It was the grand opening of Thunder Lotus, Lie Ren's very first restaurant. The scene was one of the hottest places to be in Atlas at the minute, with a practical Who's Who of upper Atlesian society. Weiss had been more than happy to offer a small loan to Ren to help achieve his culinary dreams and if the turnout was going to be anything like this on a regular basis, she would be paid back in full in no time. Not that there was much of a rush, as Weiss made it clear to only pay it back if he could afford it. The SDC had seen its profits soar lately as public trust was being regained with Weiss in charge.
This opening night had the reunited team RWBY sitting at the Chef's VIP table along with Nora who was engaged to Ren. It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the crowded main floor and their table was raised on a staircase overlooking the rest of the restaurant. Ruby was used to treatment like this after being married to Weiss for so long, but it was still new to Yang and Blake.
"This is so exciting!" Nora squealed. She had dressed up for this event, wearing a sparkly pink cocktail dress that kept her shoulders bare. "My Ren is finally a big-time chef! I can't thank you enough, Weiss!"
"Honestly, it's nothing," Weiss said with a modest hand wave. "You know we all go way back and it was the least I can do." Weiss was wearing an expensive pants suit, the color of which was a stunning ice blue that matched her eyes perfectly.
"I'm just happy team RWBY is back together again!" Ruby said cheerfully, wearing her Beacon Ball dress. It had been altered a bit as she became older and taller and put on a bit more muscle, but it was the only dress she owned and she enjoyed it too much to let it go.
Since the defeat of Salem, the forces of Grimm had been greatly reduced, but they were still a threat. No more Grimm pools were being created, but there were still hundreds scattered throughout Remnant and as long as people were capable of having negative emotions, there no time sit and rest on one's laurels. Ruby and Nora were the only active Huntresses as the table, at least full-time. Weiss would venture out every now and then to escape from the doldrums of the SDC boardroom. Yang and Blake had married and settled down in Menagerie, with Blake opening a cozy little book store that also served tea called Tea and Sympathy and Yang had gone on to be a highly successful motorcycle racer, starting her own racing team known as the One-Armed Bandits.
"It is nice to be together again," Blake said with a tea sip. "It reminds me of some of the better days gone by."
"It wouldn't hurt to call us every now and then, sis." Yang teased, giving Ruby a playful arm punch.
"Hey, cut her some slack!" Nora interjected. "She's been busting her butt with me the past couple of days smashing some Ravagers that were messin' with some villagers in Vacuo."
"I know, I'm just messing with her," Yang said with a shrug. "Actually, I'm super proud that Rubes is one of the few full-time Huntresses left. It really shows her dedication to making the world a better place."
"If only she had that kind of commitment to doing her laundry on a regular basis," Weiss said with a sarcastic chuckle. "I've lost count of how many random foul smelling socks I've found lying around the Manor."
Ruby opened her mouth to object, but she was interrupted by the waiter. He was a young ram Faunus, with sandy brown hair and two elegantly curved horns, with eyes the color of freshly mowed grass.
"Hi, I'm Pan, I'll be your waiter today," he said with a warm greeting. "Welcome to Thunder Lotus. I see everyone has their drinks, are we ready to order?"
"Oh crud, I forgot to even look at the menu!" Ruby whined. "Um, everyone else go, I'll go last."
"Well, I know what I want!" Nora declared triumphantly, handing Pan her menu. "Gimmie a BBQ Bacon Bighouse Burger. Extra everything, please."
"Wow, no pancakes?" Yang asked in astonishment.
"Hey, I eat more than just pancakes!" was Nora's retort, though Pan shifted a bit because Ren had instructed him to bring her two big stacks of pancakes for dessert.
"And you. madam?" he asked Blake.
"Just the tuna steak, thank you. Oh, and another pot of green tea," she said, smiling as she handed the menu back.
"And for your wife?" Pan said, looking towards Yang. Yang was focused intently on the menu, her brow furrowing as she meticulously studied everything on the menu.
"You guys got any tacos?" she finally said.
"Um, I'm afraid we do not have any tac-"
"Yes, you can get tacos!" Nora interrupted, cutting Pan off. "Ren will make them just for you!"
"But we do not offer tacos…" Pan said, suddenly starting to regret coming to this table.
"He'll make them because I asked him to," Nora snorted, before leaning over and speaking in a loud stage whisper, "I'm sleeping with the head chef, you see."
"Yes, I'm fully aware," Pan said, now officially regretting coming to this table. "So I have one burger, one tuna steak…tacos and for you, ma'am?"
"Actually, I was thinking about ordering a pizza. Would you care to split a pizza with me, Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby's eyes lit up in excitement.
"You had me at pizza, Snowflake!"
"I thought you might like that. One supreme pizza, please."
"Hold the green peppers!" Ruby interjected. "What? They taste like crotch."
Yang opened her mouth to make a lewd joke but caught a sharp elbow from Blake that silenced her quickly.
"We are out in public." she hissed under her breath. Yang stuck her tongue out at Blake as Pan made his way to the kitchen, thanking his lucky stars he no longer had to serve this table.
"Well, hey, if you guys are gonna eat pizza, let's hope Weiss eats it a better than last time," Yang said with a laugh. Weiss rolled her eyes and sighed.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Weiss asked. Nora was confused.
"Huh? Did I miss something?" she said, putting her cup of extra strength coffee down.
"Oh, we never told you the story about Ms. Fancy Pants and how she eats pizza?" Yang said, enjoying the heat she saw spreading on Weiss' cheeks. "Okay, so remember back at Beacon when we had the epic food fight in the mess hall? Well, remember the next day when Goodwitch gathered the entire student body…."
