The weather had turned briskly cold over the last couple of days. Frost had covered the ground and twinkled every morning in the sunlight, turning the grounds of Beacon into a jeweled landscape worthy of a painter's brush. December had arrived quickly, and with it the prospects of snow and snuggles in warm clothing. Not many people liked the winter, but for Ruby Rose, it was a paradise.
The girl had a thing for the white stuff; Snow was one of those things that you could throw at someone without any sort of repercussion apart from a retaliatory volley, and it made everything slippery. It also heralded one of the best events of the year for a girl of 15: Christmas.
Ruby loved Christmas; the decorations, the presents, the mistletoe, the food –oh gods the food- and the hot chocolate. To her, Christmas was a little slice of heaven.
it was surprising then that one day during the winter break she noticed a friend of hers, Jaune Arc, looking gloomy. She was in the market district of Vale munching on a bag of cookies at the time, and she had just so happened to glance over in the window of a coffee shop when out of the blue, there in the window seat, was Jaune.
She immediately pressed her face against the glass and gave it a knock. Jaune glanced up with a surprised look on his face, then smiled, waved, and even more to her surprise, looked back down again and… frowned.
That was it then.
The door to the coffee shop tinkled as Ruby opened it and wandered in, the breeze from the cold outside mixing with the delicious smell of java and cocoa. She immediately moved over to the seat opposite Jaune and plonked herself down.
"Hey, Jaune!" She said, smiling.
"Hey…"
What was that?
"Jaune?" Ruby asked tentatively. Normally Jaune Arc was a little more… participating with conversation. He always had something to say, especially after a combat lesson with Pyrrha.
"Hey, Jaune? What's eating your shorts?" Ruby asked, putting her bag of cookies on the table and leaning forward.
"Hmm?" Jaune grunted, looking at Ruby in surprise. "Oh… Nothing. Hi." He muttered, before returning his gaze to the table.
"Doesn't sound like nothing to me." Ruby said, reaching over and tugging his cheek. "Come on! It's Christmas soon! Cheer up!"
"Ow, hey!" Jaune protested. "Stop, ok? I'm… I'm not in the mood."
"Well, that's obvious. Come on, Jaune. We're friends, right? You can talk to me."
Jaune sighed a deep and heavy sigh thick with emotion. Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"I… I think I… No, I can't."
Ruby pouted. "Jaune, you're going to tell me one way or another." She waved her hands puppy-like in front of him. "Or I will prepare the tickle torture."
That brought a smile from her friend, but not enough of one to satisfy her. "Come on, Jaune! What's eating you? You look like a lovestruck sailor!" She exclaimed, leaning forward. "Here, I'll buy you a hot chocolate. Excuse me!" She waved at a waitress
"Wait." Jaune held out a hand and stopped her. He closed it and brought it back onto the table. "Ruby… Have you ever fallen in love?"
"Sure I have! The cocoa-"
"-No, I mean, have you ever… liked someone?" He interrupted, slowly turning red.
And that, for the record, thought Ruby Rose, was the most surprising thing he said to her as long as she had known him.
"He WHAT?" Said Yang Xiao Long a few hours later at a different coffee shop. Ruby had called the team together to discuss what she said was of utmost and life-threatening importance.
"He said he was in love…" Ruby said, smiling slightly. "With Pyrrha Nikos."
"Took him long enough." Said Blake Belladonna half sarcastically. "I mean, she's been tutoring him for how long?"
"That's not the problem though!" Ruby exclaimed, leaning forward in the booth they all occupied. "He can't say it to her! He's having a hard time confessing!"
"Well, that's no surprise." Weiss Shinee muttered, sipping her earl grey. "The idiot's about as thick as a concussed ursa. It's a wonder he feels love at all."
"Shut up, Weiss." Yang spat, frowning at her.
"ANYWAY!" Ruby yelled, standing up. "It's almost Christmas, and I feel it to be our solemn duty to let true love prevail!" She said, punching the air.
