Chapter Text
It was a regular day at Beacon, and it just so happened to be lunchtime. Team RWBY and Team JNPR were sitting at a table with one another. Ren, Nora, Yang, and Blake were on one side while Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss sat on the other side. Each team was sitting facing each other. They were making small talk like every other day. Nora would describe something extravagant and Ren would have to correct her. Ruby and Weiss always got into some sort of argument and Yang and Blake had to break it up. Jaune and Pyrrha would talk about some training exercise that would take Jaune a little more explaining to understand.
Towards the end of lunch, Nora became a little quiet, which was something completely unusual for her. Ren obviously noticed the lack of sound and realized this.
"Nora?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Uh," Nora was at a loss for words and now the entire table was looking at her skeptically. She made eye contact with Pyrrha quickly and she luckily got the message.
"Is this about...?" Pyrrha began. Nora nodded. "I thought so..."
"Wait what's this about?" Jaune said. Pyrrha looked at him as if to say 'you already know Jaune think a little bit.' He realized shortly after. "Oooohhh it's about how No-"
Pyrrha covered his mouth with her hand. "Sorry about him," she laughed nervously. "But Nora, I've said this before, but I think you should tell him."
"Tell me... what?" Ren asked.
"Well... Uh..." Nora stuttered. She laughed nervously.
"What did you do?" Ren asked.
"Huh? Oh nothing! I didn't do anything, it's just..." Nora said. She was annoyed with her own inability to speak properly.
"Nora," Weiss said. "Tell him or I'll tell him for you, and I really don't think you want that."
"Tell me what?" Ren asked, slightly getting annoyed. "I don't care who tells me, just someone tell me-"
"I like you, Ren," Nora blurted out quickly.
"W-wait, what?" Ren asked, suddenly at a loss for words.
"I like you, Ren," Nora said, starting slower. "Like, really really REALLY like you. I've liked you for a long time, and I thought it was just because we were great friends at first but it's not," Nora was slowly increasing speed as she talked. "I like you more than that. I like you in a 'you-mean-more-to-me-than-anything-in-the-world' kind of way instead of in a 'friend' way. We've known each other for so long and I..." she faltered, looking down.
"You what?" Ren asked.
Nora looked him straight in the eyes. "I love you, Ren."
Ren was stunned. He wasn't sure what to say, and everyone at the table could tell. "You... You like me?"
"I think I established that when I said that I really really REALLY like you," Nora said, laughing nervously.
"Well... I... Um... I don't know... How to..." Ren said. "I thought... I had some suspicions but... I really didn't think..."
"Well," Nora said, disappointment already trailing in her voice. "It's true..."
"And you've hid it for how long?"
"Years," Nora said, bluntly. "Dunno how many, but years."
Ren didn't say anything for a second, and the anticipation at the table was increasing quickly.
"Well, Ren?" Pyrrha said. "What do you have to say?"
"I..." Ren started. Then he smiled sheepishly. "I love you too, Nora."
Nora's face lit up in a huge smile, and everyone else at the table cheered.
"Finally!" Yang yelled.
"Took you guys long enough," Jaune added.
Nora and Ren were smiling and laughing with each other for another moment before looking at each other with big smiles. Yang, who was sitting next to Ren, nudged him with her shoulder. He looked behind him at Yang.
"Kiss her already," Yang said.
Ren turned and faced Nora again and he felt himself starting to blush. Nora had heard Yang considering she really hadn't been quiet about her comment to Ren. Neither seemed to care that they were in the cafeteria all that much. They kissed each other for a moment while the rest of the table cheered and clapped. They pulled away after a short moment.
Nora tapped Ren's nose.
"Boop."