Happy New Year, everyone. A quick one-shot for those Renora shippers out there. Enjoy! I don't own RWBY or any of its characters.
Twelve Pancakes
"Ren!" Nora cried out as she burst into the dorm room where Ren was reading a book on his bed. He looked up as soon as Nora entered the door. "I have an amazing idea!" she continued. Then, in a single breath, "Basically, since we don't have any New Year's traditions, I asked other people what they did, and one of the traditions that I thought was genius was that as the clock strikes twelve tonight, they eat a grape every time the clock goes 'BONG!'"
Nora gasped deeply as she inhaled, recovering from the mouthful of words she had spouted. Ren found her enthusiasm amusing, though he didn't show it. Rather, he was slightly intrigued by this tradition she mentioned.
"So you're saying we should eat grapes?"
"No, not at all! We can't just copy their tradition! We're gonna change it up a bit!" Nora grinned as she said the next part. "Instead of grapes, it'll be PANCAKES!"
Ren nearly fell off his bed at Nora's idea. Twelve pancakes in thirty-six seconds? How could she expect him to eat that much, and in such a short time?!
"Nora, I think pancakes are too big for this tradition."
"Nonsense! Pancakes are perfect for all traditions! I just happen to like this one."
Ren sighed. He knew Nora well enough to know that this was just her way of getting him to make her pancakes. He also knew that Nora was more than capable of eating those pancakes in the allotted time.
"...Fine. Let's go to the cafeteria."
"YAYYYY!" shouted Nora as Ren stood and walked out of the dorm room, followed eagerly by an ecstatic Nora.
(Twelve Pancakes)
Luckily for Ren (and more importantly, Nora), most of the cooks at Beacon Academy were gone, off on their winter vacations. The ones that stayed behind to serve the students that were to remain on campus during winter break were very friendly, and had no qualms with letting Ren use the kitchen and its ingredients. One of the cooks offered to make the pancakes himself, but Ren waved off the offer. He knew that Nora particularly enjoyed his pancakes more than anyone else's.
After Ren had prepared twenty-four pancakes, as insisted by Nora, the inseparable duo had returned to the dorm and were waiting for midnight to finally arrive. During the wait, Ren had time to continue his reading, glancing occasionally at the girl who was anxiously bouncing up and down at the foot of his bed. He couldn't help but smile at her antics.
Finally, the momentous minute had arrived. The bell would strike the first time in precisely twenty-four seconds. Nora quickly grabbed her plate, which was stacked high with pancakes. With a neutral expression and a short, quiet sigh, Ren followed suit.
BONG!
Ren watched in mild horror as an entire pancake was sucked into the vortex that was Nora's mouth. The stoic boy quickly admitted defeat and put his pancakes down. He knew he could never finish all twelve of the pancakes in half of a minute, let alone one of them. He would have to settle with watching Nora's content face as she devoured the remaining eight pancakes on her plate.
Not that he minded. Ren secretly enjoyed seeing Nora smiling. There was just something about her smile that made him feel warm inside.
One by one, every three seconds, a pancake disappeared. Soon there was only one left. Only three seconds until the new year. Two seconds. One.
The last pancake vanished, and shortly afterward, Nora cried out "Happy New Year!" She then turned to Ren.
Ren opened his mouth and began to say the same words back to Nora but was caught off-guard as Nora moved so quickly that she may as well have teleported. The next thing Ren knew was that Nora had her lips pressed against his.
The first thing Ren noticed was how soft her lips were. The second thing he noticed was that he was kissing Nora. His eyes grew wide as the realization dawned on him. Then, even faster than it had begun, Nora pulled away, leaving a blushing and flabbergasted Ren.
The long-haired boy could barely form his next words, his impassive demeanor completely shattered. "W-what was t-that?"
"It's the other tradition I told you about, silly. Wait… I did tell you, didn't I?" When the boy shook his head, Nora simply shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. I mean it was just a friendly kiss, after all. You know, since we're not 'together' together."
With that, Nora rushed out of the room, her voice reverberating throughout the Academy as she shouted about a new awesome tradition involving pancakes. Ren chose to lie in his bed and contemplate what had just occurred.
'I don't think she realizes that best friends don't kiss like that…' He glanced at the nightstand by his bed and looked at the stack of pancakes still untouched, then smiled. If that was going to happen every New Year's Day, then Ren couldn't wait until next year.
[Author's Note]
That grape tradition is an actual thing in the beautiful country of Spain. Feel free to try it, it's pretty fun. Just google "twelve grapes" and you'll most likely find stuff regarding the Spanish tradition.