"…What?" Said Weiss, obviously confused.
"She means we need to play matchmaker." Said Blake, smiling softly. "I think it's a great idea."
"Me too!" Yang exclaimed, standing up and punching the air as well. "Team RWBY, the matchmaking masters have accepted the quest!"
"Wait just a minute!" Weiss said, but to no avail, as Blake stood up as well and punched the air. "I never agreed to this! I just came because Ruby mentioned something of great importance!"
"Weiss, since when is the happiness of a man before Christmas unimportant? Besides, he's our friend and fellow classmate. We need to do this. For Jaune!"
"For Jaune!" Three mugs clattered together.
Weiss just shook her head. "I swear…"
"So, what's the plan?" Yang said once they all sat back down.
Ruby pulled out a large sheath of paper which she unrolled on the table. It looked like a complicated set of plans at first glance, but once one noticed the catapult covered in jam, it became clear that it was anything but.
"We need some way of getting Jaune to confess to Pyrrha, so I went to the person who knows them better than anyone."
"Please tell me it was Lie Ren-"
"Nora."
Weiss groaned. "Ruby, Nora's ALSO as thick as a concussed ursa. She can't help-"
"Hey, Nora drew these plans up for me in a few minutes, don't put her help down as a lost cause!" Ruby exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Weiss.
"Why is Jaune covered in bananas?" Blake muttered, tracing the plan with her finger.
"Now, I know this is a little complicated, but it details that-"
"Why don't we get him to write a poem?"
Everyone stared at Yang.
"What?" She said, looking at them all. "It's what I would do."
The plan was rolled up and stuffed back in Ruby's bag. Everyone now paid attention to Yang intently as she talked about her poem idea.
"See, when I was in signal, there was a guy I liked, but I didn't have any classes with him, so I wrote him a poem and left it on his locker."
"Now why didn't we think of that?" Blake said with a smile.
"Only thing is it didn't work." Yang said sadly. "He was seeing another girl."
Silence fell, only broken by a soft sip as Weiss drank her tea.
"B-but she wrote him a poem in the first place!" Yang said, trying to revive the mood. "I think mine didn't work because I called him my fiery love ferret."
"I can see why." Weiss muttered through her cup.
"So we need someone to coach Jaune in poem making." Blake said, chewing a caramel. "Who do you think should do it?"
Everyone looked at Weiss. She glanced up, did a double take, and spat out her tea. "No. No way am I tutoring that oaf in love poems!" She said, anxiety filling her voice.
"But Weiss, you're the top of our classical literature class." Ruby muttered, putting a hand on hers. "You're the best at the job."
"There is no way in hell I would tutor him. He's a lazy, macho, self-indulging-"
"Weiss…"
"-Heartless, disrespectful, scummy-"
"-Kind and thoughtful person… so I'm going to give you a hand in writing a… poem, Jaune. Do pay attention, as I'm only going to do this once."
It took three hours, but under the tutelage of a thoroughly annoyed Weiss, Jaune Arc managed to hammer out a love poem. However…
"You are my love canoe." Said Weiss, reading the first line, though she didn't get any further than that. Ruby and Yang had immediately collapsed in throes of rather hideous laughter that didn't seem to want to stop. Blake just smiled and swung her legs off the side of her bed.
"It's not funny!" Weiss exclaimed, stomping the ground. "We worked really hard on this!"
"What, is he going to 'paddle' her bum?" Yang shrieked, to even more laughter from Ruby. She was to the point where she was snorting, she was laughing so hard.
"It's NOT FUNN- Oh stop it! Knock it off! SHUT UP!" Weiss yelled to no avail.
"I take it you haven't written any love notes before, Weiss." Blake said over the screaming laughter.
"Of course not! You wanted a love poem, so I did my best to come up with something poetic!" She said huffily. "You try to do better next time! Perhaps you can take a hint from your 'Ninjas of love' book!"
"Hmm." Blake said, seriously considering it.
