The first thing that struck Weiss about The Sauce was the smell. Even before the young heiress had seen what it is she would be eating, Weiss' nostrils were filled with the pungent smell of spice. Other patrons of the bar turned to see what it was as the waitress opened the door from the kitchen, holding the tray as far away as she could from herself as she hurried towards them to get rid of it.

"Jeez Yang," the waitress said. "I didn't think the stereotype applied but if you really do wanna try this again, you really are blonde."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Yang said, not insulted in the least. "It's not really my choice. I just had to prove a point."

"Well I hope it's worth it luv. Can't say I envy you. Just remember to wash your hands after and don't get it in your eyes."

She dumped the two bowls on the table, hurrying away muttering about how it would take her ages to wash the smell out of her clothes. The three girls stared at each other. Never before had chicken wings seemed so intimidating.

The Sauce was thick. A dark, almost black darkness enveloped the wings and radiated heat out towards them. Weiss swallowed, considering that even if she did win, it might not even be worth it if she had to eat six of those wings. It might actually kill her. Should she call Winter and tell her she's loves her?

"So," Nora said with a clap of her hands. "I want a nice clean game here. There shall be-"

"Nora," Yang said. "Shut up."

Well that was a saving grace at least. It seemed that Yang wasn't really looking forward to this either. Perhaps Weiss might have a psychological advantage having never tried this before. Maybe Yang would freeze up or get flashbacks.

Or perhaps Yang was just annoyed at Nora for putting her hair on the line.

"Ugh fine," Nora said. "First to finish their bowl wins. I'll judge if a wing counts as finished or not. Those chickens didn't die for you to half eat them."

"Seems fair."

"Agreed."

Weiss swallowed, staring down at The Sauce that looked almost like a black hole, it was so dark. It was like light could not escape it, it was so hot. Seemingly noting her nervousness, Yang smirked at her.

"Tell you what Weiss, if you give up now I'll limit the damage to making your hair a rainbow?"

"That's very generous of you," Weiss replied. "Sadly, I'm not so generous. How does a faux hawk sound for you?"

It had seemed like a fairly tame threat to Weiss, a bit of light back and forth but Yang glared at her like Weiss had threatened her dog, not her hair.

"Oh you're going down Ice Queen."

They took their positions, a jug of iced water for each of them and a bowl of wings so hot, Weiss was pretty sure she could taste it already. Despite her bravado she was nervous. Sure she could handle spicy food better than most but this seemed like a heavy ordeal. An ordeal that Yang had already completed once.

Oh God, her hair...

"Are you both ready?" Nora said. Neither of them replied, preferring to just nod. "Three, two, one... Start!"

It was too late for regrets now. Grabbing the first wing at the same time as Yang, Weiss bit into the meat, eyes widening as she almost choked on the heat. Oh dust, it was like her mouth was on fire- no, worse than that. It was like she was eating lava.

There was no time to stop though, and Weiss took another bite, whimpering slightly as she did so. Dear god this hurt. Why did people do this? And for fun? They were all sadists.

Glancing up, Weiss found to her horror that Yang had already finished her first wing and was fiercely gulping water, enjoying this challenge about as much as Weiss was. Already, the blonde was red in the face and swearing after only one wing.

Trying to keep a cool head, Weiss finished her first wing. Nora had told her not to rush this and both Weiss and Yang had agreed throwing up counted as a loss. This was a marathon, not a sprint and Weiss' best chance was for Yang to lose steam so she could overtake her nearer the end.

Still though, Weiss decided to forgo taking a drink, not wanting to wash away the taste only for it to come again... Even if it felt like her mouth was wasting.

"Our first wing done," Nora said, doing her best impression of a sports commentator. "Yang Xiao Long is in the lead but it's still all to play for."

Her cool head cracked and Weiss ploughed through her next wing, hoping to just eat it so quick that the heat didn't affect her so much.

And that was a huge mistake. The heat didn't have a chance to build and Weiss nearly screeched as everything hit her at once.

"Oh," she whimpered, grabbing at her glass and almost knocking it off the table, her hand was shaking so much. "Oh god."

