The next morning started like any other Saturday.
"I'm just saying," Yang said, shooting a fiery glare at Nora over the cafeteria table. "Waffles are obviously the better breakfast food."
"Puh-lease," Nora said back, her glare sparked up to match. "Pancakes for life. "
"Uh, waffles are," Yang started counting off fingers. "Easier to make and more consistent, crispier, you can get them in packs of like twenty at the store, they have ready made little cups for syrup and butter to rest in, and you can put brownie mix in a waffle iron and boom, brownie waffles." She smirked. "Oh look! I ran out of fingers on this hand."
She slammed her palm on the table with a bang, Ruby providing a little "ooooooooh brownie waffles" in the background.
Nora rolled her eyes. "Alright let's go." She held up her own hand, repeating Yang's gesture. "Pancakes. One! You can put chocolate chips and blueberries and stuff in the batter. Awesome. Two! Texture is subjective but fluffy pancakes are objectively better anyway. Three! They can be anyshape, including cute ones! Four! You can pile a bunch of them on top of each other and just eat all of them. Five! Pancake dots. "
She slammed her hand down, smirking as Pyrrha gave a little half-hearted cheer in team solidarity.
"Pancake dots… Dangit she makes a good point," Ruby murmured, staring at the table in deep contemplation.
Yang stood sharply. "Seductress! How dare you bewitch my little sister over to your side!"
Nora matched her, failing to hold back a grin. "It's only what you deserve! Comparing your pitiful mass-produced wheat grids to my lovingly crafted homestyle dough saucers!"
"…Dough saucers?" Jaune asked with open skepticism, leaning around Pyrrha. Neither of the girls seemed to hear him.
Yang's eyes flashed red. "I will fight you, Valkyrie."
Nora cracked her knuckles, sending sparks cascading over her hands. "Bring it, Xiao Long."
In perfect synchronization, they slammed their elbows into the table and clasped their fists together.
On three!" Ruby said, holding a napkin up like a little flag. "One! Two! THREE!"
The table creaked as two very powerful young women slammed their full arm strength into one another.
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose, unable to stop herself from smiling. "Dorks," she muttered. Still, one of them is my dork. Smoothly and practiced precision, she planted a kiss on Yang's cheek.
"Love you too babe," Yang said out of the corner of her mouth, head snapping forward as Nora forced her halfway to the table. "OH SO THAT'S HOW IT IS HUH NORA?"
"ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND ARM WRESTLING YANG."
Weiss tried and failed to suppress a snicker as the two muscleheads strained against each other.
Two years ago, she'd turned her nose up at things like this, but these days she found them comforting. Little demonstrations that she really wasn't in Atlas anymore, that the rules were different here. It was only after a moment that she realized she was staring at her teammate's arm, her cheeks a little redder than usual.
She took a breath, breaking her focus, though she felt a little less guilty than she would have yesterday. The rules were different here, but even the rules of Vale didn't necessarily constrain her wholesale. At the very least, there was room to dream.
Ruby's hand drifted over to lightly bump against hers. The touch sent a little jolt to Weiss's heart, and she felt a familiar guilty pang, before remembering sharply that there was no reason for it anymore. This touch was not an accident, it was communication, but unlike she'd been taught to expect by her tutors in Atlas, there was no insistence, no demand, no layered innuendo. Just a hesitant question.
So she answered, clasping her fingers tight with her partner's. Yes.
She looked over at Ruby, who offered her the kind of smile that made Weiss want to pick her up and carry her away somewhere. Yes, yes, yes.
"Soooooo, Weiss?" Ruby said, glancing across the table at Pyrrha and Jaune—still watching the contest—then back to Weiss. "I wanted to ask you a thing?"
Weiss smiled absently, internally absorbed with how unbelievably cute Ruby was. "Yes?"
"Can, I… touch you? In public?"
Weiss froze, her eyes wide as flabbergasted warmth erupted across her cheeks. "R-Ruby!?"
Panic exploded across Ruby's face. "Oh god! Sorry! Not like, that!" She ducked her head, hood flooping up to hide the color of her shame. "Just, little things. Like, holding your hand, leaning against you, or resting my head on your shoulder, stuff like that. I just, y'know… I think it'd be nice, but we haven't gotten a chance to talk about how public our… us-ness is, yet. And I don't wanna mess things up for you. So, it's fine if you don't want to."
She ducked her head even further. She looked near tears.
Unacceptable.
