Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or characters. They are Monty's babies. But if I did, Yang would be my personal heater in this crazy winter. .;

A/N: My first RWBY fic even though it has been my obsession for the past few months. I can't wait for Volume 02 to come out! xD

Before I even posted this here, I was talking about my story with depression76 and requested that she draw a scene from here. It can be found: depression76 . deviantart . c_o_m / art / Coffee-Shop-AU-427889122 (remove unnecessary underscores in c_o_m; fanfiction removes it otherwise)

Please enjoy!

"Coffee, please," I ordered as I stepped forward to the counter. "Black."

The man behind the cash register stared at me for a moment before responding, but when he did, it was my turn to do a double-take.

"I'm sorry. We don't serve faunus folk," he uttered, not sounding sorry at all.

When his words registered, my eyes narrowed as I continued to stare at him, willing for his head to spontaneously combust. There were a lot of words I wanted to say to him, but in the end, decided it would just be a waste of time and energy to argue. So, I turned on my heels and angrily started my way towards the door of this discriminatory establishment. In my anger, I failed to realize that someone was behind me, so without even taking three steps, I collided with a blonde-haired woman.

"Sorry," I apologized. But the rest of my apology died in my throat as she waved away my next words with a smile and a wink.

A piece of napkin was discreetly shoved into my hands, forcing me to divert my attention away from the friendly stranger as I read it. Wait outside. Before I could ask about it, she already walked forward to make an order. When I realized that I was just standing there dumbly, I continued the rest of my way to the door, trashing the napkin on my way out.

Normally, I wouldn't listen to a piece of paper. Especially not a piece of paper that instructed me to do something where I didn't understand why. And it wasn't really like I was waiting, as it said. I was simply staying put as I composed my thoughts outside of the coffee shop when suddenly, a cup of coffee was held right in front of my eyes. I looked past the cup to the person who was holding it and found the smiling blonde stranger.

"Coffee?" she asked.

"I can't. That's yours," I shook my head.

"I don't like black coffee. I like mine with two creams and three sugars," she replied, then shook the cup in front of me a little. "This is black. Just like you ordered. Take it."

My body moved on it's own as I reached for the cup, a smile finding its way to my lips. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," she replied with a smile. Then, she turned on her heels and began walking away, giving me a quick 'later' as she did so.

I took a small sip of the coffee and couldn't help but think that it was sweeter than usual. Maybe this establishment roasted their beans a little differently than most. Or maybe, it was because this was free, given to me by a very sweet and mysterious stranger.

- 0 -

"Hey Blakey!" my colleague called as soon as I walked into the office.

"Morning, Nora," I replied. "Unnaturally energetic in the morning, as always."

"Got your coffee from a new place? How'd you find it? Did someone recommend this place to you? I wonder who did the recommending. Are they a good friend of yours? I should know this person. I know this person, right?"

"I had to run an errand this morning, so I went a different route. I just picked this up on the way in," I answered, taking another sip of the coffee, which was nearly empty now.

Nora was about to go off on another rant again, but was interrupted when my boss walked into the office, so she turned her attention to him instead. "Good morning, Ren!"

"Morning Nora. G'morning Blake," he greeted. Then, with his attention still on me and a small smile on his lips, he pointed to the top of his head. "Forget something?"

I let out an audible exhale as my folded my cat ears flat against my head. "I was in a hurry this morning and forgot about the bow. I'm sorry."

"You know I don't mind seeing them. And you know no one else in the office does. You don't have to hide yourself, Blake. I was just noting that it's a rare occasion to see you let your other ears breathe. You should do it more often."

"Yeah... maybe," I replied.

He smiled and nodded at me before disappearing into his office. As soon as he left, I turned my attention back to Nora, expecting her to continue her earlier rant. Instead, the topic of discussion changed to follow up Ren's.

"I agree with him. I don't see why you always try to hide them. They're cute."

