A/N: God, I love having Lea to edit these with me. Remember how every new chapter of "Of Pink Pancakes and Love Letters" took like 10 years to post? Yeah, this chapter was started and finished within 5 hours thanks to Lea's help. That girl is a godsend and I'm having a lot of fun making these knowing I don't have to stress over them by myself. That said, I wanted to clear some stuff up because my brain just failed when it came to math and whatever yesterday: Everyone is aged up 2.5 - 3 years, and just to clear this up because I made it sound like Ren/Jaune/Yang/Ruby/etc had graduated college, only Ren and Pyrrha have graduated college due to dual enrollment in high school and whatnot. Ruby is still in dual enrollment. I realized chapter 1 was very weird about mentioning all of this so just, I'm sorry, I may fix it later.

Chapter II: Of Espresso and English Bluebells

The warm, earthy scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the air as Nora poured some into a mug, handing it to Pyrrha. "I'm only saying it's not like he's a complete stranger," Pyrrha smiled into her coffee. It was a far from uncommon occurrence for her to be in Nora's dimly lit kitchen at 6 am, a mug of steaming coffee in hand as she listened to her rant about something or another. Her friend ranting about a crush, however, was a completely new experience.

Nora rolled her eyes and hoisted herself up onto the marble countertop in front of Pyrrha. "I've never met him before, so yeah, he kind of is."

"Not true," Pyrrha set her mug down, "most of your friends know him well, Jaune lives with him, and you've heard stories about him before."

Nora mumbled something to herself, pouting and tightly curling her fingers around her mug.

Pyrrha scowled, "It's not abnormal to find someone attractive when you first meet them."

Nora hmphed, shoving her mug away from her. "I guess he's cute but that's not the point." She laid backwards, crossing her arms behind her head and trying not to shudder at the cold marble against her skin. "I just met him, and I already like his personality a lot, which is weird because I JUST MET HIM." She grumbled. "I was perfectly fine not liking anyone. Saved me a lot of trouble when we were in high school."

"He's also nothing like you."

"Thanks, Pyrrha."

She shook her head, "Well, opposites attract. I know it feels weird because you've never liked anyone before, but maybe-"

"I still haven't!" Nora shot up defensively, "Liking people means you think they're hot, and I think he's cute but I don't like him the way you liked Jaune! Hah! I'm still fine-"

"That's not necessarily true…" Pyrrha hummed, "You said you liked his personality. So you find him attractive, but in a more… mental sense."

Nora groaned, "I was FINE not liking anyone."

"At least the guy you fell for is a top of his class, responsible, boy with a job." Pyrrha nudged her.

Nora grinned, "You jealous?"

Pyrrha made a face. "The heart wants what the heart wants, I suppose. And mine wanted his rather airheaded roommate." She smiled fondly, "Jaune is good at strategy, not so much school."

Nora shrugged, "I was never good at school, but I'm still pretty smart with certain things."

Pyrrha sipped her coffee, "You're good at creative, outside of the box thinking. Honestly, you and Ren are a good 'opposites attract' match in that regard. He's much better at structured, 'school' style thinking."

Nora grimaced, "Maybe we're destined to be good friends. Maybe that's the weird feeling."

Pyrrha chuckled, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure 'destiny' feels like butterflies. That's typically a romance thing."

"Maybe I'm sick."

"Or in denial." Pyrrha caught the intense glare Nora threw her way, "Sorry."

Nora put her face in her hands, "Why did I have to go into that stupid flower shop?"

Pyrrha smiled, "Maybe that was destiny!"

"I will kick you out."

Pyrrha laughed, "And then who would you complain to?"

Nora slid off the counter and sat in the barstool next to Pyrrha, putting her face on the counter. "I wanna be friends."

Pyrrha rubbed her back absentmindedly, glancing at her mug. Then, a triumphant grin spread across her lips as a new idea came to her. "Why don't you ask him for coffee?"

Nora sat up, considering. "I guess we could go to Coco's. He hasn't been back here in a few years, so there's no way he's been there before."