Weiss lifted her hand, brushing Ruby's hood back to run fingers through her hair and gently turn her face. Blue and silver eyes locked together, and Weiss could see the tension fading, the fear of rejection washing away. That's better.
She dropped her hand, as her senses came back to her. On the one end, there was the obvious practicality: She needed to maintain her image if she was ever to wrest control of the company back from her father in the future. Once she was done at Beacon, she fully intended to make her best effort to restore her family's name, and having some very public indiscretions with the… less than illustrious Ruby Rose of Patch would not exactly help her chances at winning over the Atlas nobility.
On the other end… that was several years and hundreds of miles away, and Ruby Rose was sitting right here looking unreasonably cute with her big silver eyes and her hair still mussed up from sleep. And she was waiting for an answer.
Weiss spoke before she could second-guess it. "Yes. We should discuss this further, another time, but the short answer is yes."
Ruby's eyes sparkled as her unshed tears found a new purpose. She wiped them on her sleeve, beaming, and shuffled a little bit closer. "So…" she said, pressing her shoulder up against Weiss's. "This is fine?"
Weiss let out a long, happy sigh. She still wasn't used to honest touch. For all the theory that she knew on the subject, the only real physical contact she gotten growing up was from her sister, and almost all of that had been in the form of sparring. A hug from Winter was a rare and precious commodity.
Then she'd met Ruby and Yang, quite possibly the two huggiest people on Remnant. And while that had been quite the adjustment, Weiss had come to find it comforting.
This new kind of touch was even better.
She leaned into Ruby's side, and even gently rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, basking in the soft smell of roses that followed the girl wherever she went, the nervous warmth that constantly radiated from her skin. She'd expected to feel excited, or flustered, but instead she feltsafe.
The moment only lasted until Weiss remembered that they were in a public space. She wanted this badly, but… they really needed to talk about it first.
She lifted her head away regretfully and glanced over at Ruby, who had… an indescribable look on her face.
Weiss blinked, her heart rate spiking. "Um, was that, too much?"
"Nope!" Ruby squeaked, giving Weiss a spectacular smile. "Definitely fine! I just didn't expect you to do that. Not that it was bad! It was very nice." She lowered her gaze in embarrassment, but the smile still remained. "…Please do it many more times."
Something inside Weiss melted, and It took a great deal of self control not to kiss Ruby on the spot. God she's beautiful, I love this wonderful girl and I will protect that smile until the day I—
She froze again, feeling the hairs on her neck prickle. Across the table, Pyrrha sucked air out of an empty juice box, eyes carefully cast off into the distance, while Jaune casually spooned cereal into his mouth, except he'd run out of cereal and was instead just drinking milk very inefficiently.
Weiss sighed, giving both of them a sharp look. To their credit they dropped the act immediately.
"So, Ruby, Weiss," Pyrrha said, setting down her empty juice box and putting on a painfully wide smile. "How have you two… been doing lately?"
The question hung in the air for a long moment, as the two pairs stared at each other. Ruby tilted her head, giving Pyrrha an 'are you alright?' look. Weiss's expression was more of a pointed ellipsis.
Jaune sighed, placing his head in his hands in resignation. "…She wants to ask if you're dating," he said.
"Jaune! I was being polite!" Pyrrha looked back at them, her smile returning. "Although, yes, I was curious. You two are being markedly more affectionate than usual."
Ruby went pink, suddenly finding her food very interesting. "Thaaaaaaat… is a question," she said, tapping her fingers together nervously. She shot Weiss a worried glance.
Weiss smiled warmly back at her and nodded slightly, the way she would have in a fight. Ruby returned the gesture, relief blooming from the ashes of anxiety.
Weiss turned her gaze towards the other pair. "Well," she said. "We only broached the concept last night, so things are in a bit of a raw state right now, although…" She turned to Ruby, leaning in and lidding her eyes. Her hand drifted up to cup the younger girl's chin.
Ruby's cheeks went from pink to red. "N-no fair," she said, though her expression gave lie to her protest.
"I never was all that good at playing fair," Weiss said, casually. She looked over at Jaune and Pyrrha, whose faces were both a little redder than they'd been a moment ago. "So, yes. Your assumptions were more or less correct."
Pyrrha clapped her hands. "Congratulations," she said. Jaune only gave a mute nod, looking quite flustered. Weiss realized that she was still holding Ruby by the chin, and gently pulled away. Ruby followed her a few inches, before relinquishing the contact with a quiet sigh.
The moment was shattered, as Blake coughed lightly into her hand. "Not that any of us mind, but if you two are trying to go for subtle… it's really not working."
