Note: For a request submitted to rwbyships on Tumblr.

Request: Yang Xiao Long/Nora Valkyrie (Pink Lemonade); something close to canon. (Request by Anon).

Any Colour You Like

Summary: RWBY and JNPR decide to spice up a routine mission by forming new two-person teams. Yang and Nora find that sweet and tart make a lovely combination.

"All right!" Ruby clapped her hands. Jaune jumped, startled, and nearly slid out of his seat onto the floor. Pyrrha grabbed him by the back of his armour and hauled him back into place. "Sorry…" Ruby added at Pyrrha's reproving look. "But I had a great idea to make this mission more fun! We'll trade partners!"

"That is not sound tactics," Blake observed. "Our own partners are who we're most comfortable with in a potential crisis."

"But this mission is super-easy!" Ruby argued. "No crisis involved!"

She had a point, Yang thought. This mission was completely beneath them, and that was even before taking JNPR into account.

"I'm with Ruby," she said aloud. "I think it could be fun. What do you say to a nice Freezerburn combo, Weissy?"

"Nope!" Ruby chirped, before Weiss could retort. "We know all of our combinations already, so we're gonna make new ones with JNPR! Everybody will be paired with the person sitting across from them!"

RWBY and JNPR were seated in a row on either side of the plane. Everyone glanced at their assigned partner with varying degrees of enthusiasm, before Ruby began unnecessarily narrating each pair, even naming them on the spot.

"First up, we have me and Pyrrha, the fearless Team Milk and Cereal!" Pyrrha snorted inelegantly, shaking her head, but she wore an indulgent smile.

"Then, the ever-tense Team White Knight: Jaune and Weiss!" Weiss gave a heavy sigh. Jaune gulped.

"Silent and sneaky, we have Blake and Ren, Team Ninjas!" Ruby continued.

"…of Love," Yang coughed. Blake glared at her, cheeks red. Ren was carefully meeting no one's eyes.

Oblivious, Ruby plowed on. "And last, but certainly not least, the powerhouses Yang and Nora on Team Pink Lemonade!"

"More like Team Collateral Damage," Blake deadpanned, still a little flushed. Weiss smirked, and Ren even cracked a smile.

Nora, as cheerful as ever, bounded up from her seat beside her usual partner and plopped down in Yang's lap. Startled, Yang nearly shoved her off before checking the impulse. Instead, she ruffled the smaller girl's hair as she would Ruby's. Nora promptly leaned back to rest her head on Yang's shoulder.

"You're comfy," Nora informed her. "More than Ren; he's all bony."

Yang laughed. Ordinarily she might have cracked a joke—or better yet a pun-slash-entendre—but the moment was surprisingly nice, and she was reluctant to ruin it.

Predictably, Weiss complained the rest of the trip, but Yang wrapped her arms around the fidgeting Nora and relaxed until it was time to drop from the Bullhead.

They had decided, before Ruby's little stunt, that they would sweep Forever Fall in pairs so as to cover the most ground. As Yang had complained—"Incessantly," Blake noted—the mission really was one that either team could have easily handled alone. Clearing Forever Fall of Grimm would have been a mission of less than a week for even a single team of their caliber. Together, they pegged it at less than half that.

They chose a central point to reconvene after those three days; each team would spiral inward toward that point from the four points of the compass, along the way killing anything with glowing red eyes.

Nora volunteered them to jump first, having seen a thick congregation of Grimm near their Western dropzone.

Moving to the edge, yang engaged Ember Celica, crashing the gauntlets together in a characteristic gesture. "Ready to go?" she asked Nora.

The other girl gave a wide grin in return, saluting with Magnhild. "Ready to drop the hammer, partner!" She cackled as she leapt out. Roaring with laughter, Yang followed.

They had gotten a late start, and the sun was low in the sky already, but this would still count as 'Day One', so Yang was hoping to cover at least a little bit of ground after they cleared out the nests that Nora had spotted.

As the bloodred treetops closed around them, Yang lost sight of Nora. Seeing the ground approaching fast, she thrust both arms straight down, firing several times to bleed off some of her speed. Upon touching down, she bent her knees instantly and rolled with the impact, coming smoothly to her feet at a dead run in the direction she had last seen Nora.

Explosions and giggles told Yang she was on target, and she soon darted into a clearing just in time to throw a punch with all her weight and momentum behind it into the jaw of a beowolf. Its head twisted all the way around from the force of the strike, and it crumpled to the ground before fading into nothing.