"W-Weiss…" Ruby said, panting. "Nobody… Nobody blames you, but I don't think that's going to work. Love canoe… Bwahahahahahahaha!" Ruby collapsed again in fits of laughter.
"Fine! I get it!" Weiss said, scrunching up the letter into a ball and throwing it out the window. She stomped off in a huff and slammed the door to their dorm.
"Haha… Love canoe."
Cardin Winchester felt something hit his head as he was walking back from the dormitories. Turning around, he noticed it was a small crumpled up piece of paper. Bending down and picking it up, he unfolded it and began to read.
His eyes went wide.
It was three days later that the gang got back together to discuss the matter of Jaune's problem. Very little progress had been made, and to make matters worse, Jaune had gone back to see his family for a few days. That meant that the time they had to get him to confess or to get Pyrrha to notice him was running short. Christmas was after all, a week away.
The team decided to take a short walk through the winter forest to try to clear their minds. The forest was completely covered in snow, and the stark trees made things seem even gloomier than before, something that didn't help the team's mood much as everyone was a little down in the dumps.
"What should we do?" Asked a rather depressed Ruby. She had tried to think of things they could do to help Jaune in the interm, but very little had come to mind that would even have a remote chance of working.
"Why don't we talk to Pyrrha? Just tell her straight off?" Yang said, tugging some snow out of her boot heel.
"No! What, let her know right off? That would make Jaune even more miserable!"
"I think we should leave them be and let time take over." Weiss said, walking on the top of the snow pack as if she didn't weigh anything.
"And I think you need to chill, Ice queen." Yang muttered, unhappily trudging through the snow. "We started this with the love note, we need to finish it."
"But that didn't go anywhere!" Weiss said indignantly. "All it did was make him even more miserable."
"She's got a point." Blake said, walking alongside Weiss. "Ruby, what was the plan Nora wanted to do?"
"Um…" Ruby pulled out the blueprint. "She wanted to… glue them together for a day."
"Bad idea." Yang said.
"Um… guys?"
"Why is that a bad idea? We won't have to use glue, we just need to get them in a room together." Blake said, frowning at Yang. "Maybe Weiss is right. Maybe we need to let time do its work."
"Guys!"
"Yeah, but Nora wanted to spread jam over their ears so they could lick-"
"Eww, Ruby! That's disgusting!"
"GUYS!"
Everyone turned to look at Weiss, whose face was the colour of the snow. In the clearing ahead was a pack of beowolves, who had just at that minute turned their snouts towards the sound of several girls arguing about jam.
Blake groaned. "This is the last thing we need." She said, frowning and unhooking Gambol Shroud. "Yang, Ruby, wait, what are you doing?" She exclaimed as her teammates took a few steps forward
"Just the thing to take the edge off, eh, Ruby?" Yang said, unfurling Ember Celia with a twist. "Nothing like a bit of exercise to help strengthen the mind."
"You really sound like Dad, you know?" Ruby said, but she was smiling as well. Crescent Rose clicked into battle mode as Ruby spun it menacingly. "I agree though. We've been too cooped up in our thoughts. Time to get to work!"
And with emphasis on the last word, Ruby shot forward and decapitated the first beowolf. Spinning around, she fired a bullet right through a wolf's eyeball and, using the momentum, pirouetted and brought the blade end down through another wolf, bisecting it.
"Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!" Yang shouted, and leapt into the fray, Ember Celia blazing.
"You know, I've been thinking." Weiss said, watching the two girls go at it with gusto, yet not making a move herself. "Why Pyrrha? Why does Jaune look to her in such a manner?"
"Well, you did say she was the strongest girl in her class before Beacon." Blake said as she watched Yang expel a beowolf's teeth from its mouth at record breaking speed. "Most of the boys in fact look at her in a longing way."
"It still doesn't change the fact that the boy is not worth it. Honestly, I don't know what Pyrrha sees in Jaune."
