A/N: Well. I'm all caught up with RWBY and WOW does that ending leave a chunk of holes in the plot. Won't be affecting this fic too much, matter of fact it neatly shuffles into the plot I have in mind. Whether or not said plot leads to me recategorizing this as a crossover—probs not, that would lead to some spoiling of a few twists I'm planning—and a possible application of story-relevant lore dumps is something I'll have to mull over.

But that's neither here or there at the moment. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 4
So We're Cool

Ty took a deep, languid breath and let it out in a lethargic groan while Yang watched him from the other side of his bed. Admittedly, a short distance away.

After he and Yang had settled down and expressed their mutual feelings for each other the fledgling pair had thought up ideas for their first date, both of them eager to get out and do something together. With the flight schedule for the shuttles to and from Vale wrapped up for the day, however, the duo had opted out of tried-but-true activities for young couples in favor of spending the rest of the day in Team BRSS' room, Yang entwined in Ty's arms, laid out in his bed, talking idly to each other over any little thing they could.

Ty cuddled her closer and closer against him, and Yang was more than happy to oblige his proximity. Even when they ran out of things to talk about, he and Yang simply basked in the glory of being together on an as-of-yet undecided standing that was ecking closer and closer to romantic with every passing minute. Sapped as he was of his energy after a day of classes and the trauma of his confession by proxy, he knew in his gut he would have to think up some way to make it up to Ruby. Ty didn't blame the energetic redhead for the slip, honestly. If there was anyone to blame, Ty would level the finger at himself, it was his own fault for dragging the the poor girl into the sudden confrontation with her older sister, unfairly, to cover up something that could have been a major stepping stone in Ty's relationship with Yang. Maybe even the stepping stone. Ty had panicked and played the first card he had seen rather than look at his whole hand, and it blew up in his face.

In the best possible way, granted, but blown up none the less.

A yawn drew Ty's jaw down and out wide and he stretched his arms over his head before he rubbed at his eyes blearily. He met Yang's gentle purple eyes as they stared at him from across the bed, where Yang had plated her elbow and propped her head on her palm to watch him. A beatific smile crawled its way along Ty's lips.

"Hey."

Yang giggled at the back of her throat. "Hey."

Ty laughed in turn. "What?"

"You," the blonde brawler answered. "Your nose was all crinkled up adorably and you had this far away look in your eyes, deep in thought?"

Ty nodded. "I was."

"Feel like sharing?"

"Where I'd like to take you for our first date," the young Hunter answered and Yang lifted a brow expectantly. "I know this nice little stretch of beachfront not too far off campus. Got a nice view of the river from the cliffside. Great place to watch the sunset."

Yang blinked and the corner of her mouth quirked up and she rolled over to laugh heartily for a few seconds before laying a quick peck on Ty's lips and scooting up against him again. A bewildered Ty cleared his throat and looked at her.

"What was that about?"

"I'm just basking in my luck," Yang folded her hands behind her head and leaned against Ty's chest, utterly contented. "Twenty minutes ago I was in such a panic about putting you on the spot I hadn't stopped to consider maybe I had reacted a bit too brash," Yang sighed and tipped her head down. "I haven't even apologized."

"Yang..."

Yang flicked her wrist up and pressed a finger against Ty's lips and shook her head. "No, I need to say this. It was wrong of me to get on you like that. I just wanted to give you a hard time and clue you into how I felt about you," Yang's lips pressed and she shook her head. "Okay, no, I wanted to make you uncomfortable enough that maybe you would have been goaded into asking me out. But I swear I didn't expect Ruby to crush bomb either of us."

The two were quiet for a long moment before Ty gave a dry snort and pressed his lips against the top of Yang's crown. ""Neither did I, honestly," he said. "I mean, I knew your kid sister was dense, but God damn."

The blonde barked an explosive laugh. "You don't know the half of it," she retorted, drumming her knuckles against Ty's sternum. "But it turned out for the best. Here I am, curled up in your arms as the rest of the day zooms by."

"Mhmm," Ty agreed. Yang pulled the sleeve of her uniform back to inspect her watch.

"Speaking of which, what time is it?"

"Quarter to three," Ty said. "You don't still have classes, do you?"

"Just one," Yang said with more than a slight amount of assurance. "Philosophy with DeVert. It starts at four but it's on the other side of campus."

Ty's replying sigh pointedly placed his disappointment. "You should probably get going."

