Blake looked up from her laptop before the key even hit the lock of the door. That was one of the many perks to an extra set of ears- she could always hear when her parents were coming home.

Then again, Blake was pretty sure anyone could hear her father thundering up the steps to the apartment. He was a large, strong man, and the idea of subtlety or even gentle walking was lost on him.

She smiled up at the door as it opened. "Hey. How was the vet?"

"Clean bill of health! New cats are settling in downstairs. You can go visit later if you want," Kali replied, hanging up her coat by one of the three hooks near the door.

Blake shook her head. "Not tonight. I'll give them time to adjust. Tomorrow, probably."

"Well, look at you. I remember a time in which you were bouncing up and down every time we had a new cat in the house," Ghira said with a smile, walking over to his daughter on the couch and ruffling her hair.

"Dad," she groaned, swatting him away. "That was such a long time ago."

"Three years isn't that long ago."

"I did not do that at 19!" Blake huffed, trying to fix her hair.

"Okay, okay, four years ago then."

"That's enough teasing, Ghira," Kali said gently, taking a seat next to her daughter.

Blake gave silent thanks with her eyes, Kali replying with a small nod in return.

"Were you able to call Yang today?" Ghira asked, taking a seat down in his armchair.

"Yes and no," Blake said with a smile, pulling up the file she had taken notes in on her laptop. "I didn't get to call her… but I ran into her and was able to ask the questions in person. Turns out, she works at Scholar's Coffee Shop."

"The one near your school?" Ghira asked.

Blake nodded. "I was able to talk to her on her lunch break."

"Oh, good," Kali said. "What were her answers?"

"She works full time, at the coffee shop. Ruby works part time at the IT office at the University of Vale, where she also studies Engineering. Yang's schedule changes weekly, but Ruby is usually home between 5 and 6pm most evenings." Blake glanced back down at her notes, reading again. "They'd be financially capable of caring for the cat and even explained how. She also said that the absolute only reason she'd give up a cat was because she couldn't take it with her if they ever moved, but seemed pretty adamant on finding a place that would let her have the cat if that happened. She said, and I quote, 'A pet is a family member, and we both take that very seriously'," Blake finished, looking back up from her laptop at her parents, her eyes lingering on Ghira.

Ghira nodded slowly, processing the information. "That's a good quote. That's the type of stuff I like to hear."

"I know it is," Blake said with a smile. "That's why I wrote that part down word-for-word."

"Well?" Kali asked, looking at her husband. "What's your vote?"

Ghira was quiet for a moment, avoiding eye contact with his wife and daughter. Finally, he let out a long sigh. "Yes, my vote is yes."

Blake jumped up and tackled her father in a hug, stunning him a bit. "Thank you," she whispered as she hugged him close.

"Since when have you been this devoted to a potential adoptee?" Kali asked with a smirk.

"I, uh," Blake stammered, standing up quickly. "I just think a cat would really help her and her sister, is all."

Kali made a low humming sound, looking at her daughter's forced smile carefully, analyzing. Finally she opened her mouth. "I looked her up online last night. I see why you're so invested in this. She's very pretty."

"Mom!"

Kali held up a hand in defense. "Just wait until after she has a cat to ask her out, okay?"

"I- I'm not- She's not- I'm not-"

Ghira let out a deep belly laugh. "Sure, Blake. Sure you aren't. Go on, give her a call and book the in-home visit."

Blake was still standing between her parents, still stunned by her mother's accusations.

Did she-? Was she-?

"Remnant to Blake," Kali teased, waving her hands in her daughter's line of vision.

"Huh? What?"

"Go book the in-home meeting with Yang."

"Oh! Right!" Blake plopped back down onto the couch, picking up her scroll from next to where she had sat.

New Message

To: Yang Xiao Long

Hey! I have an update- let me know when a good time to call would be!

She locked her scroll with a click, placing it back down beside her.

Kali rose an eyebrow. "You aren't going to call her?"

"We agreed I would text first so she could be out of earshot of her sister," Blake explained, nervously looking at the scroll by her side.

"Ah, I see," Kali said with a nod. She looked up at the clock. "Well, I better get started on feeding the cats dinner downstairs. Ghira, can you come help me?"

Ghira nodded, standing up from his seat. He ruffled his daughter's hair again on the way out, getting another "Dad!" out of her, causing him to chuckle as he left the room.

Blake buried her face in her hands as soon as they left. Her face felt very warm. Almost as warm as the robot ar-.

