AN: I hereby dub this ship: BARBERSHOP! (because Barbershops have a red and white pole XD)

Pyrrha Nikos was anxious.

Kinda bored too, but mostly anxious.

Fidgeting slightly, Pyrrha did her best not to show just how antsy she was feeling waiting outside the Light Bright movie theater. She'd stopped pacing about five minutes ago after she noticed the odd looks she was getting from the elderly ticket attendant.

But then again, could anyone really blame her for being anxious?

After months of trying to work up the courage, she'd finally managed to ask Jaune, her team leader and partner that she'd been nursing a crush on for almost two years, out on a proper date.

An act that was in no way spurred on by Pyrrha's desperate need for something to distract her from the rapidly developing attraction/affection/lust she was feeling for the collective of Team RWBY. None. Whatsoever.

…

…Okay, so maybe it had something to do with it.

Oh, she was still definitely attracted to Jaune. It was just… her attraction towards Team RWBY was quickly growing so much… more.

So in light of all these new, strange and confusing feelings, Pyrrha thought the best option was to finally try and pull the trigger on the relationship that felt much… safer. …If also boring…

Pulling her hand out of her pocket, Pyrrha looked at her scroll for what was probably the fifth time in the last two minutes.

Assuming her partner would actually get here.

Suddenly, Pyrrha felt her scroll vibrate. Yanking it out of her pocket so fast she almost dropped it, Pyrrha glanced hopefully at the screen.

'Pyrrha I'm so sorry! I forgot I had an extra course with Prof Oobleck today and you know how he is about being tardy I'll make it up to you I promise! So sorry '

Pyrrha starred at the message for a long moment.

Then gave out a rather uncharacteristic groan of disappointment and frustration.

So much for that plan.

In Jaune's defense, Pyrrha hadn't exactly given him a lot of warning, having practically sprung the offer out of nowhere less than a day ago. And between the additional classes required of team leaders and the extra courses Jaune himself was taking to make up for his unique academic situation…

Pyrrha sighed. Despite the… ulterior motives, part of Pyrrha had actually been looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with Jaune. He might have had his shortcomings, but Jaune was still a very sweet guy, and Pyrrha could never say she didn't enjoy hanging out with him.

She'd even dressed up a little for the occasion. It wasn't anything fancy, but Pyrrha did think the white blouse, red skirt and brown jacket she'd bought looked pretty good on her.

Still… there really wasn't much she could do about this, despite how generally dejected Pyrrha felt.

She supposed she might as well hea-

"Pyrrrrhhhhaaa~!"

Pyrrha squeaked in surprise as a red, black and rose-petal-covered blur glomped her.

Stumbling a bit at the added weight now hanging from her shoulders, Pyrrha turned her head to find herself now face-to-face with the bright, silver-eyed smile of Ruby Rose.

"Hi!"

"R-Ruby!" Pyrrha tried to collect herself, a surprising flushness suddenly rising on her face, "w-what are you doing here?"

"Sayin' Hi." Ruby answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Uh…" Pyrrha's brain was currently rather stalled, between the surprise at this sudden development, the lingering depression she'd been feeling just a moment ago and thoughts about just how completely adorable the girl hanging off her was.

"You'll have to forgive my leader," came a new, dulcet and refined voice. Pyrrha, now knocked a bit back to reality, looked to see Weiss Schnee approaching them, "She's a complete dolt." Despite the normally insulting meaning of the word, Weiss's tone, expression and demeanor conveyed nothing but playful affection for her partner.

"Oh you're just jealous!" Ruby stuck her tongue out at her partner before holding onto Pyrrha a little tighter, though like Weiss, her tone sounded entirely playful.

Oddly enough, despite Ruby's joking assertions, Weiss seemed in no way jealous or even uncomfortable with the affection her girlfriend was showering on another girl. Though considering how much more openly affectionate Ruby had become to others after she'd started dating her teammates, Weiss might just be used to this sort of thing by now.

Then again, it wasn't like Ruby was going around giving flying hugs to everyone. In fact, outside of her teammates/girlfriends, the only people Pyrrha had seen receive that kind of affection from Ruby were her father and uncle the few times they'd visited Beacon, that oddly metallic-feeling Penny girl whenever she visited from Atlas, Coco and Velvet from Team CFVY one time, and… Pyrrha herself, on multiple occasions…

"I have to say Pyrrha," Weiss continued, knocking Pyrrha from her thoughts, "you're looking very nice today." Weiss was giving Pyrrha an approving smile.

"Yeah! You look great Pyrrha." Ruby agreed as she dropped back to the ground. "Got a date?" Ruby added, giving Pyrrha a rather mischievous grin.

"Yes…" Pyrrha started before remembering the text she'd just gotten, "…well… Jaune and I… had a date."