"Well…" Yang hummed contemplatively before she rolled onto her knees and faced Ty, but made no effort to stand. "I've probably got a good ten minutes before I need to go. And Professor DeVert is always late."

Ty raised a brow. "Yang Xiao Long. I hope you're not suggesting intentionally run late for class."

"I'm not suggesting anything," Yang entwined her hand in the tie of Ty's uniform and pulled him closer, her head tilted one way and her eyes slowly sliding shut.

"Ah-hem."

Yang and Ty's heads snapped to the doorway so fast an audible pop sounded from their necks. At the door to Team BRSS's room, to Veera Styles tapping her foot, her hands planted firmly on her hips. A scowl and a cocked brow on her delicate features complemented her chastising glare. Behind her poked the beret-clad head of Coco Adel, her sunglasses firmly placed on her brow and a criminally wide grin on her lips. Yang darted her eyes between the two fashionistas at the door and Ty as he blinked at them, utterly unfazed.

"Hey, Co, hey V. What's up?" Ty greeted in a placid tone that caught Yang off guard. She snapped her eyes back to him as her mouth fell open slightly and her brows drew together. The blue haired boy looked back at her with a shrug as his tie slipped out of her hand.

"Okay," Veera took in a breath and closed her eyes. "One, I really should have knocked before I opened the door. That's on me. Two, from this point on, no romantic liaisons in the team room; that's just for personal courtesy. And three," Veera's eyes popped open and an immense smile erupted on her face so fast Yang worried it would cause damage. "I am so happy for you guys!"

"Veera, hon, you're shouting," Coco playfully chided.

Only remotely phased, Veera's hands formed into fists and shook when they came up under her chin. "I'm sorry! It's just I can't even tell you how long I've waited to see you two together. Like, together together! I mean I could just—" Her chin dropped and the leader of team BRSS elicited a long, ecstatic shriek that echoed through the room and went down the hall in either direction.

Yang flicked her eyes between Coco, Veera, and the cloud of twinkling stars that orbited her blown out eyes, and Ty, who shared her perturbed look. "Did she just—?"

"Squeal like a fangirl?" the second year said with a wink. "Yep."

Veera composed herself by straightening out her uniform and cleared her throat before saying, "But seriously, congrats! I am almost beyond words for it. I mean, you guys make a such great couple!"

Ty and Yang snorted. "We do?"

"Uh-huh!" Veera nodded enthusiastically. "You two are more or less the hot 'will-they-won't-they' bracket, not quite on Jaune and Pyrrha's level but pretty close."

Ty made a perturbed grimace and buzzed his lips like a horse. "It's been an hour, V. Tops. We haven't even gone on a date yet."

Coco shrugged and offered, "Rumor mill turns fast. Once word gets out I imagine that Ren and Nora will take up the will-they-won't-they slot in the school's gossip circles. We're worse than a knitting group like that."

Ty snorted and Yang clapped a hand onto her cheek. "Poor Nora."

"Right. Anyway," Veera cut in and jerked a thumb up and behind her. "Ty, get yer gear. I've got new maneuvers I want to practice."

"Ugh," Ty grunted with a half-serious amount of disdain. "More of them? There is supposed to be a limit to the number of patterns we have to plan out."

"Oh, you know you love it. Meet me down in the amphitheatre, Sango should be down there already," Veera winked an eye closed and grinned. "You can walk your girlfriend to class, first, though. Just don't take forever."

...

Ruby was upset. Something of a first for the normally laid-back and carefree girl.

At least, Pyrrha thought so. She hadn't known her fellow redhead for long, granted, but Ruby was more or less a combination of chipper pluck and every other bubbly emotion under the sun. Ruby had her up and down days, the girl was only fourteen, Pyrrha was amazed that the flux of assignments, projects, tests, and the constant preparation for the first year missions had all but turned Ruby's ear to ear smile into a pleasant, cheery grin and lessen her outbursts of perpetual optimisms to quiet musings on determination. And that was on a bad day.

To see her genuinely upset was…unsettling.

"Ruby?" Pyrrha said with almost motherly gentleness. "Is everything alright?"

"No," the young girl asked. "I messed up, Pyrrha. I messed up bad."

One of Pyrrha's brows rose from her brow and her lips puckered. "Did you forget the assignment for Professor Morton was due yesterday?"

Ruby shook her heada nd stared ahead, "No I finished it over the weekend. He said he wants to have it mounted."

"You fired your scythe too many times in a row and blew the barrel out?"

