Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.

An errant breeze blew Ruby's hood up from behind her, causing it to flap in her face. She swatted at it with her hand to make it behave. That darn thing was really acting up lately. She cinched the pull string a little tighter around her neck to hopefully keep the garment in check and the grabbed Blake's hand.

Her hands were always so warm, well all of her was, but Ruby couldn't exactly curl up in her lap right now. Not when they were out with their friends. Ruby glanced around the table at all the smiling faces around her. Yang and Weiss were at her side, bickering about the possible benefits and detriments of eating pizza every day.

Yang was convinced that because pizza has tomato sauce and you can get veggies on it and different kinds of meat, that it must be healthy to eat. Weiss was going back and forth between struggling to explain to her why it wasn't and growing overly frustrated and just calling her an oaf with her arms crossed.

Next to them were Jaune and Pyrrha. They had calmed down since they had been dating for a little while. Most of the kissing in public had vanished and they even managed to keep the sweet nothings to a minimum when others were around, perhaps Ren had talked with them about it. Either way, now that Ruby and Blake were steady and Jaune didn't seem like he was flaunting his new relationship anymore, Ruby could be happy for them. Pyrrha seemed happier than she had ever been, always smiling and laughing. Jaune was more confident and even dealt with their teasing a little better now.

The next two spots at their round table were empty because-

"Pizza's HERE." Nora shouted as she and Ren returned from inside the store with four pizzas held high. They were back at The Valed Oven at Ren and Nora's suggestion. They said something about everyone being together together and wanting to Teams JNPR and RWBY were gathered at Vale's best pizza place enjoying each other's company

Nora spun the two pizzas in her hands down with practiced ease and dashed back into the restaurant for plates. Ren eased his two pizzas down at their side of the table. He slipped in next to Pyrrha and passed out napkins from inside the store. The seating area was on the sidewalk and exposed to passersby so they didn't leave anything out where it could be stolen, not even napkin dispensers.

Nora returned with a stack of paper plates and literally just threw them out into the group like confetti.

"Plates!" she screamed as they came drifting down to everyone. "Hooray."

"Nora, could I have a plate please." Ren asked calmly from her side.

"Oh yeah of course Renny." Nora scooped an upside down plate up off the table and offered it to him with both hands.

"Thank you," He smiled kindly and scooped two pieces of pizza onto the paper plate. Ren passed the plate to Pyrrha and requested another plate from Nora. They continued the process until everyone had plates filled with pizza and Nora's overly rambunctious moment had been corrected for.

"Everyone, before we eat. I wanted to say something." Ren spoke a little loudly, louder than they had ever heard him speak outside of combat. "When Nora and I started at Beacon. We only had each other. We've only had each other for a long time. But, now, we really feel like we have a family in all of you." Nora calmed down and grabbed Ren's hand on top of the table. "The fact that we all get along as well as we do and you've been able to find happiness with each other." Ren glanced aside at Nora and then back around at the group. "It's a little too much for words, but thank you, for being our family."

"We love you guys." Nora spoke calmly, carrying the weight of the situation in her words. "All of you."

There was a murmur of agreement from around the table. Everyone exchanging their sentiments in kind and reciprocating the feeling back towards Ren and Nora. Ruby looked up to Blake, her new girlfriend, the most important person to her at the table other than her sister and smiled.

"I love you Blake." Ruby said quietly, only wanting her to hear. Blake turned her head slowly away from the emotional scene in front of them to Ruby. Her eyes were brimmed with tears but she was smiling. Ruby knew that she felt roughly the same as Ren and Nora but she hadn't even had a partner when she got to Beacon. She had been completely alone.

"I love you too Ruby." Blake squeezed Ruby's hand and wiped at her eyes with her free arm.

"Alright! Let's eat." Nora hollered and broke the tension of the moment by consuming an entire slice of pizza in one glorious bite. A potent display of her eating prowess and a comedic enough site to lighten everyone's moods after the emotional moment.

