few times when I wasn't sure it was a friendship," he said quietly.

"What?" Pyrrha uttered, perplexed at the unexpected bomb he had just dropped on her.

"I know how Nora feels," Ren disclosed. Never once did his expression falter. "Sometimes, I think I feel the same way. Sometimes, I think that I should take a step forwards in our friendship...or out of it. I can be myself around her. She's exactly what I need in my life, a unique and irreplaceable part of it."

He turned his head to Pyrrha, finally meeting eyes with her.

"But I know my place."

"Ren, I-I...I don't-" Pyrrha stuttered. Ren resumed speaking between one of her pauses in speech.

"Just because someone is your best friend, just because you feel at home when with someone, even if it seems like taking the next step with someone would be an obvious progression of your relationship...none of that means that step should be taken. If I'm sure of one thing, it's that the feelings Nora has for me are not mutual. She's like a sister to me: a home away from home."

Ren stood up and leaned his back against the wall, his arms crossed. As he gazed down at Pyrrha, slight shreds of emotions made their way onto his face: pity, unwavering confidence, and most evidently, sympathy. Having conflicted feelings over a best friend was something he could most definitely relate to.

"Are you...a-are you telling me to-"

"I'm not telling you to do anything," Ren clarified, shrugging. "But if you're going to do anything, do it with conviction. Otherwise, you're taking a risk you can't afford."

On that grim note, Ren walked away, leaving Pyrrha to to her thoughts.

A/N: Yeah, I know, Ren doesn't talk a lot, but I feel like if any subject would open him up, it'd be the one he just discussed.