The next few minutes were a blur of motion and blasts from Magnhild and Ember Celica, until at last, the final Grimm collapsed and vanished. Breathing heavily, Yang glanced around to find nora leaning on her weapon, flushed but still smiling, and bouncing in place a little as if ready to get back in line for a roller coaster.

"Need a minute?" Yang asked, inspecting her hair to make sure none of the Grimm had messed it up.

Giggling again, Nora kicked Magnhild's head to propel the hammer up to her shoulder. "Nope! But we can wait if you do," she answered cheerfully, eyes sparkling as she watched Yang check for split ends.

"Nah," Yang shrugged, brushing back her bangs. "We've got our part of this mission in the bag, I think." She checked her bearings, then began to wander in approximately the direction of their search path, keeping an eye out for Grimm.

"That's not all that'll be in the bag, since I didn't bring a bedroll," Nora chortled, keeping pace. Yang paused, glancing at her. Nora just shrugged. "I was just gonna share with Ren. I can sleep in a tree if it'll bother you too much to share, though."

"No, it's all right," Yang said faintly.

Nora's grin was blinding. "This is gonna be fun~!"

Nora was a cuddler, as it turned out. She said Ren was more than used to it; the moment she was asleep, Nora gravitated to the nearest heat source and wrapped herself around it. Yang didn't mind in principle—Ruby had been much the same way when they were younger—but sharing a sleeping bag with Nora was a little different than sharing a bed with her baby sister.

For one thing, Ruby was a good deal more slender than Nora, even if they were roughly the same height. Nora's build was closer to Yang's, though more compact: broad-shouldered and curvy, so the logistics were different. Yang was also pretty sure that, body warmth or not, she had never felt a bloodrush when Ruby snuggled up to her. She was rather grateful that they'd decided against lighting a campfire so as not to draw Grimm—even if Forever Fall was low-threat enough that they didn't need an active watch—and that she was the 'little spoon'; she'd rather not have to try to explain her reactions to Nora when she couldn't even explain them to herself.

Except…she could, couldn't she… Awkwardness, blushing, and she just knew that she would stammer if called upon to speak. Yang may not be as smart as Ruby, but she wasn't ignorant.

It wasn't awkward because Nora was a girl, or anything; Yang had found out years ago that a person's sex and gender had no real impact on whether she found someone attractive. But she had never had a girlfriend, and had certainly never experienced these sorts of feelings with her handful of boyfriends. And she didn't know if Nora thought the same way. And, there was the question of Ren. Sure, Nora was quick to remind everybody that she and her partner were "not together-together", but what did that really mean?

Nora gave a grunting snore, and pressed herself closer to Yang. Yang's blush redoubled, and she felt the temperature in the sleeping bag rise even further as her Semblance started to react to her emotional state. Taking deep breaths, Yang made herself relax and look at the situation with her usual sharp-but-cheerful attitude.

No matter Nora's…romantic preferences… The blush threatened to overtake her again. There's no harm in enjoying the contact, right? Right. Yang smiled into the darkness. She's very touchy-feely anyway, so it's not like she would mind, she decided. She let her hand settle over Nora's, where the other girl was hugging Yang's waist, and closed her eyes, beginning to drift off at once. Yang thought she felt Nora's lips quirk in a smile against her neck, but was too tired to think it through properly. In no time at all, both girls were fast asleep.

Yang slept better that night than she ever had on a mission, and Nora was naturally an early riser, so they made a swift start the next morning.

It was surprisingly natural partnering with Nora. The tiny girl filled the same role for Team JNPR that Yang did for team RWBY, so Yang was often able to predict Nora's actions simply by thinking of exactly what she would do herself. Yang let Nora take the lead for the most part, which served the dual purpose of protecting her hair—it always got messed up when she was in charge of heavy assault—and letting her surreptitiously watch her counterpart. Nora was surprisingly graceful, and—as belied by Magnhild's size—deceptively strong. Yang had caught the hammer once, when an abnormally well-armoured ursa knocked it from Nora's hands, and the moment had nearly dislocated her shoulder before she was able to spin the massive weapon around to crash against the Ursa's skullplate.

The second night and third day passed in much the same way, though Yang fancied Nora cuddled her even more closely the second night.

She probably just misses Ren, Yang told her fluttering stomach firmly.

As the sun began its journey downward on the planned final day, Yang and Nora reached the clearing where they were to reunite with their teammates. There was no one else there, and no sign of any Grimm, so Yang settled herself down against a tree to wait, shutting her eyes for a quick nap. They promptly popped back open, however, when Nora's head hit her lap.