MANY YEARS EARLIER…
"Would everyone please settle down? …thank you." Professor Goodwitch said sternly. The entire Beacon roster had been gathered in the Mess Hall, awaiting lunch. Normally there was a hot lunch ready for them, but this time there was nothing but empty tables. Goodwitch paced back and forth in front of the entire student body, occasionally slapping her riding crop in her hand. "As you are aware, due to the events from yesterday, much of the cafeteria was left utterly destroyed, most of which I was able to fix on my own."
"I think Yang is still in orbit…" Nora muttered under her breath, drawing giggles from her teammates. As if she overheard, Goodwitch shot Nora a withering glare that made the thunder goddess sit up straight and fold her hands neatly in front of her.
"As I was saying, the physical damage to the furniture has been almost entirely repaired, but all of the food is unsalvageable. Either due to spoilage or contamination, none of it is permissible to serve. "
"So what are we supposed to eat? Books?" Cardin yelled, his team snickering in delight.
"No, but that might be the first real contact you've ever had with a book, Mr. Winchester," Goodwitch said, her words dripping with venom. "Speak out of turn again and I will have you scrubbing this place in between classes. But in your caveman idiocy, you did bring up a valid question - what will you be eating for lunch? Professor Ozpin and I are not cruel and will not allow our students to go hungry, so we managed to dip into the school's resources and provide you with some pizza from Princess Pepperoni's Pizzeria."
Ruby's eyes lit up with joy.
"Princess Pepperoni?! The best pizza in the entire world!" she squealed.
"Princess Pepperoni?" Weiss asked confused.
"You've never seen the commercials, Weiss? There's Princess Pepperoni and she lives in the Pizza Kingdom and she fights the evil Garlic Wizard with the help of her Onion Knight and Mushroom Knight and-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, Ruby," Weiss said, holding up a hand to cut her team leader off. "If your idea of food involves a back story that rivals that of most fiction, I'm not interested." Ruby scoffed and pouted adorably, which meant Yang had to come in to once again diffuse the situation.
"Rubes can get a bit excitable when it comes to pizza, but it is pretty good stuff, though I'm sure it's not as good as the stuff you had growing up," Yang said diplomatically. Weiss blushed a bit, before regaining her composure.
"Actually, I've never had pizza before. It's not exactly something a proper young lady would eat." Weiss admitted sheepishly. Yang was shocked, Blake reacted with mild-amusement, but Ruby acted as Zwei had suddenly learned to talk in front of her.
"You've! Never! Had! Pizza?!" she said, standing up to grab Weiss hand and drag up to the front of the Mess Hall where several long tables had been set up in a row with numerous boxes of extra-large pizzas of various toppings spread out. Ruby was practically drooling as she nearly Semblanced to the front of the line.
"Two slices, per person!" Goodwitch yelled over the excited, hungry crowd. "Once everyone has had at least two slices, then we can discuss going back for seconds."
"So…many…choices…" Ruby said in awe, before deciding on a slice of supreme and a slice of Meat Explosion. Weiss had just a slice of pepperoni when a carton of little dough balls caught her eye.
"Ooh, are these profiteroles? Maybe this place isn't so tacky after all." she mused, adding a few to her plate. "They're awful greasy, though. And they smell terrible." Ruby rolled her eyes and giggled.
"Weiss, those are garlic knots," she said with amusement.
"Garlic knots? I see neither garlic nor knot, just a greasy ball of dough." she scoffed. "But I suppose I will give them a try."
The two girls made it back to team RWBY's table, with Blake and Weiss having already acquired their slices. Yang folded her slice up like a taco and began to dig it, Ruby flipped her slice backward to eat it crust first and even Blake nibbled a bit and chewed on her slice. Weiss, however, had neatly folded a napkin in her lap, carefully laid her silverware out (she always brought her own) and carefully sliced the tip of the pizza off before eating it using her fork, making sure to chew at least twenty times per side. After all, indigestion was unladylike.
"Weiss, what in the name of a Grimm's butthole are you doing?!" Yang demanded. Weiss swallowed her piece of pizza and delicately dabbed her lips with her napkin, before returning it to her lap.
"If I'm going to eat this 'pizza', I should at least do it with class and sophistication," she said plainly. Ruby scoffed at this.
"You're eating like a freakazoid and the entire school is staring at us." she moaned. Weiss was not phased.
"Good. Let them see how a proper person of etiquette eats pizza." she mused, using her fork and knife to cut off another dainty slice.
"Ugh, you're embarrassing meeeeeee." Ruby whined, snatching Weiss' plate away. "Here, let me show you how it's done," she added, taking her untouched supreme slice and offering to the heiress. "I bite the front, you bite the crust."
"Ruby, that is childish," Weiss complained. "I will not be doing such a thing."
"As your team leader, I order you to eat pizza like this!" Ruby snapped. Weiss sighed, knowing how stubborn Ruby could be.
"Fine." she groaned, taking the slice by the back and took a gentle bite. The crust was warm and doughy and soon she ate through that, taking another bite and another bite. Both girls were so into eating their pizza. that they hadn't noticed they met in the middle, their lips briefly touching.
"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry!" Ruby gasped her face now as red as her cloak.
"No, no, it's quite alright," Weiss said, blushing just as hard. "It was an easy mistake to make. I…certainly didn't object to it…the pizza that is. "
"I told you!" Ruby smiled, her skin tone coming back to normal. "But the green peppers kinda tasted funky…"