"They make everyday life difficult. Not everyone is as tolerant as you and Ren," I replied, moving to take a seat at my cubicle. The orange-haired woman followed after me. "Just this morning, this coffee shop refused to sell me coffee because I'm a faunus."

Nora looked at my cup and gave me a questioning look.

"A nice stranger bought this for me," I answered.

"See? They didn't care. They even bought an extra cup for you," she countered with a grin.

"Actually," I paused, thinking. "She only got one cup... which she gave... to... me." The realization hit me like a tsunami. She was in a coffee shop. Why didn't she get anything for herself?

"Well, that was sweet of her. Was she hot?"

"I guess? She had a really bright smile."

"Blake. I hope you got her name," Nora said to me seriously.

"Well, she left pretty quickly, so I didn't really... ask," I finished meekly. "Why?"

She let out a frustrated groan before she started her whine rant. "Blaakkkeeeeyyyy! She was hitting on you. As in, flirting. As in, 'hey, I'm really interested in you so let's do stuff together'. As in, 'I want to get to know you better'. As in, you should have ask her for her name since she went through all that trouble to buy you coffee at a coffee shop that didn't serve you coffee when you wanted coffee. As in, you're a total idiot, Blake! She was hot! And sweet. And nice. And thoughtful. And HOT! Why didn't you ask for her name?!"

"I'm sorry!" I retorted. "I didn't think to at the time, okay? I thought she was just being nice. And she was the one who left in a hurry anyway. I doubt she was hitting on me. If she wanted to get to know me better, she should have asked for my name!"

She stared at me like I was crazy before facepalming. Then, in a defeated tone, she said, "I can't believe you, Blakey."

I watched as she slowly slinked her way back to her cubicle, the same hopeless expression on her face as she stared at me from time to time. I returned her stare blankly, not knowing or caring for its reason.

Work continued on uneventfully. Like Ren said, most people didn't mind my cat ears, and the few who did kept their distance from me as they whispered amongst themselves. When Nora noticed how other people's discomfort made me a little uneasy, she offered to break their legs for me. I chuckled at her and called her a jokester before moving on, but a part of me felt that maybe she wasn't joking at all.

- 0 -

"Aww, you're wearing that bow again, Blakey," Nora frowned as soon as I walked in that morning. "I like it better when you don't. You know you don't have to worry what other people think. I can even make them stop thinking by breaking their legs!"

"Nora," I sighed. "No. It's really not that big of a deal."

"Then why do you keep wearing that?" she asked, gesturing to the accessory atop my head. "Show me the kitty ears like you did that day when you met sweet, hot, and thoughtful whose name you didn't get."

Ever since that day, Nora never let me forget the sweet blonde woman I met, who I've taken to calling 'stranger' in my head. Every day, my orange-haired colleague would bring her up at least once to tease me and to remind me how I needed to somehow find her again. To which I would calmly express my faux disinterest and move on with the work day.

Faux disinterest. Because who am I kidding? I am very interested and I very much want to find this woman again. To say thank you for the coffee, if nothing else. I've even intentionally gone out of my way to retrace the route I took that day, but to no avail. So with no results in the past two weeks that I tried, I've decided to give in. Except that didn't mean Nora would let me.

"We're going out tonight!" she declared during lunch break.

"No we're not. You're going out tonight. I'm staying in with a good book," I retorted.

"No you're not. You can't refuse me because I'm just going to kidnap you and force you to come with me anyway. I know where you work and where you live and what your favorite bookstore is. You can run, but you can't hide. And you can't outrun me anyway."

"Please give me a break, Nora," I protested. "I'm tired and my long-awaited weekend is about to greet me. Don't take this away from me."

"Which is exactly why we should go out and relax and have some fun. You can read your book tomorrow. Blakeeeyyyyy! Come on!"

I gave her a look her that said 'do I really have to?'.

"Why don't you like fun?" she deadpanned.

"Hey! That's not fair. I love fun. We just have very different ideas of what fun is," I replied indignantly.

