It was a warm, quiet night in the Beacon dorms, and it was perfect for a party. The common room was just big enough for three and one-fourth teams to squish into the cheap couches, perch on couch arms, and sink into deep chairs in a big fun mess. RWBY, JNPR, a third team, and solo-act Ilia were getting friendly around the tiny table stacked with thirteen gifts; seeing as only Weiss would be able to afford good presents for 12 (Or maybe 11 if she skipped Jaune), all decided to join together and do the name out of a hat thing for one person. Barring Ilia, everyone was obligated to get one present for one person for Nondescript Winter Holiday. Even after the big shopping trip, Ilia was still lacking in material possessions, so everyone pitched in with gift cards and random necessities to help bring her up to par. After the party, everyone would give out other presents to whom they saw fit, but it was a better, cheaper number than all 12 other people and wasn't as involved a process. For the night before the big day, it was one present.
Seeing as it was the night before a holiday, all were throwing a party to celebrate. The man knew Ruby and Yang's dad was coming to visit tomorrow, and he imagines everyone else has family coming or going, so tonight was party night. Before the potluck presents, everyone had made a mess of the communal kitchen making food; pasta, salad, quiche, chips, cake, sodas, all sorts of things were spread around the tables, and Weiss had even pitched in (though did not prepare) a full roast chicken. True to the student lives, everyone was munching on an assortment of food with paper plates and plastic knives.
Though it was almost freezing outside with yet another storm raging, the warmth of the common room fought off any sense of cold. Everyone was busy enjoying their food and socializing before things kicked off. Though the man had spent long, long hours with Team RWBY, the rest of his team was still pretty unacquainted; between Yang teasingly revealing sappy stuff he's done with Weiss and yhis our team talking about their adventures, they gabbed about random nonsense to become better friends.
The man is currently occupied enjoying Weiss sitting on the arm of his chair, though he notices that Jaune constantly looks over at him and Weiss pretending to listen to Nora. Seeing as JNPR was good friends with RWBY, he's become familiar with all of them over the past few months. He still can't shake his negative opinion of Jaune, though; even considering his substantial progress as a fighter, he hasn't forgotten when he charged at an Ursa during the joint training session. It didn't help that he made it pretty clear that he wants Weiss for himself. He's very jealous that he ended up dating her, and seems to forget the numerous times Weiss turned him down. A crueler man would have told him that he had sex with Weiss and that he should stop trying. It bothers him, especially considering anyone with eyes could see that the legendary Pyrrha Nikos kept blushing whenever she looked his way. She is currently sitting next to him, and he can clearly see her let out a disappointed sigh whenever Jaune shifts his attention to Weiss. Yang had let him know that she had made Pyrrha all but admit her crush, though it was painfully obvious. Man, Jaune is a bit dense…
The man tries to formulate a way to get Jaune to forget his attempts at Weiss while making sure to touch her when he spoke to her. Weiss not only allows him to place his hands on her bare leg, she seems to enjoy it when she notices that it's a message to Jaune. She was wearing a much shorter, clingier dress than usual for the party, so he makes sure to drift upwards at a slow pace whenever Yang wasn't looking. Jaune quickly gets frustrated and gets up to get more food.
Sensing opportunity, the man tries to figure something out that could help get Jaune off his back and make it double as making him move on from Weiss. Knowing that Nora was also a Jaune x Pyrrha shipper, he looks at her and motions to Pyrrha. She seems to grasp intent, as she has also spent much of the night watching Pyrrha fail to summon courage. In a strange sense of… groundedness(?), Nora nods, agreeing to be a wing-wingman. For once, she looks to understand the situation and know how to proceed without being out of reason.
The man waits for Jaune to return with a plate of food and a drink. Trying to look as innocent as possible, he uses his Semblance to shift a table in such a way that it trips him up. Straining himself a bit, he follows up, directing Jaune's descent; he makes sure he falls pretty much face first onto Pyrrha's breasts, ensuring he couldn't be angry with him should he find out he caused this. In addition to the blonde landing on Pyrrha's chest, his cup full of soda splashes onto her fancy party dress. Realizing her crush was currently motorboating her, the champion's usual pleasant face was as red as her soda-stained outfit; completely unsure of what to do, she simply raises her arms and looks down at Jaune as he struggles to get back up. After bouncing on her breasts, he slips further down into her lap, furthering the awkwardness, but he quickly gets up, babbling apologies.
"Ah! Pyrrha! I'm so sorry!" Jaune says, surveying the damage done to the couch and Pyrrha's outfit. "Oh, my god, your dress! I'm so sorry! I must… the table moved! I'm sorry!"