"It's… super cute though..." Yang grunted.
The arm wrestling match was still going, both contestants having now decidedly put dents in the table with their elbows. Both were sweating, but Nora had the advantage, as Ren quietly and diligently wiped her brow off with a napkin.
"Really. Cute!" Nora huffed. "And if anyone. Is mean. We'll. Legs."
"Thank you for the thought," Weiss said. She gave them a hard look. "How are you two still at a stalemate?"
"I really. Wanna kick. Her ass," Nora said through her teeth.
"Oh… yeah?" Yang growled back. "Is… that… all you… want with… my ass?"
"And now they're flirting," Blake deadpanned. Weiss eyed her, trying to gauge whether Blake was upset by this in the slightest. The answer seemed to be 'no.'
Ren sighed. "It's been nearly half an hour and you two haven't even touched your food."
"It can… wait," Yang fired back. Nora nodded in agreement.
"But… your food is the reason you're fighting," Jaune said.
Nora shook her head. "It's. About. More than that. Now."
"Yeah… this is about… honor… and stuff."
A wry smile slipped across Blake's face. "Incredible. Both of you, really." She gave Weiss and Ruby a "watch this" sort of glance, and then, with casual grace, slid over and pecked Yang on the cheek.
"Blake please."
She did it again.
"Blake stop."
"You first."
"…Dammit."
Weiss almost giggled before she pulled together her composure. It was quite rare she got to see Yang flustered. It was a good look on her.
"Ha," Nora breathed, her grin practically a snarl as she looked upon her struggling opponent. "That's your. Weakness. Yang. You're too gay. To stop me."
That had been a mistake.
Suddenly the whole of Team RWBY was staring at Nora, chilly mischief in their eyes.
Nora had the good sense to look terrified. "Oh. Crap."
"Yang?" Blake said, sweet as a heart attack. "I'll kiss you properly if you kick her ass right now. "
Yang's attention locked onto Nora. "Will do, sweetie." She grinned, and her eyes went bright red.
Nora paled. "Oh sonnuva—"
There was a loud crash as Nora lost, hard.
"Dangit!" she moaned, pulling her hand carefully from where Yang had driven it into the table. "Dang your awesome semblance!"
"Sorry Nora," Yang said, stretching her arms 'til they popped. She leaned in towards Blake, meeting the incoming kiss for a wonderful two seconds before breaking away with an even bigger grin than before. "I guess you're not gay enough to stop me." She held up a hand; Ruby hi-fived it.
Pyrrha laughed. "You deserved that," she said, aiming a friendly punch at Nora's shoulder.
Jaune sighed, setting his head on the table. "And once again, there goes the honor of team JNPR."
Ren patted him on the head. "We'll get it back someday."
"You just wait," Nora said, wagging a finger at Yang. "Next time I'll be ready! Ren, do you think we could get an extension cable? I can use this fork and—"
"…Eat your pancakes, Nora."
"So…" Ruby said, redirecting the conversation as Yang and Nora finally started paying attention to their food. "I know it's early, but what are you guys doing for the Vytal Festival?"
It would have been impossible to describe exactly how, but Pyrrha's face… changed. Her normal affable attitude vanished in an instant, replaced with something hard and determined. Her mouth opened like she was about to speak, but then it closed again. Her face smoothed out, going back to normal without a word, but the… moment had been impossible not to notice.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha smiled too hard, her gaze drifting off to the side. "There's just… a lot on my mind. We're going to talk that over today, actually."
Jaune picked up where she trailed off. "We're definitely going . Nora and Ren have wanted to visit Mistral for a while, plus it's a chance for Pyrrha to see her family, and one of my sisters lives in Argus."
"So… what's there to talk about?" Blake asked. "Are you thinking of not participating in the tournament?"
Team JNPR looked at each other, communicating in some secret language of muted expression and meaningful glances. It was a pretty common trick. Most teams learned to do it eventually.
" Nothing quite so dramatic," Ren said. "Pyrrha's considering not advancing past the team round." He smiled, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. Pyrrha leaned into the touch.
Nora glanced towards the contact, her cheeks faintly coloring. "Yeah…" she said. "I mean, she's already got one trophy, right? Even if she did win the next tournament, it's not like it'd prove anything, since we all know Pyrrha's awesome and pretty and the best." She pounded her fist into her palm with a faint discharge of static. "Plus, that means it's my turn, and I'm all charged up!"