"We're going out tonight," she said with finality before standing up. "I'll come by to get you at 8. Don't even think about ignoring me. I will knock your door down."

Then, without waiting for my response, she hopped out of the room, leaving me to groan to myself.

- 0 -

"What did you say, asshole?!" Nora yelled, balling her fists.

"Nora," I tugged on her shirt, trying to get to shift her attention me, but to no avail.

As promised, Nora came to pick me up at 8 and the first thing she did after seeing me was to tear the bow off of my head, declaring that I didn't need it. When I tried to reason with her, she stood firm on her ground, insisting that I enjoy myself as I am. I tried to warn her... I really did. Trouble tended to follow me wherever I go when people see my cat ears, but she didn't believe me.

Until we were sitting at a bar downtown and some guys came up to me. They said things to me that I was used to hearing, but still hurt nonetheless. Telling me that I'm a degenerate and a freak; that I should leave because I'm not welcomed; that I'm a troublemaker and causing a disturbance with my presence.

When Nora caught wind of this, her mood plummeted at a frightening rate as she came to my 'rescue'. I tried to tell her it was okay and that we should leave to avoid trouble, but she didn't want any of it. Which led me to my current predicament.

"Whatcha getting so mad for?" the guy Nora was yelling at answered. "I just called it like it is. She's a freak. A fucking disgrace to humanity, and she shouldn't be here cause she's bothering people."

"She's a faunus," the orange-haired woman corrected. "She didn't do anything to bother anyone. You're the one who's bothering people, so you're the one who shouldn't be here!"

"Nora..." I pulled on her with a little more force, but she just shrugged me off and continued forward.

"It's people like you that make this world a worse place. What makes you so much more superior than everyone else, Mr-I-think-I'm-so-awesome-but-I'm-really-just-a-prick-who-has-low-self-esteem-and-need-to-step-on-other-people-to-make-me-feel-better-about-myself."

Oh... that did it. This was not going to end well for us.

The guy's facial expression hardened as he lunged forward and punched Nora in the gut. She recoiled from the impact, but was able to recover from it quick enough to deliver a nasty right hook to his face. The fight that broke out didn't last long, as the establishment's security came rushing in to stop the commotion and kick the troublemakers out. That didn't stop either parties from dealing out as much damage as they could in the time given though.

"You're bleeding," I noted as I saw her forearm once we were outside.

"Ah, yeah," she replied absently. "Must have happened when I was knocked onto that table. I remember broken glass or something."

"I'm sorry. It's because of me that -"

"No," she injected, effectively cutting me off. "I'm sorry, Blake. I'm sorry for the discrimination that you have to face; all the crap that you have to deal with because people just can't seem to open their minds a little bit; all the stupid words and looks that people give you because you're just trying to be you. But most of all, I'm sorry I didn't understand til now. I thought, 'how bad could it be?', you know? I thought, 'I'll help get her out of her shell and let her see that it's really not that bad', but in the end, all I did was prove you right; prove that it really is that bad. So, I'm sorry, Blake. I was insensitive."

That put a smile to my lips. Because not only did she pick a fight in a bar on my behalf, she didn't put any blame on me for said fight. And she was finally acknowledging all the hardships that I had to endure because of something that I was born as. On this one night, she has acknowledged it, accepted it, and tried to change it by standing up for me.

"You're a good friend, Nora," I replied. "And we should get you to a hospital. I'm thinking you're going to get some stitches."

She groaned. "Can't we just skip that and go home."

"No. I came out as you requested. Now, you're going to the hospital and get patched up as I requested."

- 0 -

When we arrived to the hospital, I immediately deposited Nora into the ER, but since I was neither spouse nor family, I was told to wait in the waiting room. After much sitting around, doing nothing and fiddling with my fingers, I was finally able go in to visit my friend.

"Hey," I said to Nora as I walked to her side. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone poked me with a needle a million times," she replied.