Before Pyrrha gets a chance to apologize for things she didn't do wrong, Nora interrupts. "JAUNE! That was so clumsy of you!" Not letting either Pyrrha or Jaune get a word in, she continues, "Great! Now Pyrrha's dress is ruined! You two are going to have to go back to the dorm so she can change!"
Jaune and Pyrrha, both bright red, blink. Usually, Nora would have said something outlandish, but she really did understand the plan. She must want them to get together as well, though probably not because Jaune was obsessed with Weiss. Jaune and Pyrrha look at each other, probably thinking about why Nora suggested Jaune accompany her to change.
Sensing incoming questions, Nora preemptively shouts, "WELL? You gotta get that dress off NOW! You don't want soda to sink in! You gotta wash it!"
"But why–"
"I agree with Nora," Ren says, surprising everyone. "That's one of your best dresses, cost-wise, and appearance-wise, Pyrrha. I'd recommend washing it as soon as possible."
"Yeah! Go go go!" Nora begins pushing Pyrrha up from her seat up to Jaune. "The party's not going anywhere! Come on! I wanna get to the presents!"
"Yeah. We can start handing out presents once you two get back. Go ahead."
Most people spread around the room start urging Jaune and Pyrrha to head back to their dorm. The man notices Yang, Nora, and Weiss especially, though it seems the majority of people would enjoy seeing those two together, if for their own reasons. Unable to get a word in, the awkward pair starts heading back to their dorm. The man and Nora share an understanding nod, the joint-wingman coalition act successful. JNPR's room was only a few halls down, and the laundry room was close as well, so Pyrrha and Jaune return in short order; Pyrrha was now sporting a lovely white dress adorned with gold, and both were sporting pleasant smiles from the strangely convenient contrivance. Hopefully, this would be the start of something new for them. If not, the man had more divine intervention to throw at them.
"Ah, great! Now we can get started!" Ruby says as Pyrrha and Jaune retake their seats. Jaune carefully lowers himself back into the couch, making extra sure not to spill any more food or soda. Ruby had chosen herself as the Sant– Nondescript Giver of Presents, so she would be the sort of ringleader for the night. "First off…" she says, grabbing one of the presents on the table. She looks for the sender and the receiver, "It looks like this is from Nora to Yang!" She hands the decently-sized gift to Yang, readying a trash bag for the wrapping paper.
"Ah, sweet!" Yang says, pulling the bow off of her present. Unsurprisingly, her party outfit was a soft yellow dress that showed off a substantial amount of cleavage and was half the length of Ruby's black and red outfit. The blonde tears off the wrapping paper and inspects everything in the box; she pulls out a gift card to a game store, a scarf, and an assortment of bath bombs, saying each when taken out. She looks at Nora, then clearly turns her head to look at Ren. "Thank you two so much! It's so thoughtful!" Nora bounces up and down, not realizing Yang figured Ren did most of the thinking. Ren lets it be and simply nods his thanks.
Ruby grabs the next present and reads, "From… Yang to Pyrrha!"
Yang puts on a smug grin as Pyrrha accepts the gift and starts removing the paper filling the bag. Pyrrha's pleasant face turns to one of straight confusion as she pulls out a gift card to Victor's Secret, the ever-famous place for women to buy underwear or lingerie; unsure of whether to be amused, angry, or revulsed, she also pulls out a hilariously tiny pink thong. The room goes quiet aside from Yang snickering to herself and rain pattering the windows.
"I… hope you don't intend for me to wear this," Pyrrha says, taking the thong as a joke. She, along with the room, starts laughing; Pyrrha, aside from maybe Ruby, was the least likely girl to wear a thong in any situation, and the absurdity of Yang's teasing was enough to hit everyone.
"Nah, but that reaction was everything I wanted it to be." Yang pulls out something from behind her and tosses it at Pyrrha. The redhead catches a large bag of assorted sweets and some Dust ammo. "Though you and I are going out one of these days and I'm gonna treat you to a girly trip: pedicure, hair, shopping, the works!"
With a joyous smile, Pyrrha says, "That sounds lovely. Though, let's wait until the weather clears a bit."
"Of course! No point getting all dolled up if it's too wet to go outside!" Yang waits for everyone to calm down before casually adding in, "So, can I have that back by the way?" She motions to the thong. Pyrrha furrows her eyebrows and decides to play along; she stretches the elastic between her two thumbs and slingshots the garment to Yang to amuse her. "Thank you~" she says, spreading out the thong, deftly sliding her heels through the holes, and pulling it all the way up her legs with a hop, putting it on in front of everyone.
