The late mornings at Scholar's Coffee Shop was always absolutely the busiest point of the day. Yang hardly found enough time to breathe, let alone take even so much as a moment to observe the shop beyond the fact that the line was growing. It was at that perfect time of the day where everyone was usually out and about, either at class or at work, and the majority of students at both the University of Vale and Vale Community College tried to avoid the super early morning classes if possible. By 9 or 10am, the crowds would start to flow in, but by 11, they were at their peak.
It wasn't anything Yang couldn't handle. She'd done this a hundred times before. There was a reason why the shop paid so well, even for part-time employees like herself. The shop had the perfect location between the two colleges of the University District, and it made damn good coffee at that. It rivaled even that of the local chains, but she'd even heard horror stories of how much worse the lines were at the chains on the UV campus from Ruby. She thanked her lucky stars everyday she'd landed the job at Scholar's Coffee, and not the chains that pumped exhausted workers through a revolving door like children who had just had their first ever interaction with a revolving door.
Yang looked up, still wrapped up in her own exhaustion, from the computer to take the next order. She had meant to give her standard greeting, but instead, was rendered completely speechless when none other than Blake Belladonna appeared directly in front of her.
"Hi, Yang," Blake said with a soft smile. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn't expect to see you here," Yang replied, trying to recover from her sheer moment of shock. She'd never seen Blake here before. Then again, would she even have noticed someone she'd never met before?
Yang would have had to have noticed. Blake was far too pretty for that.
Did she just think that?
But Yang should have noticed. It was rare that a Faunus were to come in here. Surely, if she had at some other point, there would have been whisperings from some of the other customers, and Yang would have had to go get her manager, who would have kicked the racists out.
Yang glanced up for a moment to the stunned surprise that Blake's cat ears were covered with a bow. They were completely still, as if a hair bow simply sat atop her head, with no indication of the ears that lay underneath.
Blake let out a small laugh, causing a smile to come to Yang's face instinctively, breaking her train of thought. "It's okay. Can I get a medium pumpkin spice latte?" she asked.
"Coming right up!" Yang exclaimed with a new wave of energy, punching it into the computer.
Blake handed her a handful of lien, significantly more than her order was worth. When Yang handed her back the change, Blake immediately dropped it into the tips cup with a smile.
"Thanks!" Yang's smile had not faded since Blake had laughed.
"Hey, I know you're busy, so I'll keep this brief. Do you have a break coming up?" Blake asked quickly and quietly.
"Uh, yeah, in about twenty minutes, why?"
"I came out early to actually call you and chat about your application- since I already ran into you, we could talk in person on your break instead, if that's okay?"
Blake flushed nervously. She didn't know why. This was just another business conversation, about cats.
Then why was Yang's goofy grin so-
"Yeah, of course! I'll come find your table when I go on break."
"Great, thanks," Blake said with a smile. "See you then!"
Yang didn't even fully get in her goodbye before Blake had headed off to the other end of the shop, where the other baristas working read out the names on the cups. Looking down, she realized she hadn't put Blake's cup down in the line yet, sharpie still in hand. She added a small smiley face to the end of Blake's name before putting it down for another barista to collect.
She was sure Blake would appreciate that.
"Next in line!"
After what felt like the longest twenty minutes of her life, despite the never-ending line, Yang was relieved by a coworker to go on break. She darted to the back room, hanging up her apron on a hook before clocking out. She darted over to the fridge, pulled out her packed lunch, and slipped out through the other door to enter the shop.
Her eyes scanned the tops of the heads of everyone at tables. Normally, she would have eaten in the staff room, but today was different. Wading through the crowd of people waiting for their drinks, she eventually spotted Blake on the other side of the shop, sitting at a table alone with her latte and her laptop open.
Blake looked up, spotted Yang, and gave a small smile and wave. Yang wove in and out of people, with plenty of "'cuse me"s and "pardon me"s exchanged on the way there.
Finally, Yang sat down at the empty seat and let out a long sigh. She held up a finger for a moment, and then pulled out her scroll.
"Sorry," Yang muttered, out of breath. "I have to… set a timer… for my break…"
"No worries!" Blake assured her, waiting until Yang had set the alarm and flipped the scroll upside down on the table.
"So," Yang said, unwrapping her sandwich. "I hope you don't mind if I eat while we talk, this is my lunch break today too."