A chuckle caught my attention as someone emerged from behind the separator. "That's cause I did poke you with a needle about a million times; twenty-three, to be exact."

When I looked to see why the voice sounded familiar, my throat constricted at the familiar sight of blonde hair, lilac-colored eyes, and a bright smile. Miss stranger was donning a long white coat and a stethoscope to denote her status as a doctor.

I couldn't believe it. I was not prepared for this. I've looked for this woman for two weeks and got absolutely zero results, but when I decided to give up and just try to hang out with Nora, she suddenly showed herself? I felt like I had so many questions I wanted to ask her, but now that she was actually here, I found that I could barely ask. Hell, not only was finding words difficult, finding my voice was a grueling task in and of itself.

I have never been more thankful in my life for one of Nora's rants. Once she entered, Nora caught her attention immediately, which gave me a little bit of time to rid myself of the 'deer caught in the headlights' look and get composed. When I finally pulled myself together, I caught bits and pieces of their conversation. Nora must have finished her 'I hate needles' rant, because by the time I tuned in again, the doctor was giving her instructions on proper care for stitches. I waited patiently until they were done talking before I spoke up.

"Hi doctor," I greeted, suddenly very aware and nervous. "Um, I don't know if you remember-"

"I remember," she interrupted, smile in place. "How was the coffee?"

"It was- it was good," I answered almost automatically. I was caught off guard when she interrupted my carefully scripted conversation starter. I found it somewhat difficult to improvise, causing me to have to rake my brain to come up with the words I wanted to say. "Thanks. For the coffee, I mean."

"Don't mention it. I'll go get the rest of the paperwork done for your friend. After I get back and hand you what you need, you're both free to go," she replied, going back to work-mode.

"R-Right! Thank you," I gave a deep bow.

As soon as she left, I could almost feel Nora's stare laughing at me.

"Blakey~!" her singsong voice failed to hide her amusement. "Was that sweet, hot, and thoughtful? Cause damn, Blake! She wasn't just hot, she was on fire!"

I facepalmed and nearly gave myself whiplash as I turned to look at her. "Nora!" I hissed. "Don't call her that. What if she's right outside?"

"Oooh! I knew it was a good idea to go out tonight! When she gets back, you better ask for her name."

As if on cue, the doctor waltz back in holding a stack of papers. She sorted through them as she re-iterated proper care for stitches and handed Nora some of the papers she was juggling with.

"So is everything clear? Do you have any questions?" she asked, looking at her patient.

Nora's blatant stare in my direction led the doctor's attention to me, and I knew what the orange-haired woman wanted me to do, but I couldn't. My mind grew blank as soon as her eyes laid on me; her calm yet curious expression wondering why it was that Nora decided to defer answering the question to someone who wasn't even hurt.

I felt a light kick on the back of my thigh, Nora's way of nudging me, but when I tried to speak up, all that came out was a squeak. One that I hoped was barely audible, because I could just about die from embarrassment. I very rarely lost my composure, and even more rarely lost words; so how was it that this woman could do this to me with just one look?

"Yeah," Nora spoke up when she realized I couldn't. "What's your name?"

She seemed a bit taken aback by the question, but answered nonetheless. "It's Yang. Doctor Yang."

"Yang what?"

"Yang Xiao Long," she replied, a bit confused.

"Thanks, Doc. And thanks for taking care of me. We'll be going now."

With that, Nora hopped off of the bed she was sitting on and pulled me out with her. I was only able to manage a quick thank you as I was being tugged away.

Originally, I meant to finish the fic before posting it. But I've been sitting on this for a few weeks now and just haven't really found the time/motivation to continue. I figured I'd just post it and see if anyone is even interested before continuing. Please review! It shows that there is interest. :D

And if anyone wants to or have the time to draw any portion of this story, please do so! I want to see more bumblebys! And if you do, please show me. xD

I'm wayyy behind on my beta work again. I'm sorry RS. T_T