"Ren!"
The second male member of Team RNRP turned around to see Ruby running up to him.
"Ren, you're good at cooking, right?"
He nodded, a faint smile at the praise. "I am."
"Help me bake something!"
"Why, is someone's birthday coming?"
"Well…" The leader of team RWBY held her hands behind her back, crossing her feet and fidgeting in place. "You remember the comic book convention me and Jaune went to?" He nodded.
"Yang and the others interrupted it and kind of ruined it for Jaune, and I want to make it up to him, but I can't just buy him something. So I thought…"
"You want to make something as an apology, something a bit more sincere than a gift that's probably worse than anything he could afford." Ruby nodded, not meeting his eyes.
He checked his watch. He didn't have anything planned for today, and this would be good practice in the unlikely scenario Nora got sick of pancakes and demanded different sugary treats.
…
"Ok, the dough's done." Reaching into the fridge, Ren pulled out the chilled cookie dough. Ruby, who had fallen asleep on a nearby chair, perked up and rushed over to the kitchen counter.
Taking his rolling pin, Ren began to flatten the dough to the proper thickness. Ruby had insisted on making strawberry cookies, and so the dough was a bright shade of baby pink, with tiny bits of the fruit scattered within.
"Do you want them to be shaped?"
"Yea."
"Ok, here." He pushed the boy of cookie cutters over to her.
"This one please."
"Alright, I'll-" The boy stared at the cutter in her hand. "You want the cookies to be heart shaped?"
Ruby nodded enthusiastically "Yep!"
Unlike his teammates, the boy didn't really want to get in the middle of whatever the two had with each other, but common decency won out and he decided to at least try to warn her.
"Ruby, I think you should pick another shape."
"Why? Oh, is it going to be hard to make?"
"No, I mean, usually people only give these kinds of cookies to people that they like."
"Of course I like him, he's my friend!"
He tilted his head, staring at the girl who had just suggested giving someone pink, heart-shaped cookies platonically.
"No, I mean, people only give these kinds of cookies to people on special occasions, like Valentine's Day."
"Pfftt! What are you talking about Ren, it's nowhere near Valentine's Day!" Ruby swatted the air, shaking her head. Ren slumped, accepting that Ruby wasn't going to be talked out of this cookie shape, and got to work cutting.
"Just don't tell Yang, she'll take it weird."
…
Yang had been hoping that Ruby would forgive her for ruining her date. She was concerned after all, and she hadn't meant to make things that awkward. And to her relief, Ruby didn't seem to be that angry at her. They still ate together, trained together, hung out, same as usual.
But while her sister hadn't given her the cold shoulder or anything, things were still… different.
Case in point, her sister was aggressively sipping on a bottle of soda as they relaxed under a tree. Yang didn't miss how the soda was the cheapest, nastiest soda you could find, some sickly sweet sugar water flavored with cloves and artificial sweeteners. Even the sugar-loving Ruby was wincing slightly from the taste, but preserving anyway.
Blake stretched, straightening out her legs before settling into a comfier position with her book.
"Mm, sure is nice to have some free time." In a rare moment of the stars aligning none of the professors had assigned any homework, and their weekends were mercifully empty for the first time in months.
"Yeah, it's too bad I don't have money, would be nice to have some."
Yang eyed her little sister critically, not missing how the familiar pin was missing from her lapel.
"Didn't you have 300 lien in your wallet yesterday? Where did it-"
"Nope, sorry, can't hear you over how poor I am." Hastily, Ruby took another sip, retching slightly as she did so.
"Ruby, if this is about your dat-"
"No, what do you mean? This is just how I am." She took a large mouthful, swallowing half of it before leaning over and spitting the rest into a bush.
Weiss sighed. "Ruby, if you need us to apologize to Jaune…"
"It's fine Weiss." Ruby perked up, giving a genuine, kind smile. "Jaune doesn't hold it against you." She had also finally given up on finishing that soda, dumping the rest of the half empty bottle in the trash.
"Well, I'm just glad to see you're not mooching off a man."
"You're telling me that?" Ruby leapt to her feet, violently revived. "You made him pay for your food! He doesn't even know you!"
"Ah come on, he's rich, he can afford it."
"Just because he can afford it doesn't make it right Yang." Weiss frowned disapprovingly.
"Well one of you should have said something."
Ruby gave her sister a withering gaze, remembering how Yang dodged all the times she had tried to kick her under the table.
"Ah come on guys it's fine, you're overre-"
Ding!
Ruby's scroll chimed.
Yang looked down, seeing how someone had sent her sister a text message.
"Ruby, are you going to get that?"
"No."
"Your scroll is chiming."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ruby didn't break eye contact. "No it isn't."
"I can literally see you have 13 messages from Jaune."
"Who's Jaune?"
…
No messages huh?