Ding!

Blake grabbed her scroll instantly.

New Message

From: Yang Xiao Long

Give me ten minutes! I'll call you?

Blake replied instantly.

Fine by me!

Instinctively, she turned her ringer all the way up, only to notice that it already was.

That was… weird. She normally kept it on vibrate.

But it had dinged when Yang had texted her.

Had she turned up the volume when she texted Yang the first time, and didn't even notice?

Blake shook her head again.

What was going on?

Yang leaned against the wall outside of Downtown Diner. She'd been practically bouncing since she got the text from Blake. Getting to talk to her on both of her breaks today seemed like a miracle.

Everything was going according to plan. Ruby was going to get a cat for her 20th birthday.

Taking a deep breath, Yang opened her scroll and opened up her contacts app. Blake Belladonna - Crazy cat lady. Yang smiled back at the tiny smiley face on the screen. She pressed the call button, lifting the scroll up to her ear.

"Hello, Yang."

"Hiya, Blake!"

"So I've got some good news for you. You've made it on to the in-home visit."

"Awesome!" Yang pumped her free fist up into the air, grateful that no one, especially Blake, had seen it.

"We'll have to pick a time and day- at least one of the three of us can come by any day, including weekends. What works best for you?"

"Well," Yang thought, furrowing her eyebrows. "It'll have to be a day where I'm not working, but Ruby is at school. Which is almost… never. But I think there's something next week! Hang on a second, I have to look at my calendar."

"Take your time," Blake replied gently through the phone. Yang could only hope she was making that cute smile on the other side.

Wait, what?

Yang shook her head, bringing her back to the task at hand. Calendar app, on her scroll.

She pulled it up, looking at the colorful little blocks. Ruby's schedule was listed there too, giant blocks of red resting behind Yang's yellow, purple, and grey boxes, each representing a different job. Finally, her eyes settled on a box of red that was unblocked by any other colors.

"Wednesday afternoon? Say, 2-4pm? Would that be long enough?" Yang asked once she raised her scroll back to her face.

"Yes, that will work. I'll be the available one then too."

"Awesome! You have my address, right?"

"It was on the application."

"Oh. Like the number."

Blake let out a little laugh over the phone, causing Yang to flush red. "Yes, like the number. Don't worry about it. Is there any special way to get into your building?"

"Yeah, I can text you which entrance you should use and how to buzz in."

"Sounds good. I'll see you Wednesday at 2, then?"

"Yeah see you then!"

"Bye, Yang."

"Bye!"

The call disconnected. Yang closed her scroll, sliding it back into her pocket. How could she keep forgetting she'd already given Blake all her info, on the application?

Yang didn't actually need an answer to that question. She knew exactly why.

As if on cue, she let out a massive yawn.

She was, as always, exhausted.

Yang glanced down at her watch. Time to get back to work. Even though her feet burned, and her muscles ached, and her brain wanted nothing more than a very, very long nap.

There'd be time for breaks later. Right now, she had to work.

For her sister. For the cat.

For herself.

Wednesday rolled around faster than Yang could imagine. Only three days remained until Ruby's birthday, and the anxiety of not having the present fully set up was setting in on Yang.

What if I don't pass the in-home inspection? What if they change their minds? What if we get there, and Ruby doesn't like any of the cats? What if-?

Yang shook her head. No, now was not the time. She had rushed home from work at Scholar's, and had twenty minutes until Blake was going to get here. She had to clean up a bit- if she had done it before Ruby was gone, she would have questioned it. She also had to make it look lived in, and not too clean so that she could return everything before she left for Downtown Diner.

Surprising Ruby was extremely difficult. Yang would know. She'd tried and failed many times… and succeeded a few precious, precious times.

She was determined to make this one of the latter.

Buzz! Buzz!

Yang bolted over to the small machine next to the front door. She pressed the smaller of two buttons, talking into the mic. "Blake?"

"Yeah, it's me." Blake's voice rang out through the entrance, distorted by the old, worn down machine.

"Come on up!" Yang pressed the big button next to the microphone. A loud ring went out from the box.

She began pacing back and forth in front of the door, waiting for the knock. Was it enough? Did Yang do a good enough job?

She glanced around the room. If it wasn't, then it was too late now.

Knock knock.

Yang spun on her heel, turning to face the door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and turned the knob.

"Hiya, Blake! Welcome to our dinky little apartment!"

Was that an okay joke to make? Would self-deprecating humor be too much here?