Blake, who was about to go and help Ruby and Yang, did a double take and slipped, falling into a snowbank. "What?" She said, picking herself up and brushing snow off her arms. "Say that again?"
"I said," Weiss muttered, fuming at having to repeat herself. "What does Pyrrha see in Jaune?"
"You… You mean Pyrrha likes Jaune?" Blake stuttered, her face going slightly pink.
"Well, I don't know for sure, but she was definitely worked up about him during the whole Cardin debacle."
"And you never thought to mention that?"
"Well, It's not like it's my problem. I did suggest that we leave them be and let time take its toll." Weiss said, crossing her arms and frowning. "They'd get together eventually."
But that last sentence fell on deaf ears as Blake had rushed off to join the combat, a fresh look on her face.
"Ruby! Yang!" She shouted, beheading a Beowolf as she came in from the side of the combat. "I know how we can get Jaune and Pyrrha together!"
"Wha-Really?" Ruby said, turning on the spot to face Blake and slicing the arm off a wolf inadvertently.
"Yeah! Pyrrha may already like Jaune!" Blake said, leaping over a flying carcass Yang had sent her way by accident. "All we need to do is get them under the mistletoe!"
The sound of groaning and falling shells were all that was heard momentarily, then out of the blue a sound like someone skating on ice, a stab, and a howl, and Weiss appeared out of nowhere, her blade impaled on a beowolf that was trying to sneak up on the trio.
"Well, I think we should try to at least get Jaune to say it himself. Pyrrha would go along with it if he says it." Weiss muttered, pulling her blade out of the torso of the wolf with a bit of effort.
"Weiss, that's the best idea you've had all day."
"Actually, she was the one who mentioned Pyrrha possibly liking Jaune in the first place." Blake said, looking at the white-haired girl.
"What? How did you know?" Yang sputtered, looking at Weiss as well.
"I saw her." Weiss said huffily. "She was pacing back and forth in the gardens at Beacon, muttering to herself as if she was trying to work up the courage for something."
That got their attention. Pyrrha wasn't one lacking in courage.
"You sure she was thinking about Jaune?" Yang said.
"Of course, silly! This was the time when he rejected her on the roof, right? The whole school could hear that! She was going on and on about him, and she was crying as well."
"Well, that settles it then!" Yang said, punching the air. "All we need to do is get them together at the right time, and bam! Magic!"
"Weiss, why didn't you tell us at the start?" Ruby asked, rather irritated.
"I didn't think of it till now, ok?" Weiss exclaimed, huffing haughtily. "Besides, the two of them have been training together for some time, you'd think one of them would have said something by now."
But the others were ignoring Weiss and were engaged in a heated discussion over how to get the two together in such a way that the two confess.
"I swear, if we do anything like this again, I'll kill myself." Weiss muttered, sitting down on a pile of snow while she waited for them to finish.
And so it was that team RWBY decided to host a party. Not just any party though…
Christmas Eve…
Three times. Three bleeding times
the man lamented as a steel-toed boot collided with his face and sent his red glasses scattering. Not once was he beaten to a pulp, not twice was he severely hospitalized, but three times now he would have a broken jaw and split skin everywhere. His last thoughts were of the kid doing the kicking, and how odd that this time it was a redhead with a giant hammer…
"All done!" Nora exclaimed amid the mound of broken bones and unconsciousness. "You too?"
"Check!" Said Yang, dropping her quarry and grinning.
"Roger." Blake dropped from the light fixtures to stand next to Yang.
Everyone glanced around at the trashed bar previously owned by the criminal Junior, it's surfaces covered in broken glass and unconscious bodies. The music was blaring a jazz/club mix that reverberated throughout the club and caused the glass on the floor to vibrate with every beat.
"Hey, anyone seen Ruby? Or Ren?" Yang said, looking around, trying to catch a glimpse of her sister.
"They're finishing off in the back. Shall I get started?" Blake said, hopping behind the bar and looking at the stock.
"I don't think this is a good idea…" Weiss muttered, sheathing her rapier. "What are we doing here, anyway?"
