2 cascaded transistors- where is Vout of a transistor when there is a shorted collector resistor?
@esilk, my error was indeed to wrongly assume that "all capacitors are shorts in AC" I have since learned that, in the pass band, not all capacitors are shorts. Had C1, C2, and C3 been shorts, then indeed the gain would be zero.

Below is a sketch, the circuit is a high pass response, low pass and a final high pass, which using straight line approximations looks something like the below. ( finding Thevinin impeadance seen by the capacitor seems too much work to illustrate the point to get actual corners frequencies)



Then I was able to do the AC Analysis, thank you G36, I did make an error regarding Q2, and resolved it


so to make sure I answer my question

1)when cascading is Q2's vin = Q1 vout - Yes, in the pass band

2) how do I find vout - understand C1 and C3 are shorts but C2 is an open, then do regular circuit analysis

Lastly Jonk wanted to see me find DC operating point. Below is my DC analysis, I did verify its fwd active mode, and I do understand that to find Q point of one transistor it is the mid point of Vbe's active region, but Im unsure how to handle the "Q point of a circuit", but I would like to learn.