Blake smiled widely, flushing the worries away from Yang. "Thank you. It really isn't as bad of a building as you made it out to be."

Yang blushed and smiled, stepping aside and waving Blake in. "I guess you're right."

"So, can you give me a tour of the place? And point out where you're going to keep things, like litter, food, where the cat will sleep, etc."

Yang nodded, gesturing around the main room that they were in. "This is our 'common space'," she said, putting air quotes around the last two words. "These apartments are geared towards college students, so they really don't give things proper names. It's like a joint living room and dining room."

Blake nodded, looking around, waiting for Yang to continue.

"Through here," Yang waved as she walked towards the table on the right, "is the kitchenette. We'd store the extra cat food in one of the cabinets in there, but the cat's food would probably be on a mat somewhere around here." Yang gestured to the small dining area. "Maybe under the table, maybe in the corner, I'm not sure yet of an exact location. Plus, a lot of the specifics are going to be up to Ruby, and she doesn't exact know yet…"

"Yang," Blake said with a soft smile, cutting her off, "that's fine. General ideas of placement is more than enough."

Yang blushed, feeling embarrassed for rambling like that. Of course it would have been enough. "Okay," she replied with a nod, trying to recover. "Back this way," she added, leading Blake back through the tiny living room towards the small hall to the left of the entrance.

"This," Yang waved a hand at an open door on the right, "is my bedroom. Forward is the bathroom, where we'd keep the litter." Yang paused to point at an empty area between the sink and the toilet. "And this room," Yang gestured to the left, "is Ruby's bedroom. It isn't exactly clean, nor cat-proof at the moment, but I can't ruin the surprise. I'll be making sure she cleans it up before we let the cat in there though. The cat will probably end up sleeping in there, with Ruby."

Blake nodded. "Can we go in?"

Yang nodded. "As long as we don't touch anything. That'd be a dead giveaway." She turned the knob to her left, pulling open the door and gesturing for Blake to go through.

Blake stepped inside, taking a look around. It looked like a standard dorm room. As a matter of fact, this looked exactly like dorm room furniture.

"Is that… dorm room furniture?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the desk, dresser, and bed.

Yang nodded. "The University of Vale has a surplus store that holds sales open to the public a few times a year. We got lucky, there was one the weekend after we moved in here. Our old stuff was too big for this space, but this furniture is basically designed to be crammed together."

Blake nodded. She continued to look around. The walls were covered in posters of rock bands, drawings of roses, blueprints and schematics, and an array of various photos along one wall. She smiled at the wall of memories. She'd thought about doing that once, but Chief would have seen the hanging photos and torn them down. The only wall space that wasn't covered was the open closet, which was the only semblance of organization in the room. The clothes had all been hung up neatly, and in order by color.

"She really likes making things," Yang said quietly, pulling Blake out of her thoughts, as she looked at the desk. There were odds and ends, trinkets and gadgets, and an open engineering textbook.

"I can tell," Blake said with a smile. "As long as all of the technology is away when she isn't actively working on it, and the cat isn't in the room when she's working on it, it would be fine."

Yang flashed a giant smile back. "Good to know!"

"Can I see in your room too?" Blake asked.

Yang nodded, turning around and leading Blake out of the room and across the very small hall. Well, it really only took a single step to access any room from any of the other doors, so she wasn't sure if she'd really call it a hall. It was more like… a three sided square.

No, that didn't make sense. Whatever.

Yang led Blake into her open bedroom. She had the same exact furniture as her sister, except this was much cleaner. It looked much less lived in, with nothing left out on the desk or dresser. The bed was neatly made, with the only sign of anyone living there being the closet filled with clothes and the boxes stored underneath the bed.

If Blake had observed the organization of Ruby's closet, she immediately noticed the messiness of Yang's.

"Sorry about that." Yang blushed as she noticed Blake's eyes settle on the closets. "Usually they're a bit better, but I couldn't find my uniform yesterday. Turns out it had just fallen into the back of the closet. I haven't quite gotten the chance to fix it yet."

"That's quite alright, Yang. You don't need to apologize." Blake's eyes settled on one of the two aprons hanging up near the back of the closet, one the familiar brown of Scholar's Coffee Shop, and one… bright blue?

"I've never seen a blue apron at Scholar's before."

"Oh, well, yeah, that's because that's not my Scholar's uniform. That one's for the diner I work at."

"You work two jobs?"