"Wait, Jaune stood you up?" Weiss asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"…Yeah, kinda." Pyrrha relented, feeling the dejection set back in. Justified or not, that didn't mean having the date cancelled didn't feel a bit like rejection.

Ruby audibly gasped.

"Weiss! We can't just leave her out here!"

Pyrrha was taken aback a bit by this sudden development, "Really, girls. It's no bi-"

"Agreed," Weiss's face was suddenly one of utmost seriousness, "Pyrrha. You're coming with us."

"Wait, wh-Eep!" Pyrrha squeaked again as she was yanked forward by both girls. Not forcefully, as that would imply there wasn't a part of Pyrrha that found this new development… appealing.

"Really, girls, this isn't necessary…" Pyrrha tried to protest.

"Yes it is." Ruby spoke up, "As Leader of Team RWBY, I am officially inviting you to join me and Weiss on our weekly ice cream date!"

"You… uh… you girls really don't need to do this…"

"Pyrrha. We are your friends." Weiss gave Pyrrha a surprisingly determined smile, "There is no way we are letting you mope all over Vale feeling depressed when we can help."

"Yeah!" Ruby chimed in, pulling herself in close to Pyrrha and giving her a big, bright smile.

"Well… okay." Pyrrha relented, trying very hard not to think about the part of herself that was practically cheering at this new development…

"…So Weiss and I finally find Blake and Yang cuddling in our room, Weiss starts asking them where the hell they were, and Blake just 'Hisses' at Weiss. Seriously, like an actual cat. It was amazing!" Ruby recounted between bites out of a bowl of at least three different varieties of chocolate ice cream.

Pyrrha had to admit, she was enjoying this.

She was enjoying this a lot.

"Apparently Blake was pretty woozy and burned out from a couple all-nighters and ended up passing out on Yang, and Yang just couldn't bring herself to move Blake." Weiss clarified, eye's rolling in bemusement at her team's many antics before taking a sip of her milkshake.

"To be fair, if Blake fell asleep on me, I don't think I could move her either."

Between the two members of Team RWBY in the booth the three girls were sharing, Pyrrha could barely contain the stream of giggles that threatened to burst loose from the mental picture her two friends were painting. She'd had to take a break from her own milkshake from fear of choking!

It was strange. After a little while, the initial awkwardness Pyrrha was previously feeling around Ruby and Weiss quickly faded and was replaced with nothing but simple contentment.

"I know the feeling," Pyrrha spoke up, "Lately Nora's been sneaking into Ren's bed at night, and she gets so clingy that in the morning, Jaune and I have to help Ren pry her off of him." Pyrrha rolled her eyes in bemusement at her own team's antics as she took another sip of her shake.

The fact that this Ice Cream Shop had one of the best milkshakes Pyrrha had ever tasted helped too.

"Oh, yeah, Blake does that with Yang all the time!" Ruby responded, "Though… Yang doesn't really need me and Weiss's help in the morning…"

"Yes, usually Yang doesn't even try and get Blake off of her;" Weiss took over, "she'll just get up and go through her morning routine with a sleeping catgirl clinging to her. Usually it's only when Yang hops in the shower that Blake gets off."

Pyrrha giggled at that mental image.

"Yeah, at least a few times." Ruby said just slightly under her breath, giving Weiss a knowing smirk. To her credit, Weiss only blushed a little while rolling her eyes at the innuendo.

Pyrrha on the other hand, nearly choked on her milkshake as she thought of that mental image.

It was hard to say how a simple 'Ice-cream Date' somehow snowballed to include a trip to the Vale Museum of Art, as well as a game store and a book shop.

Not that Pyrrha was at all complaining. This was easily the best day she'd had in months.

It was amazing that Ruby and Weiss seemed to be doing their very best to make her feel welcome. Pyrrha was certain she'd be nothing but a third wheel, but instead Ruby and Weiss made sure to include her in everything. It was obvious that both girls were happy to have Pyrrha along, and at no point did Pyrrha feel like Ruby or Weiss were somehow jealous of the attention her partner was giving Pyrrha.

If anything, the only jealousy Ruby or Weiss ever seemed to show was towards each other, like they were competing for Pyrrha's affection. Admittedly, any 'jealousy' seemed to be nothing more than playful joking and teasing from both girls. Even so, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel flattered by the gestures and all the affection.

With all these new, strange feelings Pyrrha was having, it was easy to forget that Ruby and Weiss were still two of Pyrrha's closest friends.

When Pyrrha first met Weiss, she'd considered the Schnee to be little more than just another haughty aristocrat who thought she was better than everyone else. Back then, her praise towards Pyrrha seemed like just some selfish attempt at power-playing, no different than so many other nobles and aristocrats back in Mistral who seemed to think of Pyrrha as little more than a potential tool for their ambitions.

