So before we get started, let's take care of some housekeeping.

This fic is probably not going to be exactly parallel to the movie this story is based on. Or maybe it will. I don't really want to use the movie as my template for this story, but I'm not the most inspired of writers, so I'll do my best to stray from the movie's plot, but no guarantees.

Also, why Blake and Jaune? For some reason, they work surprisingly well together. Most of the BlakexJaune fics I've read have been some of the better stories I've read, and especially in correspondence to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, they work really well as the character's parallels.

Third, I don't have a set schedule for chapter release. I'm just working on this when I have time and/or feel inspired. Just so ya know.

Lastly, yes, I know I missed the opportunity to make this fic "[Blank] and Nora's Infinite Playlist." But back to the point of character parallels: every character I put in place is there for a reason.

Without further ado (or my endless babbling), enjoy!

Chapter 1: Young Journey

"Hey Weiss, this is Jaune."

It was noon on a Saturday, and Jaune had decided that maybe this time (the fifth time, to be exact, although Jaune would probably insist that it was only the fourth) his ex-girlfriend would pick up the phone. She had broken up with him seemingly out of the blue about three weeks ago, and Jaune had been periodically calling her since then, each time without fail leading to voicemail.

"So you're probably working right now, which I get. Y'know. Because you have to work to make money. I get that. Totally. I'm off today. Just working on demos with the band and such…"

He wasn't. In fact, he still hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

"… and I was just calling to check up on you. I hope you're doing alright. Or maybe great! Or… maybe you're not doing so well… which is why I checked up on you of course! Because I'm doing okay…"

He wasn't. The numerous photos of Weiss and himself still lined the walls of his apartment.

"… so I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I just… I really miss you. And I know we broke up on really bad terms, and well, I just hoped that maybe one of these days we could amend that. Because… well… I was hoping we could still be friends, even after what happened. I'm still not sure what happened. But I'd like to make it up to you."

Finally getting out of bed, he stumbled towards his pantry and grabbed the first box of Pumpkin Pete's that he could reach and set it next to an unclean bowl. Opening a rather empty refrigerator, he pulled out a half-gallon jug of milk, sniffed the contents (which, unbeknownst to Jaune, were expired by a day) and poured himself bowl.

"I would also like to tell you that all those mixtapes I kept sending you? I'll probably stop making those, since I've become a little pressed for time between the band and work…" Jaune started at the all-too enthusiastic alert coming from his laptop as it spat out a freshly burned disk. "Probably."

He walked towards one of the few and somewhat dismal-looking windows and shielded his face from the sun as he looked out. "So maybe soon we can talk a bit. See where we stand. See where we wanted to go from here. I just hope you're doing well! That's all. So just… stay cool, I guess, and I… I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Beep.

"Your message has been deleted! To record a new one, press 1."

"Fuck."

Blake sighed tiredly as she placed the last of the new shipment of books in their places on the fiction shelves of Tukson's Bookstore, which had recently expanded and become a mecca of sorts for Vale's book lovers. It had been paradise for Blake as well – until she picked up a job there. The recent expansion didn't come without its fair influx of customers, and the business certainly kept Blake on her toes. How people kept finding time to explore the store's wealth of literature was beyond Blake, but it irked her to no end that she had not progressed a single page of the book she had brought to read in her free time since last month.

She checked the time on her phone and with some small satisfaction realized that it was her break. And not a moment too soon, she thought to herself. Blake checked herself out in the back, plugged in her iPod and headphones, and made a beeline towards the coffee joint across the street, walking to the tune of Casey and the Red Rosies newest single.

"Whenever I think of you

How I wish you only knew

That you might be my dream come true

But what do I have to do to make you notice me?"

As she opened the door of the coffee shop, the blonde girl behind the counter waved excitedly at her, and Blake waved back politely as she walked up to the counter, pulling down her headphones.

"Hey there, kitty-cat!" said the smiling barista.

Blake smiled back. "Hi Yang. You look excited. What's up?"

Yang grinned even wider. "Oh nothing. I'll tell you about it in a little bit, but let me get you something to drink first, eh?"