"Yup," Yang said, her voice uncharacteristically high. "Ready to give up?"

Weiss didn't reply, pouring another drink of water to try and take away the pain. It wasn't making so much a dent.

"Weiss has made a play for the lead, but will she be able to maintain it?"

Her gamble had definitely not paid off and by the time Weiss was able to start on her third wing, Yang was already halfway through it. Weiss could feel her heart racing as she tried to work her way through the flame but to no avail. Already she knew that she wasn't going to be able to catch up.

Finishing up, Weiss dropped the bones into the empty dish, staring miserably at her three remaining wings. The Sauce was beating her but it would be Yang, once again, who would be punishing her for her hubris.

Yang's eyes were watering and probably hadn't noticed that she was a full wing ahead at this point. Judging from the look of pity on Nora's face, she had noticed that this race was pretty much over.

Fuck that.

Picking up the next wing, Weiss tore into it with her fingers, pulling off the meat and dropping it onto her napkin. Making sure it was clean of meat, Weiss picked up the next wing, stripping it just like the last, adding it to the pile before repeating it with final wing.

The pile of chicken was large and slick with the thick black sauce and Weiss paused wondering if what she was about to do was really worth it. Yang was staring at her, her fifth wing halfway to her mouth.

"Uhh, you know you have to eat that for it to count, right Weiss?"

Yup, totally worth it.

Grabbing the pile of chicken, Weiss shoved it into her mouth, forcing herself to ignore the molten lava it felt like. Eyes watering she started to chew, as fast as she could. Nora and Yang were both staring at her open mouthed and Weiss made near unintelligible noises of pain and torment.

Oh god, this was not worth it. This was pain like she had never imagined. Weiss shimmied in her seat, dancing around in a futile attempt to distract herself from the spicy sensation. At some point Yang remembered she was still in this competition and started to make a desperate bid to finish first.

But it was too late.

Weiss swallowed, opening her mouth to show Nora that she had finished everything. Glancing quickly at the wings in almost disbelief, Nora barely managed to say.

"Weiss wins."

Falling back in her chair, Weiss breathed out, just happy it was over. Sad as it may seem, that might be the hardest thing she had ever done. Figuring her grace was pretty much gone at this point, Weiss grabbed the jug and started to chug. The pain was excruciating and it made Weiss almost forget why she had even done this.

Yang however, had not forgotten. She was leaning on the table, her head in hands too shell shocked to even register her fingers were wiping sauce into her hair. And then suddenly she snapped up, lurching across the table at Weiss.

"You know I was just kidding, right Weiss?" Yang said, practically pleading with her. "I was never going to make you bald or anything like that. It was just a joke. I would probably just style it a little. Maybe not even that. Heh heh. You're not going to ruin my hair, right Weiss?"

The news travelled fast, mostly because of Nora... well, entirely because of Nora. She hadn't even used the group chat and had texted everyone individually, she had just been so excited. By the time that the conversation had moved to the group chat, Yang had been- unsurprisingly- rather quiet. It was no secret that Yang took great pride in her hair and while no one really expected Weiss to make her bald, it was rather funny to send pictures of bald people.

Ruby even managed to photoshop concept art of a bald Yang and when texting Weiss later that day, she told her that Yang had made an audible whimper when she had seen it.

All and all it was rather hard to feel sympathy for Yang with most of the group having suffered under one of her forfeits from a lost bet. Only Pyrrha and Blake had really tried to offer her some comfort and console her that Weiss knew where the line was.

At least, they hoped she did but when Weiss messaged them all asking them to come to Beacon after work the next day, Pyrrha would later admit to being slightly... concerned.

The group arrived at Beacon to an odd sigh, to say the least. The tables that usually sat in the middle of the room had been pushed to the side and a single chair had been placed in its stead. Around that chair, six of the higher stools had been placed on a horse shoe formation like some elaborate courtroom.

And on that single chair sat Yang.

The rest of them were ushered into the stool by Nora and Ruby who had both been working with Weiss that day. Only when everyone sat down and Nora had hushed them quiet, did Weiss herself enter the room.

