Chapter 1 - Pastry Pandemonium
The night air was cool, the sky clear and starry, a quiet had fallen over the city of Mantle. A soft glow shown down from a dozen street lamps, and from the windows of those who had yet to turn in, all falling upon the passing couple. The warm glow mixing with the cool blue of the occasional mega screen bearing news or ads. It all added a more vibrant and livelier feel to the now sparsely traveled and quiet streets. It was everything and nothing to Weiss Schnee, her heart and thoughts soaring over the evening she had just spent out… and the tall man walking beside her.
"This has been a wonderful date, Jaune." Weiss told him. "The dessert from that café was divine!"
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I was wondering if that cake could possibly compare to those of your own personal cake butler's." A twinkle in Jaune's deep blue eyes appeared with his teasing.
"Oh, stop it." Weiss rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop her smile spreading further upon her face as she eyed her date. "I'll have you know it more than held its own. The cakes of the Schnee manor aren't the only ones of quality."
Jaune gave a laugh that warmed Weiss' heart. "Is that so? Perhaps you'll have to share that cake one of these days. As delicious as tonight's was, I'd still love to try something new."
That drew a faux gasp from the woman beside him, but it soon turned into a giggle of her own. "You're incorrigible. You know… I've been thinking back to when you asked me to the dance."
"You – ah, you have?" Jaune flushed, a little embarrassment showing itself on his face. "I'm sorry if I was a bit… much, back then."
"Don't worry, you weren't so bad." Weiss hurried to reassure him. "It certainly frustrated me to no end back then, but now it seems cute. Something personal, and heartfelt. I had all these ideas in my head and, well…"
"I shouldn't have kept at it like that."
"No, but now things are different. Things have changed – we have changed. And I wouldn't mind you trying your hand at another serenade."
"Really?" Jaune brightened up.
"You know I like music. And I have a collection of instruments back home. Perhaps we could put on our own little duet. You can… you can grab one of the guitars, finger a few of my strings."
Weiss studied the cracks in the brickwork below her feet. Not quite willing to meet Jaune's gaze.
"Sounds like a great plan for our next date!" Jaune added, beaming. "With all these back-and-forth missions, all this nonstop fighting, there hasn't been a lot of time to really enjoy ourselves. I've been missing playing a few tunes on my old guitar."
"Then it's a date!" Weiss seized the moment, a little flustered by her own bravado. She didn't know where to look now.
"Did-," she swallowed the lump in her throat. Jaune looked at her curiously, so she seized upon a new topic. "Did I mention I liked your new hairstyle? You neaten up n-nice!"
She had tripped a little trying to get the words out, but Jaune didn't seem to notice. His grin widened, and a sparkle came again to his dark blue eyes.
"Why, thank you. I've been thinking about growing it out, but haven't tried short hair in a while. Thought it made for a nice change, you know?" Jaune brushed a hand along his blond hair before glancing at her. "I quite enjoy your new outfit as well. Blue really is your color, and the red makes for a nice contrast."
Weiss thanked him, and a comfortable silence settled between them as they continued their walk along the scenic brick avenues of the city. They passed all manner of specialty shops, boutiques and cafes. But near all had long since closed with the fall of night.
The wind blew through Weiss' white hair once more, and she quickly brushed a lock behind her ear as she glanced wide-eyed towards her partner. She huddled a little closer to him, just for warmth of course, and weaved her arm into his. The satisfaction Weiss drew from feeling the firm muscles of Jaune's forearms was secondary, hardly consequential. At least, that's what she would claim, should anyone ask.
She opened her mouth, building up the courage to speak her mind, took a breath and – Jaune beat her to it.
"I've enjoyed getting away from Atlas, and all the work Ironwood's been running us through." He spoke into the quiet and gave himself a stretch. "And it has been quite a night."
"It certainly has." Weiss cut in, fidgeting with the end of her long blue gloves. "I wouldn't be, entirely, opposed to extending our time together… a-a little longer."
"Oh, y-you would?" A blush creeping up Jaune's face, as red as Weiss' own no doubt. "What -ah, what do you have in mind?"
"Weeell…" Weiss drew out the word to give herself time, her heart pounding. They passed in front of a newsstand; its shining video screen drove off the shadows upon their features. Weiss took in the curious look on Jaune's face, his eyes shifting between her own, the question he held back upon his lips.
"I was thinking we could go back to my place for-, well, for some coffee!" She hurried.
Weiss had finished in a rush, and getting it all out had left her almost a little breathless. She breathed in the cold northern air in a vain hope of cooling herself down. Weiss found her nervousness was making it a little difficult to meet Jaune's gaze. As she tried to drag her eyes back up, Jaune made to reply, but he broke off upon seeing the news.