"Sure. I'll have the hazelnut macchiato, medium please. And one of those tuna salads, while you're at it." Blake reached for her wallet.

Yang nodded, still grinning. "Coming right up!" She whipped up the coffee and salad, and went behind the cash register to process the change. "We're not too busy right now, so grab a table and I'll join you in a sec!"

Blake set her food and coffee down on one of the many empty tables in the shop. Yang walked briskly over to the table and pulled up a seat. "So you'll never believe this. It just so happens that-"

The door of the coffee shop creaked open once more, and a short girl with hair the color snow strode up to their table. "Hey you two." She smiled thinly at Blake and Yang.

"Heya, Weiss!" said Yang in her ever-so-bright manner.

"Hey," said Blake less enthusiastically.

"I just got a break from the dust shop. Or actually, I got Neptune to take up my shift in exchange for a cup of coffee." Weiss sighed nonchalantly as she reached inside her handbag. "I don't think I'll get him one, though. Money is money. Plus, I've got the boy on a leash, so he won't know any better."

She pulled out CD in a very well-decorated cardboard casing. "The dunce made another mixtape. Can you believe how desperate the loser is?" she smirked and proceeded to throw it in the trash bin. "Anyways, I'm going to grab something then go shopping with all this time on my hands!" She waved goodbye and walked up to the counter where a second barista took her order.

Blake scowled at the girl in white as she grabbed her order and left. After a few seconds she walked over to the trash bin and pulled out the cased disk and walked back to the table.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Well, aren't you a little obsessive," she said teasingly.

Blake rolled her eyes. "I'm not obsessive! Her ex just makes really good mixtapes."

"I don't know, pulling out some guy's trash on a regular basis sounds like obsession to me."

"Call it what you want. I've never even met the guy." Blake pulled the CD out of its casing. "'The Closure Tapes, Pt 8?' Holy shit. I can't imagine what that bitch did to the poor guy."

Yang smirked. "Are you sure you're just in it for the music? You seem to care a lot about the guy."

Blake glared at her. "Shut up. I'm just going to burn the disk and put the music on my iPod. Nothing more, nothing less." She put the disk away. "So what were you so excited about?"

Yang grinned, a twinkle in her eye. "Wellllllll…"

Jaune sighed as he polished his bass for the second time that day. It was a slow and ridiculously boring process, but at least it kept his mind off of things like… like Weiss.

Growling, he vigorously shook his head and reached down to grab more polish – only to realize he had run out.

"Shit," he muttered and vehemently kicked the empty bottle across the room. The blonde haired boy looked around the room for hopefully another bottle of guitar polish when his eyes settled on the newly decorated mixtape on the corner of his desk, with the words "The Closure Tapes, Pt 9" scrawled on the disk, and suddenly Weiss flooded his head uninvited once more.

Before he could gather his thoughts, he heard a certain car horn honking to the tune of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" wailing down his street. Jaune ambled over to his window peered out just in time to witness a brown van careening into the trash and recycling bins below. The van stopped abruptly and a boy with black hair and a pink strand stuck his head out the driver's window.

"Huh. That's new," he said with a frown. He glanced up at Jaune. "That is new, right?"

Jaune groaned. "No, it's not new, Ren. That's there every damn week, dude."

Ren looked back at the mess of trash, then back up at Jaune. "I meant all this garbage all over the place," he called out. "That's new. I mean, isn't this technically littering? You could get fined for that."

Jaune sighed as he pulled on a pair of sweats and went down to meet Ren as well as Ren's bubbly orange haired female passenger.

"Jauney!" She ran up to Jaune and gave him a spine crushing hug, and scrunched her nose. "Goddamn, dude. How long have you been dead for?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "I'm alive and well, Nora, thank you very much." He let go of her. "Listen you guys, I'm not gonna go tonight."

"What!? That's bullcrap!" Nora frowned at him. "C'mon, Jauney, you're just messing with us, right?"

"I just… I'm not feeling very well today. Go out and have some fun, just the two of you."

Nora grabbed the blonde boy by the shoulders. "Jauneeeeeeyy, you know we have a gig today, buddy."

Ren stepped in holding a dog-sized box. "This is our first gig in weeks, Jaune."

