A/N: As always, massive thank you/I love you to Lea. These are going out so fast and so much less stressfully thanks to her. Writing Ren's parents is kind of foreign to me, but this is a modern AU so they're both still alive. The effect that has on Ren's characterization is cool too, like he still grew up to be relatively introverted, but he talks more and he's significantly more open (especially with emotions), and that's been super fun to write. I love myself some angst, but as Lea put it while we were editing, "as much fun as angsty, emotionally tortured Ren is to write, it's refreshing to see him just get to be a happy, healthy young adult".
Chapter IV: Of Acrylics and Air Plants
The dusk was about as lovely as it would get, the storm had parted (though Nora knew this would be temporary) just enough to allow the sunset to peek out through candy clouds of pink and yellow, floating across the sky, lazily drifting past a few random clusters of stars. The moon was beginning to materialize, casting a cold glow on the otherwise warm, ethereal atmosphere.
It was the perfect atmosphere for painting.
Her "studio" had the biggest window in her entire apartment. It was supposed to be a bedroom, but given that she was only one person in an apartment with three bedrooms, it wasn't exactly a necessity. So she made it into a studio of sorts. Haphazardly tacked to the wall were figure sketches, blurry reference pictures of sunsets and various flowers, pegboards splattered with the permanent acrylic result of stumbling while trying to organize paint.
T'was a cruel thing, for all of your coordination to rest in your hands and eyes rather than your feet.
If only because she stores so many mediums. Her two storage cabinets, painted with intricate little doodles, were overflowing with various sorts of acrylic and watercolor paints, markers, colored pencils, and all sorts of craft supplies...though ink would always be her favorite.
Her favorite thing about this apartment, hands down, was the bay window in the bedroom-turned-studio. It was a very peaceful place to simply kick back and sketch.
She sat against the assortment of pillows she'd accumulated from visits to secondhand stores and garage sales, and drew. Lost in a state of hyperfocus, she only realized how much time she'd spent doing so when she could no longer see, her only light source having descended long ago.
She sighed, tossing her sketchbook to the side and making her way to the light switch, deciding she probably needed a break anyway. Grabbing her water bottle from atop one of the rolling drawers, she turned to water her succulent- which she had affectionately named "Stupid plant that never grows"- only to discover it was completely, entirely dead. It's leaves, once standing tall and colored a bright vivid emerald, now hung low in the soil in an ashy, sickly pale green tinted with brown.
Nora groaned, roughly slamming her water back down on her desk. Just once, she wanted a plant that wouldn't die less than a month after she bought it.
Unfortunately, she knew next to nothing about plants.
But… she knew someone who probably would.
The next morning, the rain had predictably resumed. The whole city seemed to be caught in an eternal downpour, and while Ren didn't dislike the rain, he did dislike getting drenched in it. He rushed to unlock the door, pulling back strands of wet hair that had stuck to his face, flipping the lights on as he did so.
The lights flickered on, basking the quaint little shop in a warm, fluorescent glow. The most colorful flower displays sat neatly next to the front desk, undoubtedly to catch the eye of any potential customers passing by the door, and lining the walls was a variety of plant life, ranging from delicate orchid bouquets to hanging spider plants.
The morning routine was the same as it always was; spray the treated flowers, water and fertilize the living ones, try to stay sane when your mother calls you for the dozenth time, etc.
Ren sighed, yanking off his soaked jacket and shoving it on the desk as he retrieved his buzzing phone from the pocket.
"What? Yes, I just got here- mother," he sighed. "No, I'm working on it- yes, I remembered to bring lunch." He leaned against the counter, propped up on his elbow. "Yes, I made sure to-"
Just then, Nora walked into the shop, seemingly attempting to twist the water out of her hair like a towel, and Ren lost the ability to form a single conscious thought. Shaking out the excess, she straightened and opened her mouth- presumably to speak to him- but her eyes widened when she saw the phone pressed against his ear. She mouthed a sorry and her cheeks went even redder than normal, and it took Ren a moment to realize his mother had been speaking to him.
He tore his eyes away from Nora, "I- what?"
Nora clasped her hands behind her back, dragging her sneakers on the tile.
"Yes, I'm still coming for dinner. Jaune's spending the day with his girlfriend, he'll be fine."