Blake blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
Yang wove her hand in the air, cutting her off before putting her hand in front of her mouth so she could respond while she chewed, without having to be rude to Blake. "Seriously, don't worry about it. I wouldn't have had much time for a phone call anyways."
Blake nodded, pulling out the piece of paper her father had given her last night. "I didn't get to do the proper verbal interview when you were at the rescue yesterday, because I hit my head and was a little frazzled, so I have a couple more questions we generally like to ask people as part of that. I'm also going to be taking notes on my laptop, so don't mind me typing."
Yang nodded in return, her hand still in front of her mouth. "Go for it."
Glancing down at the paper, Blake tried to paraphrase and make it seem less awkward, and more like a conversation.
"So you work full time?"
Yang nodded, chewing a fresh new bite.
Blake moved onto the next question without needing further explanation. She'd seen her here, working, right now, after all. "Does your sister work?"
"Part-time," Yang said, swallowing her bite and lowering her hand. "She works for the IT department at the University of Vale, on top of being a student. Usually she's still home in time for dinner though. She's got a more 9-5 schedule than I do." Yang gave a small laugh before biting her sandwich again. She was almost halfway done.
"On that, how much time do you and your sister spend at home?"
"Her more than me. I work a lot, but it'd be her cat after all. My schedule varies, but hers is pretty consistent. She's gone by 8:30 or 9 most mornings, and back by 5 or 6pm, unless it's finals week. Then that's more like, midnight, but that's finals week for an engineering student for you. Or any student, really."
"Ruby's studying engineering?" Blake asked.
Yang nodded. "Mechanical engineering. She wants to make arms like mine." Yang flashed a toothy grin as she held up her bright yellow arm before going in for another bite of her sandwich.
Blake nodded and smiled before looking back down at the list. "Do you think you two would be financially capable of supporting the cat?" After she looked up from the list, she saw the slightly stunned look in Yang's eyes and had a slight moment of panic herself. "I didn't mean that in any accusatory way or anything. That's a standard question… that I missed last time." She looked back down, not wanting to make eye contact.
Yang shook her head quickly, bringing herself back to reality. "No, no, it's okay. That's a totally valid question. Yes, we'd be more than capable of doing so." She hesitated for a moment, but then elaborated. "If we make it to the in-home visit stage, it'll probably look like we're dirt poor… and that's because at first, after the accident, we were." Yang began rubbing her right arm instinctively, avoiding eye contact with the now curious Blake, who had looked back up. "We just didn't bother to replace any of the crappy furniture, because we didn't see a need to. We've got savings, and enough to get us through at least two months of rent if suddenly all the income stopped. We just spend on a need-to-spend basis, and a cat could easily be factored into that."
Blake nodded, typing away on her computer. "I'm sorry this is getting so personal. We just like to be really thorough."
"No need to apologize," Yang replied, looking back up at her. "You and your family do a lot of good for those cats."
Blake gave a small smile as she watched Yang take in the last bite of her sandwich. "Thank you. Last question for you here, under what circumstances would you return the cat to us? Like, what scenarios would make you decide you don't want or can't take care of the cat anymore?"
"Ideally, none," Yang replied, swallowing after the second word and lowering her hand for good this time. "Our apartment allows cats, and I see us in that apartment at least until Ruby graduates and gets a job that isn't minimum wage. And if we did have to move, well, Vale is a plenty big enough city that we'd be able to find an apartment that's cat friendly. A pet is a family member, and we both take that very seriously."
Blake nodded, typing the last sentence with a smile. "There, all done!"
Yang flashed another wide smile. "Awesome! When should I expect to hear back?"
"Within 24 to 48 hours," Blake replied automatically. "But honestly? More likely closer to the 24 hours. Since it's a surprise, I can text you with the details before I call you, if that's okay?"
Yang nodded, flipping her scroll over. "Here, let me give you my- oh, wait, you already have that."
Blake let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I do. It's okay, people forget all the time. But I could give you mine, so you know it's me and don't let your sister accidentally see it or answer or something?"
"Sure," Yang replied, unlocking her scroll and opening up her contacts app. She selected the page for a new contact before sliding it to Blake.
Blake picked it up and started typing when Yang spoke again.
"Can I ask you a question? Unrelated to the cat stuff?"