A scroll had passed by the screen, big letters reading 'BREAKING NEWS.' And Weiss' hopes plummeted.
"We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking story!" Began the host, one star news anchor recently arrived from Vale. "I'm Lisa Lavender with the Atlas Eye, and it's Pastry Pandemonium down at the Schneese-Cake Factory, where a group of Hungry Hooligans with an affection for confections have forced their way onto the premises and made off with all manner of sweets."
At that, a list of suspects flashed onto the screen.
"Oh, no." Jaune groaned, before the newscaster began again.
"The police have issued a warning, that these Pastry Pilferers we're sharing with you now should be considered armed and extremely dangerous."
There, in a bright multicolored image, complete with names, were the not entirely accurate portraits of several members of team RWBY and JNPR, angry looks drawn upon their faces. And was that an eyepatch?! In red, the screen flash '!Wanted!,' alongside a detain on sight order.
"There goes our night…" Weiss muttered miserably.
A buzzing sounded in Jaune's pocket. Quickly fishing out his scroll, Jaune peered at the name on the caller id.
His eyes widened in shock as he answered, seeing Ruby seated within a vehicle of some kind. "Ruby, we just saw the news, what's going on? What did you do?!"
"I may have done a little crime."
"You committed a crime?!" Weiss shouted, her hackles rising.
"Their leader," Lavender continued, "has been identified as one Ruby Rose, otherwise known as Strawberry Shortcake, or the Kooky Cookie!"
"She's making these up, right?" Jaune raised an eyebrow at Weiss.
"We may have used Kooky Cookie on occasion." Weiss replied, rubbing her arm.
"Hey!" Ruby shouted from the scroll.
"The Kooky Cookie is believed to have masterminded this heist, this terrible Cookie Caper, the biggest crime spree since the Great Cookie Dough Heist of 1904 and which shares similarities to the Cookie Bite of '07. The chief of police in their statement suggested these Sweet Swindlers might even be copycat burglars attempting to upstage those infamous crimes, due to the sheer scale of cookie dough that was stolen, though investigators found the addition of a number of stolen chocolate-covered strawberries as well to be perplexing."
"Ruby?!" The couple shouted.
"I swear I didn't mean for it to go so far! It was an accident, really!"
"She is supported by her sister, Yang Xiao Long, dubbed by police as the Jaw Breaker, but by factory workers as the Lemony Looter. Furthermore, suspected terrorist Blake Belladonna, aka Lady Liquorice, is known to be involved! As she is the daughter of Chief Ghira Belladonna, the Atlas Eye has reached out for comment from the Menagerian Chieftain. As of now, no explanation has been forthcoming."
"But the CCT is down, she can't expect for word to travel that quickly!" Weiss shouted into the night.
"Is everyone okay?" Jaune asked Ruby.
"One of their accomplices was caught during their getaway, the arresting officers described her as a rambunctious little biter."
Jaune sighed. "Where's Nora?"
"Aaaah, weeell…" Ruby trailed off.
"A Nora Valkyrie, aka the Torrid Tart, aka the Bonbon Bandit, aka Lady Pan-break, was caught during the escape. The arresting officers catching her in the act of gorging herself upon a castle made entirely out of pancakes. A statement made by the chief of police has already described her alibi as - wafer thin."
"Ugh, she's just like Yang." Weiss groaned with exasperation.
"A reporter on scene managed to catch this video of the suspect."
And, yep, there was Nora. Struggling with a crowd of officers, and biting away at the cuffs they'd slapped on her.
"You've got nothing on me, coppers! There's no proof!"
That-, well, it wasn't really a defense. But it would be maybe a little more believable if there hadn't actually been syrup all over her clothes.
"We must stress to viewers that these Cupcake Culprits are extremely dangerous. One Lie Ren, also known as the Thinmint Thug, has already attempted to break his partner out of police custody."
"These sweets belong to the people!" Came the distant voice of Blake through the scroll. And - were those gunshots?! "Let them eat cake!"
Explosions rocked through the scroll's speaker. Jaune and Weiss were a little unsettled to hear their echo off in the distance.
"Jaune, Weiss, we could use - ahem, a little help." Ruby started a little meekly, before gasping. "Eyes on the road, eyesontheroad! Yang!"
"This heist is already being described as the crime of the century, as the Schneese-Cake Factory has suffered severe damage, with estimates of over 20 tons of various sweets being stolen. Police are currently engaged in a high-speed chase with the remaining Graham Gangsters."