Ruby and Weiss were more than a little stunned, the heiress murmuring pretty? under her breath, but Yang nodded, extending a fist out towards the champion. "Makes sense. You gotta give me an unofficial rematch sometime though, okay? That was the best fight of my life. "
Pyrrha's face did the thing again, flashing to something that almost looked like contempt.
"Oh I'm sure you'd love that," she growled.
The table went dead quiet.
Weiss's breath caught in her throat, unable to believe what she'd heard. Jaune, Ren, and Nora all tensed at once, their expressions hardening. Ren and Jaune set their hands on Pyrrha's shoulders. Nora quietly stood.
Yang blinked. "Um. Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha's eyes widened. "Oh fuck." she said, and then suddenly looked away. "Sorry, that was, um." She smiled too wide, bringing her fist up to where she'd left Yang's hanging. "I'll… be looking forward to it."
"Uh, yeah," Yang said, peering at her askance. "You… sure?"
Pyrrha's expression shifted, and suddenly she looked… ill was the only way to describe it.
"Sure she is," Jaune said, smiling nervously as he leapt into the conversation. "But right now we should probably get going."
Nora quickly moved behind Pyrrha, smiling like a sun about to go supernova. "Yeah! We got loads to talk about, and only so much daylight y'know!"
Ren's hand stayed on Pyrrha's shoulder. "Lots to discuss," he said.
Pyrrha gave RWBY a weak smile, and stiffly stood to joined her teammates. They were gone in an instant, practically running to get out of the cafeteria. Jaune led them, while Nora and Ren flanked Pyrrha, keeping her in the center of their formation as they brushed off attempts at conversation from other tables.
Yang's eyes stayed locked on the door they'd left through as she turned the last few minutes about in her head. Her first thought was did I piss Pyrrha off somehow, but that was easily discounted. Yang knew Pyrrha as well as just about anyone outside of RWBY, and Pyrrha would have told her if there was a problem. She might have an anxious streak, but she could handle confrontation.
"Alright…" Weiss shot the rest of the team meaningful looks. "Everyone did see that, right?"
Ruby's eyebrows pressed together. "Wait, did Pyrrha just say f-"
Blake cleared her throat, and made a meaningful gesture towards the other end of the table.
Nora had left her plate behind. With half a pancake still on it.
Ruby forgot what she'd been saying and stared at the pancake like it was an omen of doom. "Okay, now I'm really scared."
"I get the feeling this isn't just 'Pyrrha has a bad day,'" Blake said. "The rest of the team definitely know what's going on, and they're taking this surprisingly seriously."
"Okay but what is this?" Ruby asked. "Is Pyrrha okay? Why haven't they talked to us about it?"
"They probably will, in time," Blake said, shooting Ruby a sympathetic look. Her expression darkened a moment later, but she didn't say anything more.
Yang laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Blake leaned into the touch, turning it into a hug. Blake didn't deal well with extreme or uncharacteristic anger, especially from people she cared about. It'd been a stumbling block in their relationship at one point, and Yang had gotten used to watching for it in others, knowing the kind of effect it could have on her girlfriend.
Ruby sat up a little straighter, popping out her scroll with a determined spark in her eyes. "I'm gonna send Jaune a message. I'll ask how Pyrrha's doing, let him know that we know something's up, and that they can tell us if they want to. When they're ready."
"Are we certain that's a good idea?" Weiss asked.
"I'm in favor," Yang said. "It is their business, but what Pyrrha said bordered on a personal attack. Not like it actually hurt me, but I'd really like to know what it was about in case it happens again." To me, or to anyone else.
Blake nodded, pressing a little harder into Yang's arm.
"Alright," Weiss relented.
"Aaand sent," Ruby said, tapping a button on her scroll. "I guess there's not much we can do except wait, now."
Yang's mind wandered. She thought over the look on Pyrrha's face, the way her voice shifted to almost a growl. It was… somehow familiar.
She snapped her fingers. "Wait a second. I think this has happened before."
Blake's eyes widened, suddenly piecing it together. "Do you mean that time last year, with Cardin?"
"Yeah," Yang said. They'd all been in the cafeteria for breakfast when stupid fucking Cardin had started pulling the tail of a freshman—Rhea, if Yang was remembering right.
They'd been about to go stop him when Pyrrha walked into the scene. grabbed Cardin by the collar, and lifted him right off his feet.
"I remember thinking it was strange at the time," Blake said, "But I eventually just assumed she'd had enough of his bullshit and snapped. I mean, who didn't want to beat up Cardin by last year." There was a vague murmur of assent from the sisters.