Pyrrha beamed, "That sounds like a-"

"-horrible idea." Ren slammed the cupboard closed, growing tired of this conversation. When summer finally started, he was glad to be coming back to see his parents, and glad that he and Jaune were finally getting a better apartment. He'd been expecting to have a good time, the first year since high school he wasn't running himself ragged with AP or extra college courses, and he was looking forward to that immensely. He was not looking forward to what Jaune was currently urging him to do.

Jaune groaned, "But Ren, if you ask her out, the worst that can happen is she says no."

Ren grimaced, opening the cabinet door and shoving in a bag of fertilizer, "I barely know her, Jaune. Few long lasting, successful relationships start from meeting someone once."

Jaune waved his hand, "Psssh, have you read Romeo and Juliet?"

Ren narrowed his eyes, "Have you read Romeo and-"

"They're a romantic staple!'

"They're both dead-"

"Well, it has been several hundred years, Ren." Jaune played with one of the flower displays.

Ren sighed exasperatedly, "How did you even pass English- wait no, don't answer that." Ren pinched the bridge of his nose, "You'd have flunked out if Pyrrha hadn't tutored you."

"First of all, ow," Jaune smiled cheerfully, "second of all, funny you mention Pyrrha-"

"Please don't-"

"We met on a sunny afternoon two years ago-"

Ren pushed his bangs back and groaned.

"And I knew after about 10 minutes that I liked her, a lot." Jaune continued, "So about a month later, I asked her out, and she said yes-"

"I thought Weiss yelled at you both until you agreed to date?"

"That's one version of how it happened, yes, but anyway we started dating, and we're still happy after almost two years."

Ren scowled and roughly flipped the sign on the door from "closed" to "open", "Watching you two dance around each other was painful enough, you don't need to remind me."

"Harsh, but that's exactly the point." Jaune crossed his arms, "We both liked each other immediately but took forever in actually confessing."

"And because you knew each other for a long time, we all have a lot of faith you two will last a long while." Ren sighed, "I met her yesterday, Jaune."

"Romeo met Juliet and married her like, the next day."

"And they both died!" He threw his arms up.

"Relax," Jaune fiddled with one of the bouquets, "It's not like you're gonna kill her brother."

Ren shook his head, "Cousin."

Jaune rolled his eyes, "You're in the clear of that too, she doesn't really have any relatives to murder in the first place, so-"

Ren narrowed his eyes, "That seems like relatively private information to be telling me."

Jaune froze, "Yeah, yeah it does. Forget I said anything."

Ren frowned, "Maybe we should change subjects."

"Yeah." Jaune smiled sheepishly.

Ren glanced around when Jaune fell silent for more than a few seconds and smiled with relief as he set back to work.

"So, what kind of date do you think you'd like best?"

Ren huffed with contempt, his disappointment immeasurable, "Jaune-"

"Maybe it doesn't have to be a date?" Jaune suggested, 'Maybe you could get to know her a bit?"

Ren considered this. "I'm not at all averse to the idea of being her friend."

"She likes coffee."

"She shotgunned espresso, Jaune, I figured that out myself."

Jaune opened his mouth to respond when the sound of the door slamming shut boomed through the room, the walls shaking a little. He winced, "That door is gonna give me a heart attack one day."

Ren made his way over to the cash register, giving an apologetic smile to the woman that had just come in, "Sorry, the wind's been really bad lately."

She took her beret off, ringing it out over one of the ferns, "It's no problem," she smirked, "You need a bell, too."

Ren glanced up at the empty space above the door, as Jaune shoved past him, "Yeah, it would probably be good to hear when your customers arrive."

Ren shot him a glare before glancing back to the woman, "So, did you come in for anything in particular or just flowers for around the house?"

She waved him off, "You may as well not bother with whatever script you were given," she grinned, adjusting her purse and nodding towards the door, "I own the cafe and trust me, most of your customers are going to be regulars so there's no point after a while."

Ren grimaced, "I see. So that makes you…" he racked his brain for what it was Jaune had said her name was.

She smiled easily, "Coco." she glanced behind her, "And the one standing out in the rain is Velvet."

