To describe Nora's stare as vacant would be entirely accurate. Her blue eyes stood fixed to the far side of the gym while she trundled along on the treadmill. It was a typical Friday aside from Nora's mood, students were coming through for their regular workouts and the speakers in the ceiling churned out the usual pop hits. From the weights to cardio machines to gymnastic equipment the academy had whatever a Huntsman or Huntress in training would need.

"Hey Nora, you okay? You look really out of it." Yang said, eyes sharp as ever. As good as her intentions may have been Yang not only roused Nora from thought, she full on startled her.

Nora's sneakers made a shrill squeak against the treadmill as she tripped against nothing. She lurched forward and caught herself against the railing before smacking her face into the treadmill's waist high console. Nora slapped the stop button on her machine with a groan and seized a moment to recover her breath.

"Oh shoot, are you okay?" Yang, who had been pacing on the treadmill alongside Nora's, stopped her machine. Her eyebrows dipped at the outer ends as she looked over the ginger girl.

"Yeah, yeah, I just tripped." She took a quick breath. It was another minute before she was even able to give the blonde a nervous grin. "Sorry, I'm just distracted. I was uh... I was just thinking about that Oobleck assignment we got due on Wednesday. I mean, all of his assignments are a drag."

Yang took a few seconds before she let out a snicker. "History isn't your strong suit?"

Nora let out a guilty chuckle as she restarted her treadmill. "It's not completely my fault. It's impossible to tell what he's saying half the time. "

"Yeah, it's like he eats Dust raw." Yang turned back to her own console but paused at the controls. "Actually, I think Weiss may have finished that paper; if you need help we can grab it from her. And don't worry, she won't mind. Right Weiss, you love to share!" Yang boomed, garnering quite a few stares as she tried to catch Weiss' attention.

She succeeded of course.

It was impossible for Weiss to miss the tall, brawler shouting like the two of them were smack-dab in the middle of a rock concert. Weiss was only a good twenty feet away after all. The only conceivable distraction would've been that she was holding Ruby's feet down as she did crunches, and that wasn't very engrossing. So, again, Weiss heard her. "Yang, stop shouting! We're in public!"

"Weiss, please, I wanna stop!" Ruby said, sweat dripping onto her red and white jersey.

"You wanted me to help you with your core strength. We're not stopping here: sixteen more!"

Yang gave a small snort at Ruby's pitiful groan. "Ruby put on a few pounds."

Nora gave her a grin. She wasn't the least bit surprised, Ruby had decided to ring in the winter season with sweets galore. And of course the time came for her to sweat the weight away. As desperate as Ruby looked Nora couldn't help but giggle. "It beats a diet at least."

"I think Rubes, would give up air before cookies."

Yang's quick chuckle gave Nora the perfect chance.

"Oh hey Yang, kinda off topic - I mean, we weren't really talking about cookies or anything, but you know when you kinda like gotta turn a phrase around- but you know what I mean. So I was wondering about something and do you know what first dates are like?"

"First dates?"

"Yyyyyeaaaah, I'm just asking for Pyrrha. I think she likes someone and she didn't wanna tell me who, but she wanted to know about dates. I don't know anything about dates and she's too nervous to ask you so I decided to ask. So what do you know, like as a tip for first dates." Nora managing what she thought was a fairly convincing fib through her nerve-wracked grin.

She immediately came to regret this as soon as Yang hit her with the smirk. Everyone knew her smirk. Everyone needed to know her smirk for their own safety. And right now that smirk, was leveled squarely at Miss Nora Valkyrie.

"Hmm, someone got love on the mind?" The rise of her eyebrow shocking Nora's spirit straight from her body

"Wh-whaaat? No, I don't think she's in love. I mean Pyrrha is that kind of lovey dovey kind of girl, but I don't think it's love. Love seems like too much, she's just curious. I don't know, maybe someone asked her out and she isn't really sure what to expect! I didn't wanna pry, I think she just wants to know about first dates…"

Yang just smiled at Nora.

Nora stared back with the biggest smile she could manage.

"First," Yang started, a layer of joy spread through her voice. "You need to work on your lying. Second, relax, there are just a few simple rules…"

"Be myself?" Jaune grumbled, slumped back into a red leather backed seat. Ren, nowhere near Jaune's level of exasperated, sat across from him in their favorite booth. Classical rock tunes cranked out from the jukebox on the other side of the diner, and the light chatterings of patrons mixed with the smell of the food.

"She said yes." Ren said, voice flat as ever. Raising his double bacon cheeseburger he gave Jaune a wry smile, "She's interested, just be natural."

Jaune leaned forward over his plate. "She looked nervous. What if she just said yes because she didn't want to say no? She might not want to go at all."

"Jaune," A mouth of beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese muffling his words. "Breathe; you're overthinking. Also, eat your burger."

"Ren I'm serious." Jaune dragged a fry through a puddle of ketchup. With a quick move he tossed it into his yapper and moaned on. "We haven't even talked much since I asked her. What if she's thinking about cancelling? I don't want to pressure her."

The black haired boy stared at Jaune. He really took his time to let the stare sink in. He even got Jaune to squirm a bit under his glare.

"Eh… Ren? … Ren?"

And then Ren leaned over the white table and smacked him on the side of the head.

"Ahck! Hey!" Jaune's whimper somewhere between confused and hurt.

"Stop overthinking this. Whatever happens happens; she's probably nervous too and you know it. Being a paranoid isn't going to make anything easier, just go out and try and have some fun. You already have things planned for what you're going to do, yes?"

"Well, yeah but-" Ren cut him off with a hand. Fortunately he didn't smack him with this one.

"Stop with the questions." Ren snapped.

The two took a moment to let the air settle. The diner around them kept at its own pace while Jaune leaned back to think. The light clatter of dishes and the sound of the grill filled the spacious room. The noise settled in Jaune's ears and the scent of apple pie carried his spirit a bit higher.

'... She did smile….'

Jaune took a breath. And sat on the thought a second longer. "... Thanks, Ren." his tone warm, a smile working its way back to his face.

Ren waited to swallow his mouthful of classic styled burger before he replied with a simple. "Don't thank me yet."

"Can I thank you for lunch at least?"

Ren cocked an eyebrow. "... You're paying for your food."

Jaune blinked a couple times before letting out a heavy sigh. He swung his head back down and stared his burger in the sesame seeds. He could still smell the sweet aroma of grease and fat on it. And he would have relished it a second longer if he hadn't caught Ren's snickering.

Looking up he was met with a small smile from his raven haired friend. "I'm kidding. I'm paying today."

Jaune snickered. He wasn't sure if he'd ever crack Ren's poker face.

Panting, Ruby looks up at Weiss from the leg press. "Do you think we should rescue Nora? I think I just heard Yang say something about breaking bones."

Weiss takes a moment to lock the weights. With a small shrug she looks down to the sweat soaked girl with a smile. "We'll save her once you finish this set. Nora can hold her off for another few minutes. Now, give me another fifteen."

"Weiiiiiiiiss! Let me stop! Pleeeeease!" Ruby whines as she flops back against the cushioned seat.

Weiss gives the young leader a large, malicious smirk. "You're the one who put on fifteen pound in three weeks, dolt. Now come on! Another set of twenty or I'll use some of Yang's advice on you!"

Ruby let out a miserable groan.

A big thank you to my friend and fellow writer Winter1112 for helping proofread! She even conceived the White Rose bit at the end! Thank you for reading and I hop y'all stay tuned for what's to come!

-CS