Ruby gave Blake's hand another gentle squeeze and released it so that they could dig in as well.

The pizza was just as good as Ruby remembered, piled high with toppings and exploding with flavor. She thought back as she ate to her date her with Jaune. It seemed like so long ago, almost like a different life.

A quick glance around the table showed her how much everything had changed since then. Sure, Ren and Nora were still dating but they would be together forever. Ruby's sister was dating her partner and that was weird enough as it is. But at the same time it just made Weiss even more like a sister which Ruby would never be mad about.

Jaune was dating Pyrrha now too. Sure Ruby had been jealous at first but that's how it should have been from the start. Since she had had time to think about it Ruby realized that she had never been as romantically interested in Jaune as she thought. She had just loved the idea of dating Jaune. Having a boyfriend and going on dates, kissing and staying up late with each other. It was all kinds of romantic and Ruby was nothing if not a hopeless romantic. That was nothing like what she had with Blake now.

It had been a month since they met alone in the dorm room. Ruby couldn't believe how fast the time was whipping by either. One day she and Blake were going to a book signing together and the next thing she knew they were sharing a bed every night opposite Yang and Weiss doing the same.

Would they have been sleeping together like that if they didn't share a room? Probably not. Did Ruby mind? Not at all.

Blake was still as caring and considerate as they day they'd met. She never pressured or rushed Ruby on anything. They slept in the same bed, but they weren't doing anything yet. Ruby was still just fifteen and they had plenty of time to figure out how to handle things. Ruby was in no hurry and it didn't seem like Blake was either.

One added bonus of the new sleeping arrangements was that no one had to sleep on the bunk beds anymore. They were still up there, a constant reminder of what RWBY had been and Ruby still sat in hers sometimes to read or for her and Blake to escape from Zwei. But, now she could tackle Blake to the bed when she got back from class, or jump out of bed in the morning because she was so happy to wake up next to her favorite girl again. Now she could do all of those things and not have to worry about dropping a bed on Weiss. Again.

"Alright everyone, who's ready for the Vytal festival?" Yang asked through a mouthful of pizza. Weiss smacked her arm lightly and handed her a napkin. Yang just smiled and wiped at her cheeks before leaning over and giving Weiss a quick peck on the cheek.

"Oh I am so ready." Nora pumped both fists into the air. "I'm gonna take our top spot Pyrrha, just you wait." Nora pulled her hands back down and ate another piece of pizza quite aggressively.

"You'll have to train very hard." Pyrrha laughed brightly, "Just because I have a wonderful boyfriend now doesn't mean I'm slowing down any." Pyrrha shot Nora a competitive glare and Ruby smiled, glad to see their team chemistry had grown with Pyrrha and Jaune's relationship, not faltered.

"I don't care which one of you gets there." Yang grinned, having now swallowed the rest of her food. "I'll beat either one of you."

"Do you think we should tell them we have to win the team rounds and the doubles matches first?" Ruby leaned over and whispered not so quietly to Blake.

"I think they know." Blake laughed, "Isn't it nice that we can all hang out like this?"

"Yeah it is," Ruby replied happily. She wouldn't press Blake on it or make a big deal out of it, but she knew that she was loving every minute of this. "We're all really lucky to have found each other."

"Alright, alright, alright wait." Jaune raised both hands and Nora and Yang's bickering slowed to a stop. "What makes you so sure it won't be me?" He held a hand to his chest proudly.

"Oh please Jaune. Can it pretty please be you?" Yang begged, "Nora come on. Let Jaune try."

Jaune began to blush and sat back down. Pyrrha put her hand over his and he brightened a little, leaning on her for support both physically and quite obviously emotionally as well. Ruby could see Pyrrha whispering something to him. She was sure Blake could hear it because she heard everything, but, it was a secret between them so she wouldn't ask.