She had changed out of her work uniform, having wanted to be more comfortable as she played out this show. Dressed in jeans, a pale blue tank top and white blazer, along with her heels and a black folder she held to her chest as she walked between Yang and the court.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," she began. "You are here today, because you have all suffered under the tyranny of Yang Xiao Long."

"Whether it be having to eat cat food,"

Blake scowled.

"Dressing in drag,"

Jaune went red.

"Getting gunged,"

Ruby shivered in disgust.

"Or being given a tattoo,"

Weiss herself shot Yang a look. To be honest she didn't even mind the tattoo anymore. In fact, the only reason she didn't like it was because of Yang's obnoxious message and her own pride. The design itself was actually quite nice.

"Now perhaps, we ourselves are to blame. Perhaps it is our own hubris and overconfidence that led to our misfortune. Perhaps our punishments were just and deserved."

Reaching the end of the row, Weiss turned and began to walk back down the row.

"But if that is the case, then Miss Xiao Long's own punishment is not only deserved but also overdue."

"Oh come on," Yang said. "This is ridiculous. I'm not going to back out but you guys all agreed to the bets. I didn't force you into anything so quit being so dramatic."

Weiss ignored her and started to unpack the folder, taking out several photographs.

"As victims of Miss Xiao Long's forfeits," she continued. "I felt it only right that you not only bear witness but get to share in picking her punishment. Last night I added you all to a separate group from Yang and explained the situation for the victim's benefit."

She held up the pictures but kept them covered.

"Here I have narrowed down the final options for Yang's new look. I shall show you them in turn and then you will all message me to give me your vote. The highest style wins."

"Guys, have I ever told you how much I appreciate all of you?" Yang said quickly.

"You could stand to say it more," Blake said raising an eyebrow. "And you could also give me back the book I let you borrow."

"I haven't finished it yet."

"It's been a year."

"I'm a slow reader!"

"Enough," Weiss said. "We don't have all day, and the salon closes in a hour." She paused suddenly. "Though I suppose we could do it ourselves."

"Ooo, Ooo," Nora said waving her hand. "Ren could do it. He can cut carrots into flowers like those fancy restaurants. That has to be way harder than hair."

"There are some knives in the back," Ren said as Yang scowled at him.

"Ren, we haven't even made a bet before."

Ren just shrugged as Weiss began again.

"Our first choice," Weiss said, holding up one of the photos. "is the mullet."

Yang's eyes widened in shock and it took all of Weiss's self-control not to burst out laughing. Oh it was only going to get worse. Her friends began to murmur between themselves as they talked over the choice.

"Our second choice," she continued. "is the classic monk."

At this Yang actually gagged.

"I am not letting you do that to me."

"Our third choice is the rainbow Afro."

"Oh I didn't realise Weiss could dye her hair," Pyrrha said.

"Fourthly," Weiss said, as Yang started to go very pale. "is the Jaune Arc."

"Hey!"

"And finally," Weiss said, flipping over the photo with a flourish. "the Mohawk."

Weiss tried not to grin too hard as she watched the group talk over the options. At this point Yang wasn't even protesting, seemingly resigning herself to terrible hair. It was a sad day when the best you could hope for was a mullet.

Maybe she was overdoing this just a little but when it was all done, she was sure Yang would forgive her... probably. Maybe she should watch the haircut via Skype. You know, for safety.

Her scroll buzzed, indicating the votes were coming in. Yang sat bolt upright at the noise, staring at Weiss' scroll in rigid apprehension. A few minutes later, the votes were all in, delayed as Nora considered her options to every possible degree just to draw out the torture.

"So," Yang said, trying and failing to be chipper. Her fidgeting hands gave it away. "What's the damage?"

Weiss didn't answer, flicking through the messages of her scroll to see the votes. Then she smiled.

"Oh Yang, when I got my tattoo, did you let me see what it was before or did I have to wait until after it was done?"

The rest of the group were allowed to leave at that point as Weiss thought that it would be weird if they all crowded into a hair salon to watch Yang get her new style. Weiss didn't want any reason that the stylist might refuse.

