(Author's Note: The song lyrics are obviously part of Elvis Presley's song Burning Love. Yknow...credit where credit is due.)
Team RWBY walked through the slowly darkening city streets. The sun was beginning to set and left beautiful streaks of red and pink across the sky. The streets were unusually vibrant for the time of day. People would have normally been at home, just sitting down to supper. But the beautiful autumn day made people want to be out in the crisp air. Ruby and Weiss walked in front down the concrete sidewalk, covered in striped umbrellas, artists drawing landscapes in charcoal, and musicians trying to earn their supper. The two argued about how much distance one is supposed to keep between yourself and a stranger before saying 'Excuse me.' Yang and Blake were walking behind them, taking in the beauty of the city lights, the smiling faces, and the breathtaking sky.
"I'm hungry," Ruby sighed after a moment.
"There are plenty of cafes on this strip," Blake suggested.
Yang perked up. "I could eat!"
"Very well," Weiss agreed. "This street doesn't look too impoverished. I'm sure the food is of decent quality."
"Who cares about the quality as long as it's good?" the golden haired girl ran her fingers through her hair, as the wind tried to blow it in her eyes.
"I'd rather not die of dysentery, thank you," Weiss said snottily, lifting her nose into the air."
"Ew," Ruby squeaked.
Yang frowned. "You didn't have to be gross."
"Excuse me for trying to save your lives," Weiss huffed.
"We appreciate your efforts," Blake put a hand on Weiss's shoulder, "But I think they're wasted here." Weiss looked dejected.
"Aww, don't be sad, Weiss," Ruby tried to cheer her up. "You can have veto power. We won't eat anywhere you think looks dirty."
"I appreciate that, Ruby," Weiss seemed to regain some of her dignity and strutted ahead of the group. They all began keeping their eyes, and noses, alert for interesting places. Shortly after, when the sun was just dipping into the horizon, Yang let out a shout.
"Hey, look! Is that Pyrrha?" She pointed into one of the smaller cafes on the street. It really didn't look like much from the outside, though they did notice the string of holiday lights on the eves and the neon sign in the window boasting… "And look they have karaoke! We have to go here!"
"I love karaoke!" Ruby lifted her hands to her face in excitement.
"C'mon," Yang grabbed Blake's hand and pulled her in, shortly followed by Ruby.
Weiss remained outside the door and called after them, "I thought I got veto power!"
Ruby turned to merely shrug and then followed Yang up to where a woman stood at a tall podium of sorts with a sign next to it that said, "Please wait to be seated."
"How many are in your party?" the woman asked in a nasal tone.
"Well, there's her and her," Yang pointed to Weiss and Ruby by jabbing a thumb in their direction. "Then there's my girlfriend and me." Yang smiled, giddy, and put her arm around Blake's shoulders, pulled her in, and placed a obvious kiss on her forehead. Blake flushed brightly and tried to make herself look smaller.
"Yang, you don't have to announce that everywhere we go," she whispered in Yang's ear.
"But I can," Yang kept Blake's head captive for only a moment longer, before lovingly letting her go back to her regular standing position.
The woman was not amused. "So… 4?"
"Yep," Yang put her hands on her hips, with no care at all that the woman's tone was less than pleasant.
"Table 5," the woman tried to hand them a number.
"Uhm, actually," Ruby piped up and came to the front. "We have friends here." She pointed to a poised Pyrrha who waved cheerfully, a solemn Ren who nodded graciously, a light-hearted Jaune who smiled awkwardly, and an ecstatic Nora who gestured wildly.
The woman was again, not amused. "But they are at table 2. And you got Table 5…which is on that side of the room. I don't see what I can do."
Yang and Ruby looked at her blankly. Blake sighed. Weiss was more proactive and she too came forward from behind Blake who stood with her hands folded in front of her.
"Ahem…allow me," Weiss put a hand on Ruby's arm. "Excuse me, I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, surely you can accommodate us." She held out her hand which held an unidentifiable amount of Lien.
The woman simply stared. "That doesn't change the fact that I have a number 5 here in my hand, and table 5 is on the other side of the room."
The girls looked towards the numbered tables. Table 2, 4, and 6 were all vacant and right next to Team JNPR's table. The tiles for those tables were also laying right next to the woman's pen on her podium.
"Well, can't we have number 4?" Ruby asked, feeling a bit guilty for pestering the poor woman.
"But I drew number 5 for you!" The woman was becoming upset, her brown eyes growing wide with frustration.
The girls were silent for a moment.
"Uhm," Blake finally ventured. "Couldn't you just… pick up the tile with the number 4 on it?"
"But I have the number 5 in my hand," the woman blinked vacantly.