Yang grinned. Truthfully it was all her idea, though Blake had something to do with it as well. What better way to celebrate Christmas and new-found love than with an illegal break-in, bust up, and party?
"We're going to have the biggest Christmas bash in the history of Beacon!" Yang exclaimed, punching the air. "I've got the whole thing planned. We're going to have a DJ, a moonlight ball,- that's a dance, Nora- I've got food ordered, and we're going to get soo smashed we won't remember any of it!"
"Aren't we a little young to drink?" Weiss said, a frown on her face. "Won't we get in trouble?"
"Well, I'm too young to drink, but you aren't." Ruby said, emerging from the back with two henchmen on her shoulders. "Besides, we're not going to serve alcohol. The last thing we want is Yang drunk."
"Aww, what's a little drink between friends?" Yang exclaimed, holding up a bottle full of clear liquid.
"Well… It's not just between friends." Blake said, blushing a bit. "I invited everyone."
Weiss's eyes went wide. "E-everyone?" She said in surprise.
"Yep! This is an officially sanctioned event through Prof. Ozpin himself!" Yang said cheerfully. "It took a while to convince him, but I told him there was a lovely bar just down the street from the market district that had enough space for everyone, and they were more than happy to give us the run of the place."
"What Yang forgot to mention," Blake interrupted. "Was that the bar was run by Junior, a conspirator of that no-good Roman Torchwick, which meant we had to clean out the bar first. Hence, the fight we just had."
"Yeah, but what's wrong with that?" Yang said, happily kicking some glass with her boot. "Now we have the whole place to ourselves, and nobody is any the wiser. We can just pile these guys in the cooler or something and have a partay!" She whooped, jumping a foot in the air.
"Yeah!" Nora joined in. "Party!"
Weiss just sighed and clasped her head. "And what will we do when Ozpin gets here and discovers the pile of unconscious bodies in the back room?"
"Run for it?" Blake said with the tiniest hint of a smile.
"No, look, Ozpin's in on this." Yang exclaimed, grabbing a stack of brooms from behind the counter. "As long as we clean this place up, and he means Clean the place up, we can do what we like."
"No alcohol though." Blake said, taking a broom and brushing some glass away. "He was very clear on that point."
"Glynda though, phoofff." Yang said, puffing her cheeks up. "She was close to suspending us for even mentioning the idea."
"You mean they Knew?" Weiss said, going white. "They knew we were attacking this place?"
"Oh come on!" Yang said, smiling. "Ozpin's a lot smarter than he looks."
"To which I offer the reverse in regards to you." Weiss muttered, watching Nora push a broom at break-neck speed. "If we get in trouble for this…"
"For the last time, relax!" Yang exclaimed, tossing a dishrag at her. "Not only are we cleaning out a criminal syndicate's hiding spot, but we're also hosting a Christmas party for the students of Beacon at the criminal's expense. It's a win-win, and Ozpin gave it his blessing."
"Yeah, but he told us not to drink anything here." Ruby said, using Crescent Rose to clean the light fixtures. "So we're ordering in. Ren's making the call after he calls the cops."
"You all…" Weiss couldn't find words, she was so livid. If she weren't part of their team, she would have left hours ago. "How can you be so… so crazy?"
"It's Christmas, Weiss." Ruby said with a sigh.
And that seemed to be the end of the discussion. The glass and bodies were cleaned up, and preparations for the arriving students were made. Weiss even helped out by creating a large ice sculpture in the center of the dance floor where the glass bar used to be. Once the police- who were thoroughly fed up with Ozpin at this point for letting his students run free- picked up the staff of the bar, they began to set up decorations. With the help of Nora and Ren, they got everything in place and the food set up just as the first set of students arrived.
The gang took their places. Ren and Nora were preparing the food brought in by a catering company Nora knew somehow, while the team of RWBY ran the floor. Yang was DJing, Blake was serving drinks, Weiss was reluctantly carving ice for Blake, and Ruby…
"There!" she pointed at the main doors where a figure, dressed in his finest… clothes had just entered.