"No," the redhead groaned. "Worse."

Pyrrha scowled as she pondered. "You got too close to the burner, again, and your hood caught on fire, again, and you panicked and wrecked Professor Bunsen's lab, again?"

Ruby gave a startled cry and slammed her head against the lecture desk. "No! Worse than that!"

"Forgive me if I find that hard to image," Pyrrha's lips curved slightly. Then it flipped into a concerned frown. "It doesn't have anything to do with Weiss being out with the flu, does it? Are you symptomatic? Would you like for me to take you to the infirmary?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not sick, just a helping of guilt."

Pyrrha cocked her head to one side. "I don't follow."

The younger redhead heaved a hard sigh and looked up after a few moments. "I put Ty on the spot and I'm afraid he's mad at me."

Pyrrha's face pinched up in a cringe she hoped wasn't nearly as noticeable as it felt. "You didn't mention the Mudralisk incident in front of Professor Port, did you?"

Ruby offered a loud whine and buried her head back into her folded arms, managing a muffled, "I wish!"

"I don't see how it could possibly be that bad," Pyrrha trailed off and glanced at Blake, who was watching the interaction with a bemused grin. "What?"

"Yang was giving Ty some crap over something he said under his breath," the Faunes explained. "Ty felt cornered so he dragged Ruby into it for a little back up."

"Makes sense," Pyrrha nodded and Blake's grin widened.

"You'd think that, but our fearless leader misread the situation and blabbed that Ty is crushing on Yang."

Pyrrha blinked at both of them and her head recoiled back. Nora's head lifted up from where she was copying down notes from her textbook and set her full attention on Blake. "Oh! Reeeeeeeeally? When?"

Blake smirked and elbowed her young leader. "Last class."

The bubbly carrot top's jaw dropped. "No!"

"Wait." Pyrrha interjected. "Ty has a crush on Yang?"

Blake nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah. Hard."

"Harder than JAune is on Weiss," Ruby said from under her arms.

Upon hearing his name, the toe headed screwball popped his focus from his texting one of his sisters on his Scroll and into the conversation his friends were having around him, offering an incredulous, "Huh?"

Blake leaned back in her seat to address him. "Ruby let it slip that Ty's got a crush on Yang," the brunette smiled. "Right. To her. Face."

Pyrrha could practically see the hourglass icon hover over her partner's head as he processed the information. Jaune's brow was slack for the briefest of moments before jumping wide in shock and tightening into a scolding scowl. "Ruby!"

The younger girl whimpered defenselessly. "I know! I'm sorry, it was an accident!"

"That's not an excuse."

"It turned out okay, I think," Blake argued. "Ty flushed white and red and bolted before Yang could get a word in. She took off after him, though. After she knocked Ruby's senses back into her. Literally."

"Hold on," Pyrrha held her hand up in a halting gesture. "You're telling me that Tyrus Boreale—whom I consider the brother I never had—and Yang Xiao Long, one of my closest friends, are romantically interested in each other and everyone knew about it but me?"

Blake blinked at the revelation. "Was it not obvious?"

Ruby actually lifted her head from her hidey hole and said, "I only knew about it because I outright asked him. I did notice he was spending a lot of time sparring against Yang."

"Really? I had always thought it was because professional interest or competitive intrigue," Pyrrha frowned and drew her brows together.

She couldn't believe she had not seen it before. Thinking back on the past few months, it made perfect sense. There was a dearth of dedicated pugilist fighters anywhere on the Regis Coast. None that Pyrrha could think of, at least, that could keep up with Ty or any of his family. The young and tempestuous Yang was a challenge Ty had never faced, so of course Pyrrha had seen their relationship as a building block for Ty to better his skills. To think that he had romantic feelings for Yang was…oddly fitting, Pyrrha thought with a slight grin. She was happy that he had put his heart out there for someone to see, but the fire haired Amazon was a little hurt Ty hadn't confided his affection for the bombshell boxer in her like she had secreted to Ty about her—as Ty put it—"schoolgirl crush" on Jaune.

Perhaps it was for the best, she mused to herself. Ty was a capable young man. He could look after himself. And he certainly didn't lack the graces Pyrrha did when it came to expressing her emotions to Jaune. Pyrrha wandered to the young knight as he read through the backlog of messages on his Scroll from his sisters and parents. Having nine people constantly worry after your well being must have been a daunting task to an outside observer like Pyrrha, but Jaune had been tempered for it. And the face of parted-lip concentration on his features was absolutely adorable.