Blake looked up, nodding before looking back down at the scroll. "Yeah, sure, one second… there!" She handed the scroll back to Yang, which now greeted her with the contact page of "Blake Belladonna", followed by her scroll number, with the note, "the crazy cat lady" with the same smiley face that Yang had drawn on her cup.
Yang looked up and smiled before locking the scroll and putting it down. She leaned over the table, and spoke in a much lowered voice. If Yang did not know about Blake's extra ears, she didn't think Blake would be able to hear it.
"I won't say any details out loud, so don't worry. But why do you wear the bow here?"
Blake's eyes went wide and she flushed bright red. Her right ear tried to twitch underneath the bow, but Blake immediately stopped it.
"If anyone ever said anything rude, my manager would kick them out in a second, flat," Yang continued, not noticing the ear. "I've seen her do it before. Hell, I've pointed out people to her so she could do it before."
"Well," Blake replied quietly, "that's a very personal question."
"Oh." Yang's face turned as red as her sister's favorite blanket. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay," Blake gave a gentle nod. "I know you didn't mean any harm, but just… that's not really something you ask people you don't know very well."
"Sorry," Yang apologized again, staring down at her empty sandwich bag.
"I do it because I don't know which shops are safe outside of… my district," Blake answered softly, lowering her voice even more for the last two words. "There's no signs, and people tend to be far more vocal about hate than acceptance."
"Oh. That makes sense. Sorry for being so rude."
"Thank you for the apology. I know you didn't mean it, but I appreciate you trying to learn, and learn from your mistakes. Very few hu- people," she corrected herself, "are willing to do that."
Yang gave a small smile in return. She opened her mouth to say something else, but the timer on her scroll went off. "Oum, I gotta get back to work. It was nice chatting with you!"
"Same," Blake responded as Yang stood up. "Have a good rest of your day!"
"You too!" Yang called behind her as she began weaving through the crowd to get back to the staff room in time to clock in accurately. She tossed her empty bag in the trash, scooped her apron off the hook, and slid her card through the clock near the door to behind the counter.
She took her spot in the assembly line of taking cups from the cashier and making the orders. She found that she had a hard time focusing whenever the drinks didn't require her full attention. Her eyes kept drifting to a certain table, and the black bow that towered over the heads of the other customers.
She decided that when the rush began to calm down, she was going to try to talk to her manager about getting a new sign for the front of the store. They were always looking for new decorations, new ways to advertise their shop. Surely, this could count as an advertisement. It would bring in a new demographic that they'd never really advertised for before.
Yang knew exactly what she wanted it to say.
AN: Hi there! Thank you so much for reading, favoriting, bookmarking, and reviewing this story! It absolutely means the world to me to have all of this interaction and feedback! As many of you who are regular readers of mine may have noticed, Beecon University is on hiatus. I don't know when I'll continue it again. I have a lot of personal stuff going on, and I would really like to continue it, but right now, it's just got too many memories associated with certain personal things for me to continue it for the time being. It's not entirely abandoned, just kind of... put on an indefinite hiatus. I really do hope to return to it, but I haven't forgotten about it.
On the other hand, I hope you are enjoying this fic! Unlike BU, I actually have the entire story for this one planned out. (Yeah, BU doesn't exactly have an ending yet. Part of that whole hiatus thing.) Regardless, this fic will be somewhere between roughly 18-20 chapters. I have the entire plot planned out, but each chapter may end up having scenes from other chapters added, or have scenes cut out and put into the next chapter if the scenes would make the chapter too long for my liking. (I like to keep things somewhat consistent!) Regardless, I plan on continuing this story for as long as I can until its done, and publishing shortly after I finish a chapter. This means there's no consistent update schedule for this one, but it's coming along rather smoothly and easily, especially with a finished timeline! (this really is a miracle for me, trust me.)
I'm going to try to keep ANs short for this fic from here on out, with simply promos for my stuff at the bottom.
If you'd like updates on this work, as well as others, you can follow me on tumblr at SuperbBirbFics , or my main for spicy rwby memes and other various content at PancakesWithKetchup . And, if you'd like to help support me and my writing more, you can buy me a ko-fi ! My username there, as with most places (except for tumblr, because the url is taken rip) is SuperbBirb ! Thank you all so much for your continued support in my works, I endlessly appreciate it and love you all!