For science!

Pairing: Renora

Rating:A-Okay for kiddies

(Dedicated to Perigm)

A massive yawn broke the early morning silence. A young man, clad in a forest green track suit, slowly jogged down empty streets. His long pony tail bounced with every step, and every rhythmic step made it even harder for him to stay awake. 'It's way to early for this.' Were his only thoughts as he moved along.

Normally he would go running later in the evenings but his sensei, who also happened to be his father, demanded he do it at the asscrack of dawn. Something about "breaking his habit of sleeping in." Honestly, between staying up late to study for classes, and martial arts literally exhausting him almost everyday, it's no wonder he likes to sleep in when he can.

"Ugh, I need caffeine." He grumbled to himself. There was no way he would make it through his run, without passing out, otherwise. Making his decision, the young man turned at the next corner, heading toward the small shopping district nearby.

The town he lived in was rather small. Most of the shops where family or individually run. The only chain stores that existed within a fifty kilometre radius were a Target and a Walmart, built right across from each other, on the edge of town. The only reason people even went to them was to get the mass produced general kinds of clothes. In all honesty, he was surprised that the two stores hadn't moved away yet.

As his thoughts continued to wander, he entered the shopping district. All the stores were small and quaint, with one or two workers bustling around inside, or cleaning up in front of the store. Passing several shops, he could feel his eyes begin to close again, and his head nodding forward. Just as he was going to try and force himself awake, a sudden impact did it for him.

Falling backwards, his reflexes allowed him to roll safely into a crouching position, but that did nothing for his now throbbing nose. Hearing a groan similar to his own, he glanced up blearily. A girl, sitting rubbing her forehead, stared back at him.

"Uuuuh" was the only sound that managed to escape his mouth. This was not going to be fun. Socializing always made him nervous and left him emotionally exhausted afterwards. The girl grinned at his awkward sound.

"Hello, I'm Nora." She said in a tone that was way to chipper for it to exist during the morning hours.

Okay, good, didn't have to start the interaction. Dodged that bullet.

"Lei Ren." He replied awkwardly. After standing, he moved to help her.

The girl giggled as he pulled her up in one smooth motion.

"Sorry for bumping in to you." Ren's eyes widened slightly. 'Why is she apologizing when I'm obviously the one who ran into her?' This girl was proving to be an enigma even though he'd only known her for less than two seconds.

"Uh, no it was my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going." Nora's smile seemed to grow as he yawned. She was bouncing from foot to foot, trying to expel some amount of the energy stored within her body.

"Do you want to come in and have some coffee? You look like you could use it." Blinking at her for a moment, he then swung his head up to look at the sign hanging above the shop entrance. 'Storm Flower Bakery and Café' stared back at him in blaring pink letters. Returning his gaze to the girl he could now see that she was dressed in a nice navy blouse, black pants, and a small apron fitted around her waist to complete the uniform

"Uuuuh, sure?" He hadn't meant to make it sound like a question. This was actually very convenient. Looking at the hours of operation, he could see that didn't open for another half hour, so no one else but him and this girl, and anyone she worked with, would be present. Less people, less interaction, less probability of emotional exhaustion. Yes, this was a good plan. "I mean, yeah if it's not too much trouble."

Nora giggled again. She seemed to do it a lot though it wasn't a bad thing, it was nice even. She led him into the shop, a bell jingled when they entered. "Hey, Pyrrha! I'm making someone coffee!" She called into the back kitchen area of the store, where the wet sounds of dishes clashing together could be heard.

The clashing paused, and a red head popped her head around the doorframe. "Sorry, what was that?" Her eyes caught sight of Ren and an eyebrow was raised in questioning.

"I'm making him coffee. We kind of crashed into each other out side so…" She trailed off, but Pyrrha nodded her head in understanding, a small smile creeped onto her lips.

The redhead fully came around the corner (revealing she was almost as tall as he was), drying her hands on a towel as she did so. "Hmmm let me guess…"

His heart deflated slightly. 'Great this again." Almost every time someone had tried to guess what kind of drink he liked they would always assume that he liked very dark bitter things. When ever it happened it would just remind him again why socializing was exhausting.

"I'd say you're a tea kind of guy." Okay, that assumption was new but still far off. He found tea to not have enough flavour. In his mind it was just weak leaf water.

"Nope, wrong." Nora interjected from beside him. "Sugar all the way. Sweetness to the max!" All Ren could do was blink.

"This is the first time anyone has guessed my drink preference correctly." Wow, this was definitely new. This girl… How. Even his thoughts were stumbling over themselves. Nora was a person who, under normal circumstances, he would steer clear from because of how much of an extrovert she obviously was, but so far he just couldn't bring himself to mind. Was there like some form of scientific experiment that could possibly indicate a logical reason why?

As he stood there in shock, Nora had made her way behind the counter and had started making a drink. Pyrrha just stood off to the side, leaning against the kitchens door frame smiling mischievously, as the orange haired barista got to work. Moving closer he could see she was adding a mix of several different syrups and things that he couldn't even begin to understand. Slowly, the mix of sticky sweetness turned into a, rather delicious looking, drink. It was in a to-go cup, filled almost to the brim. The dark liquid had been topped with a bubbly looking foam, and covered in crisscrossing lines of chocolate.

Once finished, Nora whipped around with a whoop of triumph and placed the drink in front of the shocked man. "There you go."

Tentatively, he picked up the steaming beverage, and took a cautious sip. It was delicious. It was smooth and sweet on his tongue and made his taste buds dance from the sudden rush of sugar. Pulling the cup away from his lips, a small smile stretched across his face. A squeal of excitement escaped Nora's mouth when he did.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet. "Oh no, you don't need to pay for it! It's on the house." Nora waved her hands in front of her, trying to ward off his attempt to pay.

"Then I'll just give you a really big tip then."

"Oh no that's not necessary!"

At this point Pyrrha stepped in. "Okay, how about this? I pay for it, and you." She turned, pointing at Ren. "Come back in three hours to pick up Nora after her shift." Both her fellow barista and Ren paused with incredulous looks on their faces.

"Uuuuh okay? Then what?" Both Nora and Ren replied at the same time, forcing the redhead into a fit of uproarious laughter.

"I don't know, go out for coffee or something!" Pyrrha gasped between laughs.

Ren moved his gaze back to Nora. He wasn't really one for dates, but maybe just this once he'd make an exception. For science of course.