"Did you know anything about this?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune folded his arms in front of his chest and lolled his head from side to side. "I've had a feeling they liked each other but I didn't pry," he shrugged. "And I was a little preoccupied with trying not to get my butt kicked in full-contact sparring."

A lump rose up in Pyrrha's throat. "Jaune…"

Her attention shifted to the front of the room when the classroom door opened. The gathered Beacon students sat up at attention, expecting the slightly neurotic and overstressed Samantha DeVert to come jauntily through the doorway, only for Yang to curtly walk in, Ty's hand held firmly in hers, heads high despite the luminous blush that colored their cheeks. They exchanged a few quick and hushed words, before Ty turned to leave.

"Wait," Yang said, grabbing Ty's arm. Ty looked back at her for a long moment before he stepped in and cupped Yang's cheek in his free hand, Yang closed the space between them and tilted her head to give Ty a quick peck on the lips.

Pyrrha started when a sharp cracking sound struck her ears, and she looked over to see Ruby's jaw planted on the floor. She had to suppress a laugh and looked back to see Ty and Yang separate, his off hand running down her arm and hooking into the honey-haired pugilist's fingers and holding on for as long as they could while Ty made for the door. He said something that Pyrrha again didn't catch as Ty's and Yang's fingers separated. Yang offered a soft, pleasant smile as Ty turned away. Pyrrha caught his steel gray eyes and he cast her a wink before leisurely throwing a wave over his shoulder.

Yang lingered on the lecture room floor, watching Ty close the door behind him before she shrugged up her shoulders and hurried to the row the rest of Team RWBY was seated. She settled into her chair with a distant, wistful grin on her lips and a shimmer in her eyes Pyrrha was uncomfortably flustered by. She felt immediately embarrassed and envious at the same time. Her eyes flickered from her textbook and back to Yang setting an elbow on the desk and placing her chin in her palm, absently staring off at a corner of the room.

Nora popped up next to the blonde with a smug grin, her arms flopping up and down at her sides. "Sooooo…?"

Yang snapped out of her pleasant revelry and regarded Nora as if seeing her for the first time. "'So'? What?"

"When's your date?" Nora exclaimed and Yang blinked. "Your first date. With Ty, I mean."

A smile that would make a Cheshire feel inadequate formed on the blonde brawler's lips. "Tonight. Right after class, if luck plays out. He's says he knows this beach just off campus where we can watch the sunset across the river."

Nora blinked several times and her expression went from giddy to curious with a ruffle of her forehead. "So, no target practice with explosive barrels? No shirtless fencing? No razor wire limbo?" Nora's hand clapped against her cheeks and she paled. "No pancakes?!"

"Nora," Ren chimed in at last. "Yang and Ty didn't have the best stepping off point. It's probably good they take things slowly."

"Oh!" Nora's head ripped to the side and pressed a finger to her lip in thought. "I guess that makes sense."

Glad to hear that. Pyrrha kept the thought to herself, despite the smile tugging at her lips. Instead she asked, "Will you be out late?"

Yang shook her head quickly. "We'll be back before curfew. Ty might haul out a hiking stove so we can make dinner in the clearing but I doubt it'll be anything extravagant," Yang rubbed her thumbs together. "I'm…sorry this is how you had to find out, Pyrrha. I know how close you and Ty are, and I didn't intend for this to be sprung up on everyone, so…Yeah."

Pyrrha shook her head and set her hand on Yang's. "Of course not, Yang. I'm happy for you. The both of you."

Yang inhaled and let out a long breath. Her shoulders slumped down slightly and she settled in her chair. "Thanks, Pyr," an eye winked shut and an overtly smug grin curled up her cheeks. "Glad to see you're not the tiger sister I thought you were."

Professor DeVerte entered before Pyrrha could respond to Yang's quip, and instinctively all of the students snapped to attention. The professor swiftly piling through the latest set of graded assignments as she crossed to the podium.

"Well I'm pleased to say that it's actually a good afternoon to everyone. Last week's assignments are graded and aim happy to say you all did excellently. Very well articulated arguments, everyone. Most impressive," she said and set the stack of papers down and loudly sniffed through her nose. "On an off note, does anyone have any idea why Tyrus Boreale was wandering the halls singing 'Caught Up In You'?"

Pyrrha barked a terse laugh as Yang let her head fall against the desk.