Weiss had called ahead the day before just to make sure they would still cut Yang's hair if she was so clearly against it. For the most part, it was a solid no but after Ruby suggested dropping Yang's name, they found an ex who was more than willing after Weiss had explained the plan.

"Honestly Yang, is there anyone in this town who you haven't dated?"

So now it was just Weiss, Yang, Blake and Ruby as, to Nora's bitter disappointment, Ren had taken her home. Jaune and Pyrrha had been okay to miss it, but had asked to be updated. So the three of them were crammed around Yang's chair while Weiss explained what Yang would be getting to her.

At this point, Weiss was grateful Blake had come. The Faunus was Yang's best friends and was working hard to console her and keep calm. And hey, should Yang snap, there would be one extra person between them.

"Calm down," Blake said. "It will grow back."

"Well, what if it doesn't."

Blake just looked at the blonde.

"Yeah okay, that was dumb." Yang fidgeted under the sheet. "Come on Blake. Tell me which one they picked. Was it the monk? Please tell me it wasn't the monk." Blake's poker face was unreadable. "Oh god it's the monk."

"Yang," Blake said calmly. "It's not the monk."

"Spoilers," Ruby said, bouncing around the chair. "Oh you should have seen Uncle Qrow's face when I got Weiss' text on the way back from Patch. He almost crashed the car laughing. He says to send him a pic when you're finished."

Weiss listened to them talk absentmindedly as she and the hairdresser worked out how they were going to do this. Apparently, it was against company policy to let members of the public help cut hair. Ridiculous really, Weiss only wanted to do the first cut.

Eventually Weiss relented, letting the hairdresser past to start her work. Yang tensed up as she approached, her eyes fixed on the scissors in her hands up until the point they vanished out of her line of sight. At that point, her resolve seemed to break and she resorted to just covering her eyes with her hands. Ruby giggled turning to Weiss.

"Have I ever said you're the best girlfriend ever?"

"Because she's tormenting your sister?" Yang mumbled through her hands.

"Yup," Ruby replied pulling out her scroll to film.

They all fell silent as the hairdresser gave the signal she was about to begin. Yang inhaled deeply as her near waist length hair was pulled back into a ponytail in the hairdresser's hands. It was so thick and plentiful that she seemed to be struggling to hold it in one hand and eventually she resorted to just taking the left hand side first, pulling it out in pigtails so the scissors would fit around it.

And then in one sharp snip, almost a foot of blonde hair hit the floor as Yang let out a whimper.

"That is a lot of hair," Weiss said.

"And that's only one side," Blake said.

"Yeah," Ruby said gleefully. "And this is just to make it manageable for when she gets the actual style."

"I hate all of you," Yang said, her voice a lot higher than usual.

Her eyes were still covered as she refused to see the damage until the end. That was fine by Weiss. It would only make the reaction more potent.

The hairdresser continued to work, humming happily to herself, ignoring all of Yang's inhuman noises of distress. She worked quickly, the scissors moving around so swiftly it was actually quite impressive. At one point, she started the electric razor even though she had no intention of actually using it on Yang.

The guttural noise that Yang made was enough to make even Blake snort to suppress her giggles.

All too soon however, it was all over. The sheet was pulled off Yang and she was dusted down a little to get the excess hair off of her. (And there was a lot of hair.) All the while, Yang's face remained in her hands as she sat as though she was comatose, even after the hairdresser had walked away.

"Yang," Weiss said quietly. "It's over now..."

Slowly, Yang began to move. Without speaking, she pried her hands from her face, her eyes widening as she stared down at all the hair now on the floor. Her mouth opened and closed before she finally was able to force her head up to look in the mirror, bracing herself for the horror of her own scalp.

Only to find her own reflection staring back at her, sporting a short but fairly fashionable and pretty chin level bob. Weiss couldn't suppress a satisfied smirk at the surprised look on Yang's face. Ruby was giggling to herself and Blake had a small smile.

"Oh," Yang said. "It's..."

She trailed off and Weiss took that as her cue.