Ren glanced over her shoulder to see another woman shivering outside the building. "Uh, she can come in-"

"She knows, thinks it's rude to enter a store with no intent of buying anything." Coco sighed, before yelling, "If I get a damn bouquet, will you come in?"

Velvet made a face but nodded, walking in.

Jaune sprang up, "Someone get the-"

SLAM

"Nevermind."

Ren rolled his eyes, "You don't have to buy anything."

Velvet turned on her heel to leave again, but Coco grabbed her wrist immediately, "Stay the hell inside."

Velvet glanced at the cash register, "But it's rude to-"

Coco turned back to Ren, "We have tiny vases on all the tables, do you have anything that would fit a tiny table?"

Ren walked behind the register, looking at a chart on the wall that named all of the flowers and where in the aisles to find them. It had only taken a few seconds to find the peonies yesterday, but having to look for anything in front of someone in general could be nerve wracking, so naturally, he made a chart the second he got home. "Hmm. Any color preferences?"

Coco smiled, "The main color scheme of the cafe is brown and yellow, so something blue would be a nice contrast."

Ren scanned the chart and pulled it off the wall, handing it to Coco, "What about these?"

"English bluebells," she read aloud, "Sounds good to me."

He chuckled, "Normally, they're just extras to add to bouquets, so if you just want a handful of them, that's literally like… 30 cents."

Coco laughed, pulling out her wallet, "You're really breaking my bank, here, new guy." She handed him a dollar between two fingers, "Keep the change."

Ren huffed a laugh, putting it in the cash register, "How very generous of you."

Coco flipped her hair, "I'm just a wonderful person."

Velvet rolled her eyes, "Absolutely." She glanced over at Jaune, doing a double take, "Oh, you're Pyrrha's boyfriend."

Jaune smiled proudly, puffing out his chest, "Why, yes, yes I am."

Velvet smiled, "You're the one who fell down the stairs at the cafe, then."

Coco leaned against the counter, "That he is. Totally ate shit. Thought Valkyrie was gonna have an aneurysm from laughing so hard."

Ren stood a little straighter, interest piquing.

"Hey!" Jaune pouted, "It's always raining and the stairs were slippery."

Coco examined her nails, "I dunno what was funnier, you landing on your ass and sliding a few feet, or Valkyrie sounding like a dying seal."

Ren felt his face heat up slightly. As weird as that sounded, it was kinda endearing.

"Hey," he turned to Coco, trying to look nonchalant, "What time does your cafe open?"

"Seven," Coco smiled, "But if you ever see anyone inside before then, you can just come in. We don't really care with other owners wanting coffee before a shift, so long as you aren't an ass about it."

Ren smiled, gears turning. "That tattoo place across the street, what time do they open?"

"About nine, most days, but you can totally find Yang, Valkyrie and sometimes Nikos in there before then." Coco pulled her sleeve up, showing off a small tattoo of some sunglasses surrounded by poppies, "If you want anything though, they do make you wait until after nine. Good work, though, especially for a place with such a stupid name."

Velvet mouthed the words, "Ink About It," and fought a smile.

Ren smirked, "You think they're in there now?"

Coco shrugged, "Yang's sister is visiting so you won't see her until later."

Jaune "subtly" elbowed Ren, before wrapping an arm around his shoulders, "What a shame. But Pyrrha and Nora should be there soon."

Ren sighed, "Thanks, Jaune."

Coco raised an eyebrow, "Normal to see you excited about your girlfriend, Arc, but what's with Valkyrie?"

Ren shoved Jaune away, "Nothing, he's just an idiot."

"Hey-"

"I can bring a bunch of bluebells over today if you want them treated so they last longer." Ren hung the chart back on the wall, "For now, I think I'll stop by-"

Jaune sprinted to the door, throwing the sign back to "closed" and grabbing Ren by the arm, "We'll be at Ink About It, thanks, byeeee!"

Coco crossed her arms, leaning to Velvet, "This is either going to be really cute, or a total shitshow."

Velvet nodded, "Hopefully the former, I like Nora and Ren seems nice."

Coco smiled, "I'm sure Nikos is involved, and you'd be an idiot not to trust her."