Jaune Arc didn't quite look the part of a romantic, though he had tried very hard to fit the picture. He wore a suit and bow tie fitting for a party, but the tie was tied loosely and he was fidgeting with it nervously. Upon hearing Ruby's exclamation, he waved at her half-heartedly and made his way over to a seat on the far end of the room.
Ruby hopped down from the lights and moved over to Jaune's side. "Glad you made it! I was worried you wouldn't get my invitation." Ruby chimed happily. "Ready to have a good time?"
"I dunno, Ruby." Jaune said half-heartedly. "After the love note, I've… kinda lost hope."
"Nope."
"Oh, don't start that again, Ruby." Jaune said, slightly irritated. "You know I can't-"
"Nope. Jaune. Calm down. Look at me."
Jaune did as he was told, and what he saw was a smiling 15 year old girl with a giant scythe who was looking back at him with confidence.
"Play it smooth. I know you can do this. We've got your back, good buddy."
And with a whoosh, she was gone.
Jaune stood up and brushed some rose petals off his lap, though instead of the face of a lost child, his eyes held a glimmer of confidence. Perhaps… Jaune thought as he stepped closer to the dance floor, perhaps this could work out.
"Go get'em, tiger." Ruby said from the light fixtures above.
The party was in full swing when the guest of honor showed up. As the sliding glass door closed, a rush of awe and excitement flooded the floor. Pyrrha had dressed herself up in an ankle-length dress of shimmering red that was layered twice over to give the impression of volume. Her hair was done up in its usual bundle with the tiara covering most of it, but it was polished to a mirror sheen and hung from the back was a cloth ribbon that fell to her knees and swung with every twist of the head.
Teams RWBY, Nora and Ren included, tensed up. Yang immediately changed the beat of the music as a signal to the others, while Nora and Ren waved Pyrrha over.
"Pyrrha! You made it!" Nora exclaimed, hugging her teammate. Nora had dressed rather plainly, though she had stuck an enormous flower behind her ear that almost obstructed her face.
"I almost missed it." Pyrrha said with a smile. "I was waiting for some time and didn't notice the invitation on the side table until rather late in the evening. I had to rush a bit." She looked around. "Is everyone here?"
"Yep. Even Cardin Winchester showed up as well." Ren spat, glancing at the hulk of wasted brain cells known as Cardin. "Lout hasn't got a date though. I wonder why. He seems to be waiting for someone though."
At the word 'Date,' Pyrrha turned a bit pink. "Is… is Jaune around?"
Ignorant to Blake's irritated look at Weiss and Weiss's exclamation of past innocence, Pyrrha looked around, trying to spot Jaune.
"He's somewhere. I think he was on the dance floor." Ren said.
But his comment was on deaf ears. Pyrrha had spotted Jaune before Ren did, and she sauntered over eagerly.
Jaune was dancing with Velvet Scarletina, though a more correct turn of phrase was Velvet was using Jaune as a practice dummy while she tried to dance. The boy had two left feet, and if the conversation was any indication, one was currently occupying his mouth. He kept tripping up Scarlet, and it wasn't long before she gave up and politely excused herself, apologizing as she left.
"Hello, Jaune." Pyrrha said as she approached.
Jaune went red.
"Think this is going to work?" Ren asked Nora as they watched Ruby maneuver into position.
"Mmmmm… Yep."
"Pyrrha! I-I didn't think you were coming!" Jaune stammered, his face the colour of a squashed tomato.
"I almost didn't." She said, turning pink herself. "I found the invitation at the last minute. Sorry I'm late."
"Nono, that's ok. I'm… um… I'm glad you came."
The two looked at the floor for a moment.
"So… Do you, uh…"
"Care to dance?" Pyrrha said, smiling slightly.