"Honestly Yang, did you really think we would actually give you any of those haircuts? What do you take us for?" She said with a scoff. "I just told everyone last night that this is what you would be getting but to come along and mess with you a little. Surprisingly, no one objected."

"Sorry Yang," Blake said sheepishly. "But it was kinda funny to watch you squirm for once."

Weiss grinned.

"Yes giving you an actual nice haircut and making you think it would be hideous was way more fun than just giving you a hideous haircut. And a lot less cruel." Weiss noticed that Yang still hadn't said anything. "So... what do you think?"

"It's so-" Yang said. "It's so short."

After the shock wore off, Yang eventually admitted that the bob wasn't half bad and that Weiss had got her good. Weiss had gone home rather pleased with herself, the whole idea going off even better than she had hoped. Yang had even messaged in their group chat to good naturedly tell everyone they were fired for ganging up on her.

Winter had even commented on her good mood, saying she looked even more pleased with herself than usual, something that Weiss took objection to. Even worse had been when Winter had asked if the reason was because Ruby had been around.

However, Yang's forfeit did backfire a little of Weiss, as when she had been texting Ruby that night, Ruby had told her that Yang had endured a lot of teasing from their Dad and Uncle, who had just happened to visit.

So when Weiss had turned up to work the next day and saw that Yang was wearing a black beanie, the heiress figured she might not have the best shift.

Sure enough, Yang had abused her power as manager that shift and Weiss managed to somehow end up all the worst jobs. Taking out the bins, spending an hour doing stock check in the freezer and cleaning out the bottom fridges. Needless to say, by the time it was getting close to lunch Weiss was tired, sweaty and felt gross.

"You look gross," Blake said, turning the page of her book as Weiss half leaned, half collapsed against the counter.

"Kill me."

"Let me finish my chapter."

"How is this fair?" Weiss moaned. "You were in on it too, yet you have time to read and you get to smell like vanilla, not garbage."

Blake smiled, turning back to her book as Yang jumped up next to them.

"Up and at 'em Weiss," Yang said cheerfully. "Don't want to look bad in front of the customers."

Weiss looked up and groaned before collapsing back down.

"There's one group here and they come here more than I do, I think we'll be okay." She scowled at the blonde. "And you're a poor loser."

"In my defense, I don't get a lot of practice."

"Next time you're getting the monk."

Yang stuck out her tongue before going back to her staring, letting out a content sigh that made Weiss raise her eyebrow. Blake frowned as well, looking up from her book before rolling her eyes.

"And you're staring at her again."

"Do you go to museums to not look at art," Yang said, moving her head.

"What's this?" Weiss asked, her head still on the counter. "Who are you staring at?"

"Coco," Yang said dreamily, before going slightly red as Blake gave her a look. "I- uh... I may have looked at her card name one time... or a few times."

"You're unbelievable," Blake said.

"It's not my fault," Yang said. "She's intimidating, it's hard to look at her sometimes."

At this point, Weiss decided that she had to see who had Yang so enraptured. This was the girl who openly checked out every girl at their work minus her sister.

Looking over the counter, Weiss got a better look at the group who had been coming to Beacon so often. The Faunus drew her eye first, the rabbit ears on her head standing upright as she listened quietly to her friends. She looked fairly timid, leaning on the large boy's shoulder comfortably but like she could bolt at any second.

The larger boy (and large was an understatement), looked more comfortable and the near definition of stoic. Weiss would guess the two of them were probably dating, though the logistics of a physical relationship between the two...

The red headed guy seemed to be mid argument with the other girl. Not a bad one by any extent, more like the ones that Weiss would have with Nora or Yang. From the times they had been in here, Weiss could remember that he was blind though he walked with enough confidence it was hard to really tell.

And then there was the object of Yang's ogling, Coco apparently. Weiss could see why Yang liked her. She was really quite gorgeous and not everyone could wear a beret and not look like a pretentious hipster. She seemed to be the leader of the group, or at least was the loudest.

"Yang I've never seen you intimated by anyone," Blake said. "And you once dated a girl for months, that I never heard speak and had literal crazy eyes."

"I did not date her for months."

"Counting the times you went back to her?"