Yang snorted as she traced the flowing dot in her scroll. When they'd gotten back to their room Ruby hadn't said a word to them before snatching up her wallet, an umbrella and a paper bag with what sounded like cookies before vanishing out the door. Unfortunately Ruby's scroll had the feature where you needed to unlock it before you could actually read any of the messages, but it was pretty obvious where her sister had gone.
Yang snorted again, it'll be a cold day in hell when Ruby could outwit her.
Her sister was fast, but this GPS app was faster. The dot was moving at a relatively rapid pace, Ruby was probably using her semblance in short bursts, before it adroitly stopped.
Heh heh, checkmate Ruby.
Still, this was odd. She was getting deeper into a random nature reserve. Were they going to have a picnic?
Well, she'd ask them when she saw them. According to the app Ruby should be right aroun-
Wait, what?
Yang looked around the area furtively. This was, this was an open field! And not even a nice open field, this place looked more overgrown than the Emerald Forest. Not to mention Ruby and her not-boyfriend were nowhere in sight.
Slowly, she zoomed in on her app, and followed the dot. The flashing light led her to the center of the overgrown field, to a large tree stump.
On it was Ruby's phone, carefully sealed into a plastic ziplock bag.
…
Heh heh, checkmate Yang.
Humming, Ruby skipped down the street. Jaune had arranged to meet her at a food court. They would grab a bite to eat, maybe go to the arcade, a fun day to make up for the one that Yang and the others ruined.
And most importantly he wouldn't be spending any more money on her!
Spotting a familiar head of blonde hair, she picked up speed, shoving the bag in his face as he turned around.
"SURPRISE!"
"Hey Rub- oh are these for me?"
She pushed the bag into his hands. "Try them, try them!"
Carefully, he picked up one and bit into it. His eyes lit up. "They're good!"
"They are?!"
"Yeah! Here." He grabbed a cookie and pushed it towards her lips, which she inhaled. They were!
"Where did you get these?"
"Ah, Ren made these for me." She stuffed a few more into her mouth, her cheeks bulging as she chewed. "He's good!"
In her enjoyment the girl didn't notice Jaune pulling something out of his bag.
"SURPRISE!"
The next thing she knew, she was holding a large package. It was surprisingly light, and wrapped in some kind of golden wrapping paper. Ruby took a moment to run her fingers over the smooth wrapping paper before reality caught up to her.
"Wha- why are you buying things for me?"
He shrugged. "I felt like it."
"I can't take this!
"Sure you can, come on let's-"
"NO!"
…
"And how is team RNRP Glynda?"
The Headmistress sighed. Headmaster Ozpin had taken her out for dinner, ostensibly to relax but in reality to discuss curricular matters. The two of them were now seated around a small booth, picking at steak and wine while going over her teams.
"They are still disjointed. Mister Thrush still spends most of his time around other teams, and Miss Nikos continues to feel isolated from her teammates."
"Could we organize any team building exercises?"
She huffed, pushing at an errand piece of fat on her plate. "I already have, they're scheduled for a team mission to a village in Vale next month, but I doubt it will work. The team's problem is not lack of opportunities for socialization but lack of motivation. Mister Thrush is comfortable in his own social circles while Miss Nikos lacks the confidence to attempt to grow closer to her partner. While Mister Ren and Miss Valkyrie are friendly with both of them, the fact that they've known each other for an extended period of time means that Miss Nikos and to a lesser extent Mister Thrush will feel like third wheels in any situation."
"I see." The Headmaster took a sip of his wine."How about team RWBY?"
"They are improving." Miss Goodwitch pushed up her glasses, a very faint hint of approval showing and her face relaxing just the slightest bit. "Miss Xiao Long is becoming less reckless in combat, and Miss Rose is settling into her role as team leader admirably."
Ozpin nodded. "I have been hearing good things about her from Port and Oobleck."
"Indeed. She is becoming more confident, not to mention she is maturing at a rapid p-"
"Jaune get back here!"
The headmaster and his deputy watched as Miss Rose rounded the corner chasing after a blonde teenager, waving a wrapped parcel like it was a bomb, before leaping onto his shoulders. The two tumbled to the ground, the blonde laughing as Miss Rose tried to force the parcel into his hands.
"Ah young love, it's a wonderful sight to see, isn't it Glynda?"
In one smooth motion, Glynda Goodwitch upended her glass, drinking the rest of her wine in one large mouthful before pulling out her crop and stalking towards her student, who had wrapped her legs around the boy's waist and was trying to tear his bag away from him.
A/N: Little trivia, originally Jaune in this fanfic was going to have a backstory similar to his backstory in Service with a Smile, only he owned an international chain of cafes, which is where he gets his money from. I changed his backstory, but decided to leave Russel in his team as an easter egg of sorts. The cafe that he and Ruby met at in chapter 2 was also supposed to be one of his.