"Do you guys wanna go train after this?" Ruby offered to the group. They still had access to the training room that the Headmaster had given them access to and hadn't made use of it in a while. "We could do couples matches." Ruby smiled. It was odd actually how well that balance worked out for them. Pyrrha and Jaune were together which was a good balance. Yang's full frontal assault was restricted or enhanced by Weiss's fragile support depending on how they handled it. Ren and Nora already operated as a deadly combination and Blake and Ruby had been partnering more and more since even before they started dating.

"Yes, we really should spend less time talking about the Vytal Festival and spend more time training for it." Weiss opined in her usual, high and mighty manner, "We'll never be truly prepared so we need to work as hard as we can to-" A straw wrapper sailed across the table and hit Weiss in the face with a muted crinkling noise.

"Uhhh…" Nora hesitated, straw in hand, "It was totally Ren." She pointed to her side quickly. Ren remained silent but held his hands up to prove his innocence. "Well… Okay it wasn't him but I was totally aiming for Yang."

"Yang, I'm going to go grab a few extra napkins." Weiss stood quickly and walked into the store.

"Nora." Ren said calmly. She stood without hesitation and followed Weiss into the store, head hung low.

"Thanks Ren." Yang said with equal calm, "We can't really have an all out food fight here can we?"

Everyone laughed but also wordlessly agreed that this was no place for those types of antics. Professor Goodwitch wasn't even around to repair anything they broke.

"Do you think someone should go check on them?" Pyrrha glanced worriedly into the store and then back around the table.

"No, no they'll be alright." Yang waved her hands dismissively, "Weiss has warmed up a lot lately I think she'll surprise you."

"And Nora knows she was in the wrong. I'm sure she'll just apologize and they'll come out as friendly as ever." Ren smiled and nodded.

"Well I think you're all crazy, but I'm too excited to see what happens to do anything." Ruby giggled and Blake shook her head with a smile.

"Ren this pizza is amazing by the way. Why have you been hiding this place from us?" Blake looked up from her anchovy covered slice to her quiet friend.

"Well, Nora and I did bring Jaune and Ruby here before but…" He trailed off as a scuffling noise could be heard inside, but it quickly stopped and he continued with no more than a blink to regather his thoughts, "But Nora and I like to preserve it as a date place. Somewhere special just for romantic outings. Now that everyone here is part of a couple, we can use it for both purposes." He smiled gently and Nora came steaming out of the store behind him.

"Some princess she is." Nora sat with a huff and continued eating her pizza. Her hair and blouse were stuffed full of straws and straw wrappers. They were sticking out of her sleeves and her neckline, jutting out of her hair and stuck every place they could fit. She completely ignored them and grabbed another slice of pepperoni pizza.

Ruby burst into a fit of giggles and Blake raised a hand to her mouth to try and stop from laughing as exuberantly as her girlfriend. Yang glanced back and forth between Nora and the closed door where Weiss still was.

"Well Yang Weiss definitely has warmed up." Pyrrha chuckled, "But it looks like she's a lot more like you now."

"Let's just be glad Nora didn't do anything to her hair." Jaune laughed and Yang gast another concerned glance at the store.

The doors banged open and Weiss emerged carrying a small stack of napkins. She sat down at Yang's side as if nothing had happened. Everyone just stared at her, equally shocked and not by the fact that she was as composed as she was.

"What?" Weiss stared at everyone, "Turnabout is fair play isn't it?"

"Have I told you lately I love you?" Yang pulled Weiss into a one armed hug and tried to kiss the top of her head, despite the heiress's protests.

"Oh Renny see, they're kissing." Nora lunged sideways towards him. Ren caught her and allowed her to kiss his cheek, but also used the opportunity to pull a large number of straw wrappers out of the back of her shirt.

The remainder of the meal was host to friendly conversation, planning for their training and preparations for the Vytal Festival. Ruby tried to focus on everyone around her and take part, but once they had finished planning she felt herself continually distracted by the beautiful girl at her side.