Yang groaned.

"Okay yes, it was stupid, you were right and she was bad for me. Happy now?"

"Yes," Blake said making Weiss grin. "So what's so special about this girl?"

Yang sighed, holding up her face with her hands.

"She's really pretty."

At this, Weiss scoffed, Blake rolled her eyes and the rabbit Faunus's ears twitched. All three of Beacon's workers froze.

"Uhh..." Weiss said. "Do you think she can hear us?"

"No of course not," Yang said, nervously. "Right Blake... right Blake?"

"Yeah," Blake said, not sounding confident. "I mean, she could have if she was paying attention... No, there's no way."

Despite her words, they all spoke a little quieter after that.

"It's not just that she's hot," Yang said. "She just seems really nice. I mean, look at her friends. Someone like her could be friends with anyone but she's friends with a blind guy and a faunus. It seems like she really cares about who they are, not what they are."

"You're reading too much into this," Weiss said. "But if you like her so much, why don't you do talk to her?"

"With this hair?" Yang scoffed. "No thank you. I don't need that rejection."

Before Weiss could reply that she was being ridiculous, Coco stood up from the table and started to walk over to the counter, making their group scramble to look busy. Well Weiss and Yang scrambled, Blake just went back to her book.

"Hi there," Yang said, smiling. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Just another coffee please," she said. "And let me pay for the others before they can complain."

Yang nodded, probably not trusting herself to speak. Weiss made the coffee, most of her focus still on Yang as the blonde tried and failed to make smooth conversation.

"Uhh... so," Yang said, before clearing her throat. "Got any plans for today?"

"Not really," Coco said with a shrug. "Though I hear there are some good museums around here." She grinned over her sunglasses. "Perks of being friends with a Faunus."

At this, Weiss almost burned herself, jerking the coffee cup to the side in shock. She looked over to Blake to see the Faunus griping her book very tightly and glancing Yang she could see the blonde had visibly paled

"Oh god you heard that," Yang said. "I am so sorry. It was completely inappropriate and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Here let me pay for drinks."

Coco laughed waving off Yang's offer.

"Don't worry about it, not every day that someone calls you an art piece." She paused for a moment. "Though I suppose you could buy me a coffee if you really wanted to."

"Yes, absolutely. I- what?"

Weiss couldn't believe it. No way was this really happening.

"I know this great cafe," Coco continued. "I like going here because they have this superhot blonde working there." The brunette suddenly looked up over Yang's shoulder. "The only problem is that the other waitresses are really nosey."

Realising that she hadn't moved in about five minutes, Weiss winced, quickly finishing off Cocos drink and passing it over with a weak smile even as Yang glared at her. Blake had already made a hasty exit by this point leaving Weiss alone to weather Yang's ire.

"Thank you Weiss," Yang said, through gritted teeth before now smiling back at Coco. "I'm Yang by the way."

"I know," Coco said before blushing slightly. "I... uh, read your name tag."

"I'm sure that's what you were looking for on my chest."

"Oh absolutely, love the new hair by the way."

Weiss had to resist the urge to face-palm, as she hurried back to the kitchen to give them privacy now she had been caught. Dear god, now there were two of them. Still, she couldn't be too annoyed. Weiss had seen Yang with a few girls in the time she had known her and if she was going to be happy with anyone, she would need someone who could keep up with her.

And from the looks of it, Coco might just be that girl.

Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe

Weiss sat at her dinner table sulking. Her sister didn't say anything, though Weiss had caught her looking more than twice. Not that Weiss could really blame her sister, the young heiress looked absolute ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact, Weiss wasn't even sure if Yang's teasing of making her bald would have been that much worse.

And she had really thought she was going to win in the end.

"So how long do you need to keep it like this?" Winter asked after five minutes of silence.

"I don't want to talk about it!"

Winter raised her hands in surrender going back to her food with a small smirk on her face that she was failing to hide. Not wanting to look at her sister (with her hair being a cruel reminder of what she had lost) Weiss accidentally caught her reflection in the window and glared at the hot pink and neon green pigtails she now sported.

It was going to be a long month.