"Aaaaand we finally have name, too!" Nora danced around them excitedly. "From now on, we're The Juniperberries!"

Jaune cocked his head. "The what?"

"The Juniperberries! You know, like The Cranberries!"

Jaune sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. "See, the difference between the two is that The Juniperberries doesn't quite roll off the tongue very well. It sounds terrible."

Nora grinned and punched his arm. "Only because we're not famous yet," she said in a sing-songy tone.

"We also have a drummer now," Ren added.

Jaune stared at him. This was the best news he'd heard in weeks. "We do?"

"Yup." As Nora gave an eager drumroll, Ren opened the box and pulled out a digital compact drum machine. "Ah?"

Jaune facepalmed. "You're serious? That's not even a real drum machine. That's like one of those toys you get at Vale's Electronics."

Nora beamed. "That's where we got it! Speaking of which, you ever notice that the owner looks like the same guy who owns A Simple Wok?"

Jaune sighed. Again. "So who's gonna… uh… play it?"

Ren pointed towards Jaune. "You, buddy."

And all of a sudden, it was the worst news he'd heard in weeks.

Jaune, exasperated, turned back towards his apartment. "Yeah, you can go on without me. You guys found a drum machine; I bet you can find a bass machine as well."

Nora started, "W-wait Jauney! Look we know you've been pretty depressed since Weiss left and all, but it's been three weeks, bud. That 'woe is me' shit's getting old, okay?"

Ren joined in, "It's okay to be heartbroken over these kinds of things, but you just have to move on. Wasting away in your apartment isn't going to do anyone any good, least of all you. So come play the gig with us, and then we can go get drinks or something. You deserve to have some fun, Jaune."

Nora grinned. "Yeah! Let's all get drunk tonight! And maybe you can score with some hottie at the club and then I betcha the White Bitch of Narnia will just be a distant memory of the past!"

"You guys… I don't know, man, being single's just really hard," grumbled Jaune. "I mean, you two have been together since forever ago! I just gotta deal with this in my own way, okay?"

Ren and Nora looked at each other and shrugged. Before they could say anything, the van's radio caught the trio's attention.

"This is Beacon Radio, your source for all things indie, weird and otherwise! Fans of Casey and the Red Rosies will be thrilled with this tidbit we managed to gather! For the first time in forever, it seems that 'this will be the day' – or night, rather - that Casey and the Red Rosies will be performing somewhere in the city of Vale. The most elusive band in Remnant is rumored to be playing at around midnight tonight, so keep your ears and eyes open for any clues you can find! Otherwise, you may just find yourselves in the rose petals they've left behind if you're too slow!"

All was still for a moment. Then Ren and Nora looked to Jaune with excitement in their faces. "C'mon Jauney," pleaded Nora. "Casey and the Red Rosies! Our favorite band ever; who knows when they'll play again?"

It was true. Publicity-shy, Casey and the Red Rosies seldom played a public show, and when they did, the location on the band's concert would be spread around the city in the most cryptic of ways, usually through graphic clues and well-hidden messages amongst the cracks and crevices of the city, although you could never be too sure.

Nora grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and gave him her best puppy eyes. "Please Jauney? You can't say no to Casey!"

Jaune looked from Nora, to Ren, then back to Nora. He sighed once more. Then managed a smile.

"Sure."

"YEEESSSSSSSS!" Nora whooped, excitedly jumping towards Ren and giving him a smooch. "We did it, Ren! We're gonna go see Casey with Jauney!"

Ren grinned and wrapped his arms around the girl. "Go get your stuff, Jaune. And for crying out loud, clean yourself up."

Jaune nodded. "Will do."

He turned and walked back into his apartment, a smile playing on his lips. Dammit, he thought. Their enthusiasm's too infectious. Before closing the door behind him, he called out towards the van.

"I'm gonna drive my own car!"

How'd that go? Criticism is very welcome: I only aim to please.

I don't really want to make Yang the hopelessly drunken friend in the story, but I'm not sure what else I could do. Any ideas?

Last point of order: if someone wants to make a cover pic for this fic (hehe), I would definitely not be opposed.

Thanks for reading!