"I think the nicknames are getting worse." Jaune started before shaking his head. "Ruby, how did this happen? Why did you rob the Schneese-Cake Factory?!" Jaune asked in disbelief, his eyebrows raised.
"Well, you know, we were hungry. And-" Ruby jerked to the side as Yang took a sharp turn. "Nora suggested we stop by the Schneese-Cake Factory. It's such a popular place to go for sweets…"
"I can't believe you interrupted our date because of some candy!" Weiss shouted angrily.
"But they're just so expensive, and we couldn't help but think of the people living in the crater who simply can't afford it. And, well, their chocolate covered strawberries are-" Ruby gasped, "Wait, did you say you two were on a date?! Oh Brothers, that's so wonderful! I can't believe it!"
"It's not that surprising." Weiss grumbled. "And don't you try to change the subject!"
Lisa Lavender once more blared from the news screen. "We have a list of known associates for these Confectionary Cons. The police are ordering that these Baked Bandits and their companions be detained on sight, any information that the public can provided as to their whereabouts is asked to be shared with the authorities as soon as possible."
Yep, and there were the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR, alongside even Qrow Branwen.
"This is going to be a problem." Jaune interjected, worry lacing his tone. "Ruby, stay focused! Where should we meet you?"
"You're on a date?! Wow, I'm so happy for you! You two are very cute together, did I ever tell you that? No?"
"Ruby." Weiss ground out; her brows drawn down.
"Well, you are! Meet? No, no worries, just forget about it!" More shots rang out, sirens were blaring through the scroll. "Did I say we needed help?" Another explosion. "We'll be fiiiine."
"Ruby!" Jaune and Weiss huffed.
"Enjoytherestofyourdate! Can'ttalknowgottagobye!" The call ended.
Jaune sighed.
"We should really go help them." Weiss started.
"Yeaah." Jaune breathed, frustrated.
"But then again," she fidgeted, "she did say they could handle it."
"She diiid…"
"Maybe we could finish up our date?"
"Just something quick?"
"Of course." Weiss said airily, a blush rising on her face. "That coffee we were planning, perhaps?"
"It would perk us up."
"Do you… do you think we'll have time?"
By answer, Jaune laced his arm back into hers and pulled her close. "Oh, we'll have time…"
They once more began their walk, cuddling close to one another, enjoying how their shared warmth warded off the cool night air.
Lisa Lavender's voice faded into the distance. "They are the Crumby Crooks! The Doughy Desperados! The S'more Smugglers! The Flan Felons! The Biscuit Brigands! The Fudgy Fugitives! The Wicked Wafers…"
"She's really trying to get in as many nicknames as she can, isn't she…? My little Meringue Marauder."
"Don't you start." Weiss giggled. "My Chocolate Chevalier."
"My Pastry Princess, my Vanilla Vagabond!"
"My Parfait Paladin!" Weiss shot back, sharing in his laughter.
"My Mint Menace, my Marshmallow Mafioso, my sweet Bane of Candy Cane Lane!"
"Stop it!" Weiss giggled, catching her breath; explosions were not all that rang out through the night.
"Meringue Marauder it is then." Jaune settled on it with a proud satisfaction.
They relished in each other's company in the (mostly) quiet and, at least for the moment, the secluded streets of Mantle.
Yes, that night would be a wonderful date.
And there's my first fic for RWBY, had an idea to make this as a meme for fnki over on Reddit, but then I decided it would be really cool to make this as a fic first. I wanted to create this little White Knight date as a medium to extol all the nickname ideas I came up with after being inspired by InterestingWay_8431's little joke post asking why the cast were wanted, and the following comments by zake598 and Lukthar123 who added the cookie dough heist jokes. I brainstormed a whole list of nicknames for the fic immediately after seeing that back in August 2023, and have had this idea shelved since then.
The folks over on Mallobaude's discord then renewed my interest in the idea, and we brainstormed some more names together back in December, special thanks to Mallobaude and The Westphalian Gwent for that. I finally came back around to finish writing the story now that I've cleared a bunch of meme-comic projects, and to celebrate White Knight's meteoric rise in Ship Wars 8, not only making it past the first round for the first time ever but also winning the championship title!
Kind of wild that it took all these years for me to put out a RWBY fic, when this is the fandom that got me into fanfiction all those years ago when I started in 2014 or so. Fanfiction being something I caught interest in because of my brother. And it is only right for my first fic in the fandom to be one for White Knight, my otp and the ship which I've favorited and followed and bookmarked the most of any other ship. First time I tried my hand at a romantic scene, too!
I'm quite proud of this little story, I think Jaune and Weiss are very cute in it, and the pastry nicknames are just really fun! Hope you all enjoy, I've had a great time putting it together!