"I've never danced before. Well, I have, but Scarlet didn't think I was a very good- I mean, Not in that sort of-"
"Jaune." Pyrrha leaned in close. "Just follow me."
The music slowed into a waltz –Thanks to an observant Yang- and the couple began to dance. Pyrrha took the lead and maneuvered Jaune slowly so he could get used to the rhythm. He could feel her breath on his cheek, her touch on his, the silky smoothness of her dress. His courage faltered slightly as he remembered Weiss's words on first meeting Pyrrha, and as he spun, he felt his depression come slowly on again, though he forced it down with sheer willpower.
"Jaune… There's something I've been wanting to say for a while now."
"Me too…" Jaune replied, suddenly aware of how tight his shoes were.
"All this time, I've been feeling something. Something… off."
Then suddenly, a gasp. The whole crowd of students dancing on the floor stepped back in surprise and pointed right at Jaune and Pyrrha as if they had never seen them before. A couple of them were even chuckling.
Ruby Rose was above them, and she had Crescent Rose dangling below her. Tied to the weapon was…
A mistletoe.
Jaune went white. He looked at the mistletoe, then back at Pyrrha, then back at the mistletoe.
"Um…"
Then it all came rushing in. All the training, all the preparation, everything he'd been telling himself, the macho-ness, the ego, it all went out the window. He flashed back to the apology on the roof where he finally confessed his problems.
I'm sorry. I was being a jerk, and you were trying to be nice… I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head, and…
He stopped Pyrrha before she had a chance to kiss him first.
"What is it?" She asked, looking hurt.
"In the stories, they always kiss together."
Pyrrha smiled.
…It was wetter than Jaune imagined.
After the cheering had stopped and the music started up again, Ruby joined Yang, Blake and Weiss at the ice sculpture for a drink.
"Think we did good, guys?" Ruby said, taking a fizzy spritzer and breaking a chunk of ice into it.
"We did good."
"Cheers."
Four glasses clinked together, and four sips sound out.
"Phew." Ruby breathed out. "Made it."
"It's almost time, too." Yang said, checking the time on her phone. "Anyone up for a Christmas day cheer?"
"Sure." Said blake, drinking her milk and honey.
As the night wore on, everyone became more and more excited for the advent of midnight. People were gathering together for the countdown, and things seemed to be reaching a climax.
However, with one minute to go, a commotion cropped up.
"You wrote me a stupid love letter, Jauney-boy! Am I your love canoe? Am I?" someone yelled. People were backing away from the dance floor, and a tall figure stood over the crowd.
It was Cardin Winchester. He was holding Jaune by the lapel, and had a fist raised up and ready to strike.
Weiss gasped and shrunk behind Yang, who was extremely confused. "Weiss? What the- What's all this about?" She murmured, setting her drink down.
"I threw that love letter out the window!" She half-murmured, half shrieked. "It must have hit him! Oh no… "
"I think instead, I'll paddle your ass to hell and back." Cardin shouted, and he made to swing at his target.
A thump, and suddenly Cardin Winchester was on his back staring up at Jaune, who was fixing his dinner jacket. Pyrrha was rubbing her knuckles.
"She-she hit me!" Cardin said, his face contorted with rage and sporting a lovely bruise blossoming over his left eye.
"And I'll do it again." Pyrrha said menacingly. "Hey Jaune. We've got five seconds. Want to go out with a bang?"
Jaune smiled and nodded.
It was a night to remember. The crashing crescendo of the cheers of "Merry Christmas!" rang out while at the same time a skull was being fractured by two fists paired as one. Nothing could have made the night better. Jaune and Pyrrha didn't sleep that night, nor did a lot of others, but the night was more meaningful for the two of them than most. They would remember the moment, made possible by one rather thoughtful girl who liked to stick her nose into other people's business. The team of RWBY tired, yet flush with victory, found a happy Christmas in the fact that they gave a gift to another that would last a long time.
Love.
"Hey Jaune?"
"Yes, Pyrrha?"
"What's a 'Love Canoe?"