Blake looked at Yang who shrugged, her brows furrowed in confusion. Ruby gaped at the woman, and Weiss was holding her forehead in her hands. Blake spoke,"You…uhm… could put it down?" Blake offered, slowly, wondering if this woman just didn't speak the same language. "And then… pick the number 4 up?"
The woman stared. She then looked to tile 5 in her hand, and then back to tile 4 on the table. She slowly lowered the 5 to the podium and set it gently down. She stared for another long moment, while the girls could have sworn they heard crickets. Yang and Blake shot each other a perplexed glance. The woman then very slowly, her eyes darting around her as she did, grabbed tile 4. "Here…Table 4. Go." She shooed them, and they hurried to their table.
"All that just for a little karaoke," Yang complained, but then slumped down in a seat. She patted the seat beside her, and winked at Blake who smiled and sat down beside her, resting her hands gently in her lap.
Once they were all seated, they ordered food and talked until the MC stood up to announce the beginning of karaoke hour. The MC proclaimed the stage open to anyone who wanted to participate.
"Oh yay!" Nora squealed. She slurped a noodle and ran up to the DJ who sat to the right of the stage. She gave him her selection, squealing about how much she loved karaoke as she ran up and grabbed the mic. A peppy tune began to play, and soon the cafe was filled with Nora's yodeling voice.
Jaune picked at the uneaten sprouts on his plate. "Nora's the reason we're here," Jaune said. "These are gross."
"Then why did you order them?" Pyrrha inquired quietly.
"They didn't sound gross in the menu," Jaune wined.
"What about 'bean sprouts' sounded better on the menu?" Ren asked, pointing to the very plain looking description.
"I don't know, ok? It just did," Jaune rested his head in his hand and continued poking at the beans.
Pyrrha looked over at the other girls, "The rest of us are not as thrilled about the karaoke as Nora is."
Yang leaned back in her seat with her arms behind her head, "What about you, Blake? Do you like karaoke?"
"It's never seemed like something I would enjoy," Blake said flatly and continued eating her filet of fish.
"Wait... so have you not actually tried it?" Yang asked, appalled.
"Well, no," Blake admitted. She regretted the admission instantly because a wide impish grin spread over Yang's face. "Oh god…" Blake knew her fate before Yang had even voiced it.
Since Nora was still singing, and no one else had approached the DJ, Yang took her opportunity. She strutted over to the DJ and whispered in his ear. She winked at him and ran her fingers over one of his shoulders. Blake watched her and narrowed her eyes, raising one of her eyebrows slightly. Yang, then, sat back down in her chair, quite happy with herself. "Alright, I'm up next."
Blake's arms were crossed over her chest, and she stared across the table, straight past Ruby's head, instead of looking at Yang, who noticed the stern look on her girlfriend's face.
"Blake?"
"Why were you flirting with the DJ, Yang?" Blake asked quietly.
Yang looked at Blake blankly, and then looked to Ruby for answers. Ruby mimed a wink and then trailed her fingers across Weiss' shoulders.
"Hey!" Weiss jerked her shoulder away. "Don't use me as a prop! Yang, you should know what you did."
"It was just a little touch," Yang aimed her explanation at the entire table but then fixed her attention on Blake. "Did… did it bother you?"
"Well, yes… kind of," Blake uncrossed her arms and let them rest on the table.
"Wait a minute," Yang eyed Blake with a squint and jeering smile. "Did me winking at the DJ make you… jealous?"
Blake's eyebrows fell a bit, and her mouth tightened. "Maybe…"
"Aww!" Yang sighed, putting her hand to her chest. "Babe, you know I only have eyes for you, but if it bothers you, I won't do it anymore. I've just always known how to get my way, y'know?"
Weiss piped in, "You might try saying please instead of flaunting your beauty."
"I guess I might have to," Yang smiled gently at Blake. "I have someone else to flaunt to, now. You deserve all my attention anyway," Yang put a hand on Blake's arm.
Blake blushed and smiled a bit at Yang, and the latter knew she was forgiven. Nora's song finally ended, and the music went silent. "Hey, that's my cue!" Yang whispered loudly. "You coming up there with me, Blake?"
"I think not," Blake shook her head.
"Oh, you will, just wait," Yang winked at her and strutted up to the stage. She got up close to the mic, adjusting the mic from Nora's height up to her own imposing one. A red spotlight washed over Yang. "I'd like to dedicate this song to my girl, Blake." Blake turned crimson, as if she too had a red spotlight on her. Yang smiled as a lively guitar tune started. "Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature risin'," Yang crooned, adding a touch of country to her accent for effect. She pointed a finger at Blake, grinning widely, "Girl, girl, girl, yeah, you're gonna set me on fire." Blake sunk down in her seat a little, putting a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes. This obviously amused Yang as she continued into a jiving chorus, "Your kisses lift me higher, like the sweet song of a choir. You light my morning sky, with burning love." She blew a kiss to Blake who, though still slightly covering her face, cracked a slight sideways smile.