He flicked his eyes from the counter to Nora, "I'm going to need to call you back. Uh, customer." He paused, "Yeah it is 6 am, um- my friend is here. No, not Jaune. Jaune is with his girlfriend. What? I have friends other than Jaune, mother-"
Nora pretended not to notice as Ren started fidgeting with his keys.
He jolted, coughing a few times. "What?" he repeated, "I- no, I do not have a- I have to go, so, goodbye." His expression faded from annoyance to a small smile. "Yeah, I love you, too. Bye."
He set his phone down on the counter, sighing and looking up at Nora. "Hi."
"Hi," she said, straightening.
"Did you need something or did you just want to say hi?" he crossed his arms, smiling.
She laughed nervously, shrugging off a small yellow backpack. "Both." She pulled out a tiny white pot which held what Ren guessed used to be a succulent.
"Did you try to boil it?" he touched one of the leaves, watching it immediately melt into mush.
"No," she hung her head, "I'm just crap at keeping plants alive."
He took the pot from her and examined it carefully. "I think you overwatered it."
She looked at him hopefully, beaming, "So I can revive it?"
He laughed sympathetically, shaking his head, "Not at all, you murdered this thing."
She whined, putting her face on the counter.
"Is that all you needed?"
She peeled her face off the counter and looked up at him, "Do you have any succulents I won't kill?"
"Hmm," he considered, "Succulents don't need to be watered that often, so either get something you can water very often, or get a succulent you won't have the instinct to water."
"But they look so dry and then I feel bad." She poked at it, brows furrowing at the green sludge leaking from the decayed mound of a plant.
"In that case, there is one type of succulent you might be able to raise." He picked up the pot and tilted the rotted contents into the trash behind the counter.
She looked at him expectantly.
Ren handed her the pot back with a smile. "Plastic."
She groaned, setting her head back down on the counter.
He shook his head, "There are some types of succulents you don't need to water at all, you just stick them in the sink every few weeks. Tillandsia- er, well, air plants." He typed something on his phone, sliding it towards her.
She scanned the images of little plants hanging in glass bubbles.
"They don't need soil, either, so no mess. That's why they're called air plants." He continued, scrolling through.
"These," he pointed at one with a bright pink, featherlike spike, "are called pink quills. They're pretty easy to care for and you can just dump them in the sink every 3 weeks."
She smiled, putting the pot back in her bag. "You know a lot about succulents. I was expecting you to know a bit, but…"
He smirked, raising his brows for a second, "That's what happens when you get a degree in botany."
She perked up, "I didn't know you had a degree already. I thought you just came back for break or something."
He shrugged, "Well, that's what happens when you take a ton of AP classes and do dual enrollment for two years."
She made a face, "Yikes. How are you alive?"
"Lots of determination and even more caffeine."
She giggled, "My life in one sentence."
He took his phone back, putting it in his jacket, "I'm surprised you didn't end up bouncing off the walls after what you ordered yesterday."
Briefly, her expression switched from jovial to worried, or maybe even embarrassed, but she did her best to laugh it off. "Heh, yeah, I guess it just... doesn't affect me much."
His brows knit, "Are you okay? I wasn't trying to be rude-"
"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong," she assured him. "I um… it just helps me focus. Sometimes it makes me dissociate but- It doesn't actually give me that much more energy. Does kinda the opposite."
He blinked, "Really? I didn't know coffee worked like that for some people."
She forced a smile, though her posture was slumped, "Yeah it… doesn't do that for most people. But, it's not important."
Ren frowned, "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"You didn't do anything wrong," she repeated, "It's just a me thing."
"O-okay." He glanced at the display behind her, "So, drawn any more flowers recently?"
She lightened up a little, "Yeah, I sketched a lot yesterday and today, someone booked an appointment to get a quote and some lavender."
He gave her a small smile, crossing his arms again, "That sounds nice. Any other appointments?"
She shook her head, the smile slowly spreading back across her face, "No, and we never really get walk-ins, so I get to go home sometime after twelve. Yang owes me a day."
He grinned, "So if someone were to ask you to coffee around two, because they have a 1 hour break…"
Her smile widened, "I would definitely say yes…" she steepled her fingers, coyly raising her brows, "Assuming they straight up asked me this time, instead of using their roommate as an excuse."
"In that case," he huffed a laugh, "Would you want to go get coffee around two?"
She threw her backpack back on, turning to leave, "It's a date." she paused, "But like, a friend date."
He chuckled, "Of course."