She looked down into Nora's sparkling turquoise eyes, unaware of the color staining her own cheeks until Nora said, "You're really cute when I manage to fluster you." Then, before Yang could begin to articulate a response, she added, "It was easier than I thought it'd be."

"And what does that mean?" Yang asked, half-curious and half-challenging, not even bothering to deny that she was flustered.

"You get reeeeally warm," Nora explained cheerfully, snuggling into Yang's lap and causing a fiercer blush. "Like, your whole body heats up and makes you even more cuddly."

"So you've been messing with me this whole mission?" Yang asked, dumbfounded.

Nora blinked. "Of course not, silly; I really like you," she said, slowly and clearly, apparently to make sure that Yang couldn't possibly misunderstand her. "And before you say anything, how many times to I have to remind people that Ren and I are not together-together?"

She didn't sound annoyed, despite the words; it was more like she didn't understand why she apparently had to repeat herself so frequently.

"You and Blake are partners," Nora went on. "And everybody doesn't automatically assume you two are a couple. Do you think if you and I went on a date, people would rush to tell Blake and Ren? Or would they follow us on our date?" She gasped as a thought occurred to her. "What if they were on their own date? Their own super-secret Ninjas of Love date? That would be crazy!"

Nora blinked up at Yang.

"Are you gonna let me keep talking all day, or are you gonna kiss me already?" she asked, to all appearances genuinely curious.

Yang's mouth opened in surprise, which Nora evidently took as a cue that she should take the initiative and kiss Yang herself.

Her lips were soft, and as Yang brought a hand up to support Nora's head, Nora wrapped her own arms around Yang's neck. Before either of them could deepen the kiss, however, they were interrupted by an impressed wolf-whistle. Yang and Nora broke apart, Nora's ever-present blush perhaps a little brighter than usual, Yang about to ignite the crunchy leaves they sat upon.

"I guess you were right," said Ruby's voice. "But so was I! I told you they would beat us here!"

Pyrrha gave an amused chuckle. "I suppose you did," she agreed good-naturedly. When Yang managed to look up, the Mistrali girl seemed terribly amused, following a skipping Ruby into the clearing.

"Hiya Pyrrha, Ruby!" Nora called, waving and making no effort to get up from where she lay. "Yang is really comfy!" she explained, at Pyrrha's pointed look and raised eyebrow.

Though still embarrassed, Yang reflected that there wasn't really a problem. She would never hide her relationships from her sister, and Pyrrha's knowing smile indicated that she had expected this, which plainly meant she had no objections. In fact, she could all but predict the others' reactions too: Weiss would huff, Jaune would stammer, and Blake—and apparently Ren—wouldn't even blink.

Yang looked back down at Nora, whose wide grin seemed to indicate that she was thinking along the same lines. She kissed Nora again, ignoring Ruby's sudden shout at Pyrrha that the second smooch didn't mean their bet had doubled, whatever that meant, and how had she known that Yang wouldn't get grumpy about something and throw off the predictions.

Yang found herself smiling through the kiss. She had great friends, and a wonderfully sweet girl in her arms. No matter how sour her temper might sometimes get, she had a feeling it wouldn't deter Nora. Plus, as they had proved on this mission…they made one hell of a combo.

A/N: Yes, the title is a Pink Floyd reference.

I've mentioned before that I see Nora as pan (in both sexual and romantic senses). Nora doesn't care about sex or gender or cis-ness; people are people and love is love and that's good enough for her.
A lot of stories paint Yang that way too, but I don't think they're quite the same. To my eye, Yang could definitely be pansexual, but I think she would lean toward girls when it comes to romance. Furthermore, though, she strikes me as someone who is familiar enough with romance to recognize the symptoms, but doesn't quite get it, because she hasn't felt it before. I don't know if it's very clear here, but Yang feels very grey-romantic to me. (That is, she does feel romantic attraction, but inconsistently or under certain circumstances that she doesn't really understand.)
Let me pause here to throw out that Greyros are a perfectly valid identity on the aromantic spectrum (which goes from 'ordinary' alloromantics like Jaune to complete aromantics like Ren), so if reading that definition made you slap your forehead and go IT ME!, now you have a word for it.
(If you have more questions about aromanticism or the spectrum, please drop me an ask on my personal blog and I will do my best to explain.)

If this story overall feels a little weird, it's probably because it was written piecemeal. I'm hoping it just looks worse to me as the writer than it actually is, though. (Most things are like that, I find.)