Ruby smiled too and clapped. "Oh, Yang has such a great voice!"
"This song is not my style at all," Weiss sniffed. She noticed Ruby eyeing her, pointing her finger at her accusingly. "Fine, I guess it's sort of fun."
Yang was beginning to get into the song and now grabbed the mic out of it's holder. "Burning, burning, burning and nothing can cool me. I just might turn to smoke but I feel fine." Yang began strutting slightly around the stage, wiping her forehead and smiling on the word 'fine.' "Because your kisses lift me higher...you light my morning sky," she waved her hand slowly in an arc with her palm out, as if following the path of a rainbow and looked upwards into the metaphorical sky.
Blake had allowed her hand to fall and was now watching her girlfriend intently. It was embarrassing to be sung at in a cafe full of people, but Yang's energy was hypnotic. Everything she did, she did with all her heart. Blake liked that about her. Plus, she had dedicated the song to her and she obviously meant the words. A smile gradually appeared on Blake's face, until she was beaming up at the stage.
"It's coming closer the flames are now licking my body," Yang ran her hands down from her bust, across her stomach, and over her hips, looking down at Blake with a seductive grin. Blake felt embarrassed and excited at the same time. She looked sideways at Nora who elbowed her slightly. And then her eyes snapped back to the fiery goddess in front of her. "Won't you help me," Yang looked at her with pleading eyes and suddenly began to descend from the stage. She hurried over to Blake, mic still in one hand. Blake stiffened. She shook her head and waved her hands back and forth. "It's hard to breathe," Yang shot her doe-eyed, pleading look. Blake could feel herself melting. One sign of weakness was all Yang needed and snatched Blake's hand up and pulled her. "My chest is a-heaving." She dragged Blake up to the stage. The dark-haired girl blinked in discomfort at the light, and then looked awkwardly down at the crowd, feeling terror creeping over her. Give her a thousand Grimm any day over a room full of judgmental strangers. Yang remedied this by moving close enough to Blake so that there was just enough room for her mic between their chests. She put a hand on her chin and moved her head to look in her eyes and sang, "Your kisses lift me higher." Though she was smiling playfully, her violet eyes shined with adoration, and Blake knew she meant every word. Blake's heart settled, and she listened with a shy smile. "Like the sweet song of a choir. You light my morning sky, with burning love." She grabbed Blake by the waist and moved back and forth to the music, "I'm just a hunk , a hunk, o' burning love." Finally, she suddenly, catching Blake off guard, dipped her as the music faded out. A round of applause rolled out of the crowd, with whistling and cheers, which they suspected came from Nora, but Yang only had eyes for the girl that she still had cradled in her arms. Her chest was heaving and sweat shined across her neck. She flipped her hair and brought Blake back to a standing position. Blake shyly made her way back to the table. Yang followed, still strutting, and high fiving people as she made her way down, ending with Ruby who burst out excitedly, "That was great, Yang!"
Yang nodded in thanks to Ruby. She sat back in her seat.
"It really was very entertaining," Pyrrha smiled sweetly.
Right then, the waiter passed by with his tray above Yang's head. He lost control of one of the soda cans, and it wobbled and fell. The drink 'thunked' Yang in the head. She yelled in surprise.
"Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry miss," the waiter apologized, quickly lowering the tray to a less hazardous altitude. He grabbed the soda can quickly, awkwardly clattering utensils as he did. "Can I get you anything? A free dessert perhaps."
"No, don't worry about it," Yang waved him off. "It's not necessary."
The waiter nodded and hurried away. Yang rubbed her head and cringed.
"Are you ok?" Blake asked in concern.
"Oh I'm fine," Yang straightened her hair. "Besides…" she raised her eyebrows impishly. "It's only a soft drink." She put her hands on her hips. When only silence met her ears, she held her arms out, palms up. "Soft drink, huh?"
"Boo," Nora yelled.
"Oh, that's bad," Jaune shook his head.
Blake gave Yang a teasing eye roll.
They finished eating and paid. They got up and began to trickle out of the cafe and into the streets. It was now dark outside, but the street lamps shone warmly. Neon signs and blinking plaques made the concrete glow with colors. Music poured out of the bars and cafes on the strip, and the outside seating areas crawled with merry-making. Yang was the last one out and held the door open for Blake. As Blake passed, she looked at Yang with a sideways smile. She was amused and grateful for the sweet, though incredibly embarrassing tribute, so she deemed it worthy of granting Yang a short peck on the cheek. "Thanks for the song." Yang grinned. Blake saw this, frowned, and then added, "And if you ever do it again, I'll kill you in your sleep."
Yang's eyes widened, and she laughed. "I'll try to remember that." Blake's eyes softened, and she grabbed Yang's hand as they went out the door.