Now though, Pyrrha felt a distinct desire to apologize to Weiss for thinking of her that way. Underneath all that icy exterior, Weiss was an incredibly driven, intelligent, thoughtful and overall kind girl who wanted to do some real good for the world. And it was clear her praise towards Pyrrha was rooted in very genuine admiration and incredible respect for Pyrrha. But unlike so many others, Weiss never seemed to put her up on some kind of unassailable pedestal. To Weiss, Pyrrha was an equal. An equal that was better than her in a number of areas, sure, but always a fellow student, huntress and friend.

And Ruby… what else could Pyrrha say about Ruby?

She was just… just the cutest. A bright, exuberant, very friendly girl with a simple, earnest desire to help people. And cute. Really, really, cute. Like, sometimes Pyrrha just wanted to scoop this girl up and cuddle her all day long.

Not only that, but underneath all that friendliness was a determination that Pyrrha couldn't help but be awed by. When Pyrrha first met Ruby, she'd never have guessed such a bright, optimistic girl like her had a childhood that… well, made Pyrrha want to give Ruby a hug for different reasons. And yet in spite of all that, Ruby still possessed an incredible optimism and general faith in humanity that seemed utterly unbreakable.

It seemed like everyone who attended Beacon had some ulterior motive driving them to become a Hunter, be it status, fame, power, self-worth or any number of other things, with Pyrrha herself being no different.

But not Ruby. For her, there was no complicated quandary or personal issues driving her. She just wanted to help people. Simple as that.

And ever since Ruby and Weiss had become a couple, part of Pyrrha couldn't help feeling just a bit jealous whenever she saw them together. Ruby and Weiss both looked so happy together, it made Pyrrha wish she could have something like that too. Maybe with Jaune, or maybe with someone else. But the fact remained that Pyrrha didn't have something like what Ruby and Weiss had. Being pulled along on this date should have just highlighted that fact.

And yet…

It was like they'd just welcomed her into their little unit, no questions asked.

It all made Pyrrha incredibly thankful to have friends like them.

"So… you feeling better now, Pyrrha?" Ruby asked as the three girls stepped off the air-ferry back at Beacon, the sun setting behind them.

"Yes. Much better," Pyrrha answered, smiling back at Ruby, "I had a lot of fun today." Pyrrha could scarcely remember the dejection she'd been feeling that morning when the two girls found her, or even the stress and anxiety she'd been feeling before that.

"Thank you, both of you." Pyrrha gave Weiss a warm smile as well.

"It was our pleasure," Weiss replied with a smile of her own, "You're welcome to join us again sometime."

"Yeah! We should totally do this again!" Ruby piped up in agreement.

"I think I like the sound of that." Pyrrha gave both girls a smile.

"Though we should probably make sure it's all three of us at a time…" Weiss spoke up.

"Really?" Pyrrha asked, taken aback a little, "Is there a problem?" Specifying that she shouldn't spend time with Ruby and Weiss individually but only together seemed rather odd…

"Well…" Ruby spoke up, "if you start spending time with either of us one-on-one, then Yang will probably kidnap you and rope me and Weiss into catfighting over you."

"Uh…" Pyrrha honestly had no idea how to reply to that.

"Long story." Weiss waved off, "Trust me, it doesn't get any less stupid sounding in context."

"…Right." Pyrrha admitted. It seemed like that was the case for a lot of Team RWBY's antics. And it wasn't like spending time with these two girls together was any less appealing.

"Well… see you two later." Pyrrha said, though she had a feeling what was about to happen.

"Goodnight Pyrrha!" And Ruby did not disappoint, pulling Pyrrha into a big hug. Surprisingly though, Ruby wasn't the only one hugging, as Weiss also pulled Pyrrha into a hug alongside her girlfriend.

Pyrrha couldn't resist. Even as she felt her face heat up, Pyrrha returned the hug to both her friends. It was just impossible to refuse the affection they were both showering her with.

Then Ruby gave Pyrrha's neck a very affectionate nuzzling and Weiss gave her a kiss on the cheek.

With that, the two members of team RWBY withdrew, returning to their dorm as Pyrrha waved them goodbye.

A moment passed.

Then Pyrrha was certain her face was about to catch on fire it had gotten so hot!

What the sweet, tap-dancing Oum was THAT?!

AN: Seriously, can someone explain to me why Ruby/Weiss/Pyrrha isn't more of a thing? I mean they've got perfectly obvious ship-name and everything! At least Blake/Yang/Pyrrha has a few bits of art. Speaking of which...

Next time: A fascinating treatise on the Bombus population in the Eprius region of Greece. For some strange reason, magnets, cats and puns are involved.