Obligatory PSA: Don't drink, children. This is a story. Don't break the law (or be like Ozpin), or you'll be in some serious shit.

"Special delivery!"

Roman slammed the crate down on the lounge table, his voice catching the attention of all those around him. Most of the house was present, and were instantly curious about the late-night package the crook had brought in. They crammed themselves around the table as Roman pried open the lid to reveal its special contents.

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Mercury smiled wide, his face still heavily bruised from earlier, "That's Grade-A booze! Where did you get this?"

"Some dude just drove up in a van, and I signed for it," Roman answered, examining one of the bottles, "I figured one of you ordered it or something."

"We are minors!" a concerned Pyrrha answered, "We should not even be in possession of this crate. I say we dispose of it immediately before Ozpin finds out."

"You might be a minor, but I am not," Roman tossed his bottle over to an eager Neo, "And I am most certainly not getting rid of all of this."

Mercury had already opened his own bottle, and was drinking already. "Come on, Nikos. Let loose a little! I bet barely any of you have even tasted this stuff before."

The teens shared glances with each other. Some were still reluctant, while others realized Mercury had a point. When would they ever have an opportunity to try the drink again at their current age? The lines were drawn as the curious ones reached for the crate.

"I don't see the harm in one drink," Blake shrugged.

"Oh, this'll be good," Yang grinned, throwing an arm over the cat, "Always wondered what kind of drunk you would be."

Ruby looked at her two teammates, then at Weiss. "What do you think?"

"It certainly isn't the most dignified drink," Schnee said, looking at her feet, "But I'd be lying if I said I never wanted to taste it."

Before Nora could open her mouth, Ren covered it with his hand. "Sorry. I've seen you with sugar. I don't want to see you intoxicated." As the chef dragged Valkyrie away, who was muffling protests, Pyrrha felt relief in her teammate's resistance to peer pressure. She smiled and looked to Jaune, whom she was sure would agree with staying out of this.

Except that he was already toasting with Mercury.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed in disappointment, "What are you doing?"

"What?" Arc shrugged, "There's a first time for everything."

"But…"

"Don't listen to her, Jaune," Mercury smirked, looking directly at Nikos, "She's just afraid you can't handle it. You gotta show her that you can."

"Yeah… Yeah! I can handle this!" It was clear that Jaune couldn't, as he was already slightly red in the cheeks. Seeing this, Pyrrha made her decision.

"Fine, Jaune. But I'm going to stay here and make sure you don't drink yourself sick. Is that okay?"

A loud burp was his response.

Pyrrha just knew this would end badly.

The first thing Roman did was grab some plastic cups from upstairs after Jaune began yelling "SHOTS!" for a solid minute. Setting up the cups in a circle on the table, the drinking squad took a seat on the floor in front of their drink. Roman stood atop the furniture, a half full bottle in his hand held high.

"On my word… GO!"

All seven below him quickly downed their shots, with varying reactions. Being veteran drinkers, Mercury and Neo felt nothing from the single round. Ruby and Weiss gagged immediately as the strong liquid went down their throats, whereas Blake winced slightly at its burning sensation. Yang seemed to handle it the best, shouting and high-fiving an excited Jaune.

"This stuff ain't half-bad!" Yang shouted over the loud club music playing in the background, courtesy of Mercury's portable speakers. Her trailing eyes spotted an observant Pyrrha sitting in the far corner of the room, "You should try some P-Money!"

Nikos raised an eyebrow at Yang's curious nickname for her. "I am good. Please, just pretend I'm not even here."

Jaune had not heard a single word she said over the blaring bass. "Pyrrha! I've got a cup with your name on it!"

'Stop smiling at me, Jaune,' Pyrrha told herself, looking away from his face, "Thank you, but I'll pass."

Shrugging, Arc looked up at Torchwick. "Next round Roman!"

"Aren't you an eager one?" the crook said, bending down to fill everyone's cups, "You might even give Neo a run for her money!" In response, Neo reached up and slapped Roman's behind. Torchwick jumped at the sudden grope, before slapping her hand away. "Bad Neo. Save it for later."

"Yang…" Ruby moaned to her sister, rubbing her head, "I feel a little dizzy."

"Aw, my little sis is a lightweight! Ain't that adorable?"

A flustered Weiss reached over Ruby and grabbed Yang by her shirt. "Don't be mean to *hic!* Ruby! I don't *hic!* like it when you're mean to Ruby!"

The blonde burst into laughter at her quickly intoxicated teammate. "I take it back: You're the lightweight!"

"I am *hic!* not! I'm just… Just kind of fuzzy inside, that's all…"

"I think that's enough for you, Weiss," Blake said, looking at Ruby, "Why don't you take her back to her room and call it a night?"

"Okay…" Ruby nodded, carefully lifting Schnee to her feet. "Up and at 'em, bestie."