They all finished up eating and everyone protested when Ren and Nora tried to clean up the plates. Pyrrha and Ruby ended up clearing everything away, saying they had done too much already. Together it took the two of them almost no time at all and everyone was able to gather outside the seating area.

"Alright, you guys ready to go." Jaune jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the airships and Beacon, "We've got a lot of work to do." Pyrrha slid in at his side, wrapping both her hands around his left hand and leaning into his shoulder. Jaune had definitely grown since he'd doubled down on his training. His shoulders were larger, his arms more defined and he carried a completely different air about him. He was still goofy and fun but could be serious when he needed to.

Ruby smiled, glad that he had changed for the better. Despite what happened, they were still friends and she wanted to see him do well.

"Actually, we'll catch up to you guys. Is that okay?" Ruby asked Jaune directly even though she addressed the entire group.

"Yeah, I mean. Training was your idea but…" Jaune started in, unsure as to Ruby's meaning.

"No, no. Just Blake and I. we'll catch up I promise." Ruby stepped a little closer to Blake and squeezed her hand. She wanted to thank her for everything and tell her how much she loved her and just have a little moment alone. If everything went okay they should be able to catch the same airbus as everyone else.

"Alright," Jaune shrugged, "We will start without you though." He turned and Team JNPR headed away.

"You two be safe now." Yang winked at them and pulled Weiss away.

"We will." Ruby waved and turned back to Blake, holding both her hands.

"What's up Ruby?" Blake cocked her head off to the side just slightly. The rays from the setting sun over the ocean were orange and Blake's yellow eyes seemed to shine on their own in the low lighting. Her black hair fell loosely about her shoulders and drifted just so in the wind, tickling Ruby's face a little because they were so close.

"I just wanted to spend a minute with you is all." Ruby squeezed both her hands and smiled, "I- Well… Dinner with everyone was really nice and I did a lot of thinking during it and how everyone has changed and everything." Ruby toed her boot against the ground. She knew Blake would know she was nervous but she didn't care. It didn't matter how many times they said it or what they did. Explaining her feelings like this always made Ruby queasy. "I just… I'm so happy we're where we are now Blake. I'm so glad that everything happened the way it did. The good and the bad and everything. Everyone is so happy now and we're all together and I get to be with you and I just… I love you so much I can't take it Blake." Ruby buried her face in Blake's clothes. She wasn't crying, she just wanted to erase the distance between them.

"Ruby, I love you too." Blake held her equally tight, wrapping her arms around her and nuzzling her nose against Ruby's hair. Ruby pulled her face away just enough to turn up and face Blake, She threw her arms over Blake's neck and pulled her down so she could kiss her. Blake pulled Ruby up until she was on her tiptoes so they could come as close as possible. Ruby tangled her hands in Blake's hair and Blake pressed her hands to Ruby's back.

They broke only when they both needed to breathe and Ruby nuzzled back against Blake.

"I love you."

"I love you."

They stood there in silence after that, simply relishing in the other's presence.

"Ruby, we really are going to be late though." Blake said without separating from her. Ruby groaned and pulled out her scroll, muttering about stupid responsibilities and not just being able to love her girlfriend all night.

The others had left almost ten minutes ago and they really were going to miss the airship.

"Don't worry Blake," Ruby pocketed the scroll and gripped her hand tight, "Ruby Rose is never late." There was a woosh of air and the couple was gone, only warm orange sun beams and a trail of rose petals remained.

A/N - Well, there it is. That's a wrap everyone. I want to thank all of you for coming on this little journey with me. You're all truly incredible people. Dongyrn, ZHsteven, Zachary2, Boombox94, Yaksher, Beth+Cyra, RealTerminal, ForSpite, Pitper80skid and everyone else who read the story. Thank you so much. It's really been a treat.

I hope you enjoyed the story! Check back this weekend for my next piece of crazy.

-Zach