Weiss drummed her fingers on the table. "Still, it was definitely strange," she said. "Pyrrha may have a hero complex—" She glanced around, seeing little argument. It wasn't exactly an uncommon trait at Beacon. "—But that's the only time I've seen her escalate a situation to violence. Pyrrha gets angry like anyone else, but she's no brute."
"Exactly," Blake said. "But that day… the look on her face wasn't just angry . I've seen anger, and I've seen people who are ready to smash someone's skull in with a brick. That's what she looked like."
"But then she froze up," Yang said, "and suddenly she was lecturing him like normal. And when she did put him down it was carefully, like she wanted to make sure she didn't hurt him. It was like she was a different person, or… like she was back to being Pyrrha."
The four stopped a moment to process that idea, but Ruby's scroll beeped before they could get very far.
"Jaune says she's alright," she said, eyes darting back and forth. "And that they'll tell us tomorrow after class if we promise to swear secrecy."
"Well that's ominous," Weiss grumbled. "But I suppose it's good news."
"It does confirm that something's going on," Blake said, worry creasing her face.
Yang squeezed her shoulder, shooting her girlfriend an easy smile. "But it also means we don't have to worry about it," she said. "Her team's with her, they know the situation, and by tomorrow we will too." Her smile turned to a grin, and she slammed a fist down on the table, rattling the silverware. "So! Let's move on to team business."
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Ooookay?" Weiss and Blake gave her similar looks.
Yang didn't miss a beat though. She turned to Blake, bowing her head and extending a hand in an exaggerated expression of chivalry. "Seeing as how we have this fine, fine spring afternoon ahead of us, I'd like to ask my lovely girlfriend to accompany me into the city."
Weiss sputtered. Ruby just let out a long-suffering groan.
Blake's cheeks flushed, but she took Yang's hand in hers. "So long as we don't have any more pressing concerns," she said. She aimed a furtive glance at Ruby and Weiss, a little smile at the edge of her lips.
The other, newer couple looked to one another. "So you're going on a date?" Ruby asked.
"Yup!" Yang beamed, breaking her knightly act and pulling Blake into a hug. "We haven't actually gotten a chance to go out on the town since we got back to Beacon, so I figured it'd be fun. I was planning to ask her last night but we were a little busy. " She grinned pointedly at the new couple. "And since we're on that note, I figured you two canoodlers might enjoy having the room to yourselves for a while."
"Blech! Yang! Ew!"
"H-hold on a moment!" Weiss protested. Her ears were turning an adorable shade of pink. "I don't know what you think you're insinuating, but we only started… going out last night! We haven't even had time for a proper date ourselves yet." She paused for a moment, and then a devious little smirk bloomed. "I think perhaps we should be the ones going 'out on the town' tonight. You two have been dating for significantly longer, and I imagine you haven't had much time to yourselves either, what with us all sharing the dorm."
"Wait," Ruby said, eyes widening as she managed to go even redder. "Did you just ask me out?"
Weiss turned, smile softening into something gentler. "If you'd like," she said, lacing her fingers with Ruby's. "I'd love to take you to dinner somewhere."
Yang shot Weiss a appreciative grin. Smooth move, ice queen. Still, there was principle to uphold. "Ex-cuse me," she said. "You can't just switch our plans around!"
Blake rolled her eyes. "It's not like it has to be either-or. Vale's plenty big enough for the four of us."
Ruby's eyes flashed. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "OH! I got it! We could do a double date!"
A stunned moment followed the proclamation. Yang gave her sister a look, and their eyes met. Ruby's smile widened as she hit Yang with a mischievous wink.
Yang's eyebrow rose sharply. What the heck are you playing at, Rubes?
"That's… a fun idea," Blake said, "But… are you sure you want to do that for your first date?"
That was a very good point. Yang glanced at Weiss, who seemed to be doing her best to melt into the bench while giving Ruby an utterly indecipherable look. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, Weiss sucked in a breath and said, "I have no objection."
Yang's eyebrow rose a millimeter further. Okay what is happening.
"I guess I'm fine with that then," Blake said. She nudged Yang. "How about you? Last vote."
Yang looked at her girlfriend, then at Weiss, then at her sister. There was a weird energy in the air, but it wasn't negative. Blake seemed confused but happy, Weiss looked… flustered, and Ruby was beaming like she'd just won the dorm's monthly Super Slam Sisters tournament.
And if Yang was being honest, she was looking forward to teasing Weiss some more.
"Alright," she said, letting slip a grin to match her sister's. "Let's do it."