"She was *hic!* mean to you Ruby…" Drunk tears started forming in Weiss's eyes, "I don't want you sad…"

As Ruby slowly carried the sobbing Ice Queen up the staircase, Roman looked to the others. "Now that the kids are out of the way, who's ready to really get this party started?"

A collective cheer and another attempted grope from Neo was his answer. Sighing, Pyrrha got up from her seat and took Weiss's previous seat by Jaune. At least now she could keep a closer eye on him.

"Oh hey, Pyrrha!" Jaune threw his arm over the girl, who blushed immediately, "You change your mind?"

"N-No I have not," Pyrrha said, clearing her throat, "I just wanted to make sure none of you get out of hand, that's all."

"Don't bother with her, Arc," Mercury waved Nikos off, "She's just chicken. Let her sit out on the fun!"

"AND DRINK!" Roman announced, as everyone around Pyrrha downed their shot. Pyrrha looked at the empty cup in her hand, and then at Jaune. As much as she wanted to not feel left out, she knew what the right thing to do was. Someone had to be there in case Jaune, or anyone else, got themselves hurt.

...But would one drink really be that bad?

"Oh, this is getting good," Qrow slapped Ozpin on the shoulder as they watched the live stream of the party, "Looks like Nikos finally gave in. That's sure to raise our donations!"

"Indeed," Ozpin nodded, "We are already at $750,000 lien. Surely we will break one million in due time."

The men silently watched the little screen as Pyrrha downed her first shot.

"…Hey, Oz."

"Yes? What is it?"

"I just realized something."

"What may that be?"

"Couldn't we get like, arrested for this?"

Ozpin let out a little chuckle. "Qrow. In all my years of living, I have learned the art of playing chess. Not just the game, but the real life mechanics of it. And with my techniques, I have found the secret to being able to escape any harmful situation that may come my way."

"…Uh huh. Care to say that in English?"

"For this scenario, I have planned ahead when creating this camera feed. I made sure that it was under the name of another authority figure of our rank to avoid any legal confrontations that may arise from its potential spreading. Any ramifications will be directed towards said person if they occur."

"Still not getting it."

"Look here," Ozpin pointed towards some small text in the bottom right corner of a camera feed. Qrow squinted at the name in question, and grinned as he realized what Ozpin had done.

"Property of General James Ironwood of Atlas Academy."

"And that, Qrow, is checkmate."

Things had spiraled out of control rapidly after the fourth round of shots when Mercury started turning from smug asshole into drunk asshole. His speech became a series of drunken slurs as he started ranting on about random things, ranging from how much of a bitch Cinder was to the ridiculously high price of his porno mag subscription. Jaune tried having a conversation with him by constantly saying "Yeah, man!" after everything he said. Things got uncomfortable when Neo attempted to engage Roman physically on the couch, but fortunately dozed off in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. Yang and Blake's entire conversation revolved around talking trash about Adam and about how things would be better without men. Between watching over Jaune and everyone else, Pyrrha could have sworn she saw Adam peeking in on them from behind a corner then running off when Xiao Long said she would strangle him if he showed his face.

By 1:00 in the morning the party had all but died. The drinkers were all over the lounge in different states of intoxication. Mercury had passed out on the table, a pool of spit around his head. Roman had fallen asleep on the couch beside Neo, with the short woman snuggled up close to her boss and wearing his hat. On the other side of the table, Yang was petting a drowsy Blake's who had plopped down on her lap after failing to stay upright. The blonde had undone her bow to watch her cat ears twitch as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"So funny…" Yang giggled, poking the Faunus's ears. Watching the tipsy girl, Pyrrha looked back to her own blonde who was wavering back and forth as he stared at the ceiling. She had only sipped from her cup once (and refused to do it again; how could someone willingly drink this?!), and seemed completely unaffected by the whiskey. Jaune, unfortunately, had downed seven shots total, and was nearly ready to fall over. Pyrrha realized it was time to get him back to their room.

"Come on, Jaune," she said, helping the staggering boy to his feet, "I think it's time for you to get some sleep."

"Ngh… 'kay," he mumbled, throwing his arm over Pyrrha's shoulder as they walked away.

"Have fun, you two~!" Yang slurred in a singsong voice, much to Pyrrha's embarrassment. This was certainly not the way she wanted to confess to her team leader, let alone do anything else with him.

Pyrrha slowly guided him up the stairs and to their room, where she carefully placed him on his bed. Removing his shoes, she pulled his covers over him like a mother did her child. Jaune closed his eyes, quickly slipping into a deep sleep as Pyrrha fluffed his pillow.

"Thanks… Pyrrha…"

Pyrrha blushed at Jaune's mumbling as he went out completely. She stared at his sleeping face for what felt like minutes. He looked so calm, so peaceful… She had never seen him like this before. His soft snoring was music to her ears. He was irresistible.

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Sun was still asleep, she pressed her lips lightly on his forehead. Smiling softly, Pyrrha laid her head by his arm, using her hands as a pillow as she closed her eyes.

"Don't mention it."