"Yang!" Ruby shouts, clearly embarrassed.
"Oh, my god, Yang, control yourself!" Weiss adds, disappointed in her teammate's raunchiness.
Though everyone was pretty shocked that Yang would risk going commando in a tiny dress, she quickly (and unfortunately, depending on gender) affirms the gag. "Easy, it was just a joke," she says as she lifts up the front of her dress to reveal she was wearing her normal shorts, though with the thong comically over them. The man notices most of the men around cover their eyes or look away, though Ilia and Blake can't help but be drawn to the sight of Yang lifting her dress; both Faunus shift in their seats, proving beyond a doubt both were into girls.
"I swear, sometimes with you," Weiss says, steaming.
"It's a party! Have some fun! And before you say it, no, I haven't been spiking eggnog." Yang laughs off the rest of Weiss' anger, Ruby's shock, and the rest of the party's enjoyment of her prank.
"Ugh, fine. Ruby, continue."
Barring Weiss for a few minutes, the party enjoys Ruby passing out the rest of the presents. Everyone gets several knick-knacks and thoughtful gifts that they play with or inspect until Ruby gets down to the last present. Though the man knew who it was for and from, through the process of elimination, everyone knew that it was for Blake from him. Ruby passes the box over to her teammate, who looks at him, curious; his smile, though not quite to the level of Yang, has a smugness that shows he's confident that Blake would enjoy her gift.
Everyone watches as Blake pops the box open and pulls out the tissue paper. He sees her eyes widen as she puts both hands to her mouth with a gasp. "Oh, my god…" she says, letting him know that he hit every nail on every head. Tearing up a bit, Blake's lips reveal a tender smile as pulls out a plushie; the stuffed black cat was Lucky, the main character of the kid's movie the man put on for Blake when she had her episode after the business with Ilia. He had decided to pick it up for the following reasons: it proves he don't care about her being a Faunus, it provided comfort to her when she was depressed, it represents friendship, and… it was a cute black cat. It made the perfect gift, proven when Blake says, "I love it…" Though trying to hide it, she starts choking up at the gift and the thought that went into it. A bit forced, she says, "T-thank you. So much…"
Even for the rest of her team, Blake's love of her new plushie was lost on her team. They knew she was a black cat Faunus, sure, but that wouldn't explain why Blake was almost ready to cry from happiness over a squishy stuffed cat. Weiss had been with the man when he bought it at the toy store, but she accepted the gift as simply being a subtle nod at Blake's Faunus secret; no one knew why the particular cat would make Blake so happy to receive it as a gift. It's a strange pride to feel having pulled something like this off, and he is very pleased to see that it worked so well.
The rest of the party accepts that Blake must really like the movie Lucky is from and begin to wrap up. Now, it was late, and most had things to do tomorrow with family, so they start to disperse. The man starts helping rearrange the couches and tables back to their original positions while most everyone heads back to their rooms. As he places the last couch back where it belongs, he feels a tap on his shoulder; he looks back to see Blake holding her Lucky plush with a lasting joy.
"Can you help me really quick? Ruby and Yang are taking out the trash and Weiss went back to the room."
"Sure thing. What is it?"
"Most of the actual dishes and pans and stuff we used are ours. It'll only take a sec to clean them, then I need a hand bringing them back. Here, come on."
The man follows Blake through the door to the communal kitchen and flicks the lights back on. There is plenty of food left over, plus a lot of cooking implements, so more than one set of hands was definitely needed; he starts transferring food to ziplocks to move to the fridge while Blake starts washing the dishes.
"I… just wanted to say thank you," Blake says, focusing on the dishes with all her might. "I never considered you'd… do something like that… Part of me was convinced Yang rigged the draw so she could pull that thong stunt with me or something."
"You're welcome. I saw it at the toy store the other day and knew immediately."
"Well, you nailed it. Seeing Lucky… I felt… safe. I felt safe with you that night. Even though you… your shoulder."
"I told you it's fine," the man says, feeling a twinge of phantom pain as he puts the ziplocks of food in the fridge. He turns around to continue only to find Blake standing in his way.
As the man stands confused, Blake grabs his hands. She stutters out something indecipherable, then looks away. Before he can react, she turns her head and full on kisses him. Her lips touch his, the subtle taste of wine on her breath. With her so close to him, he feels her body start to quiver. It takes him a moment to fully realize what was happening.
The rain continues to patter the windows as a bolt of lightning strikes.