"Three," Yang corrected.

Blake's mouth dropped open. "You work three jobs?"

"Well, yeah." Yang looked down at the ground. "I work full time at Downtown Diner, and then part time at Scholar's and University Pizza. I run deliveries for the pizza place on the weekend evenings. With all three, we can keep the apartment, keep Ruby in school, and keep saving up to get somewhere better."

Blake was still stunned, but allowed her mouth to close. "Wow, Yang. I'm impressed."

Yang looked up, an eyebrow raised. "Why's that?"

"You obviously put your sister before yourself. In everything."

"Well, yeah. She's all I have left now."

There was a beat of awkward silence.

"Sorry," Blake said quickly. "I didn't mean to-."

Yang wove her hand in the air. "It's okay. You don't have anything to be sorry for."

Blake opened her mouth to protest, but closed it immediately. She took a moment to think, before speaking again. "I think that's all I need. I do have one more question, but not as Blake Belladonna of Belladonna's Cat Rescue, but as Blake Belladonna… your friend."

Yang's eyes shot up to meet Blakes. "My… friend?"

Blake nodded sheepishly. "I know it isn't exactly a conventional way to meet a friend… but you seem like a really cool person. And I know you're a very busy person, but I'd like to be your friend… if you would."

Yang's stunned look turned into a wide smile. "Yeah, I'd like that too."

Blake reciprocated at once. "Okay, well, I have a question for you then."

"Shoot."

"When are you going to get the cat supplies? And where are you going to hide them?"

"Uhh…" Yang looked back down at the ground, her smile fading. "I didn't think about that, actually. I don't know how I'd get Ruby to let me borrow her car without getting suspicious."

"Well, I'd love to help you pick out some stuff at a pet store either tomorrow or Friday. I can give you a ride in my car, and store the stuff at the rescue until you and your sister come to get your cat."

Lilac eyes shot up to meet amber again. "Really?"

Blake smiled and nodded. "Yes, really."

"Does that mean…?" Yang gestured into the air.

"Yes, you passed the in-home inspection," Blake replied, watching Yang's smile grow three times in size. "You and Ruby can come on Saturday to pick up the cat."

"Yes!" Yang exclaimed, pumping her right fist into the air as she jumped, knocking it directly into the ceiling and leaving a tiny dent. Well, four tiny dents. In the shape of knuckles. "Uh… whoops?"

Blake was laughing hysterically at Yang's shocked expression and the four divets in the ceiling tile. "You know, when they say 'raise the roof', they usually don't mean literally."

"Nice, pretty, and good with jokes? Oh, we can definitely be friends."

Did Yang just say that?

Did I just say that?

Did she just call me pretty?

Did I just call Blake pretty?

Is Blake blushing?

Yang's eyes grew wide as she made a wild attempt to divert the conversation. "So the pet store!"

"So the pet store," Blake repeated with a smile, quickly trying to regain her own composure. "What time works best for you?"

"Well," Yang said, pulling out her scroll and opening up her calendar. "I have work at Scholar's tomorrow until noon, and then work at the diner at 3. Are you available between then?"

Blake nodded. "I have class tomorrow, but it gets out at 12:30. If you want, you could bring your bike to the diner, and I can pick you up from there and drop you off there when we're done."

"Sounds good to me!" Yang flashed with a smile. She almost plugged it into her calendar, before remembering that Ruby had access to it too. Instead, she set an alarm on her clock app instead. "Okay, that's in there."

"Great," Blake replied with a smile, having just plugged the information into her own scroll. "What's the address for Downtown Diner?"

"I'll text it to you." Yang continued tapping away on her scroll. "It's in the Downtown District, so it's probably decently close to at least a few different pet stores."

"I know some good ones downtown that we usually get our supplies from," Blake said with a smile, looking up from her scroll before slipping it back into her pocket.

"Perfect! I'll see you tomorrow at say, 1, then?"

Blake nodded. "It's a date. Uh, or, not. You know what I mean."

This time, both Yang and Blake blushed.

Yang still attempted to recover it. "Yeah, I do," she said with a soft smile. "I won't keep you any longer though- I'm sure there's some cats that need petting!"

Blake smiled back. "There always is, but never enough."

Yang let out a small laugh as she led Blake back to the front door of the apartment. "Do you remember how to get back out of here?"

Blake nodded. "Yeah, I got it. But if I get lost, I'll give you a call." She smirked, tapping her scroll in her front pocket.

Yang laughed again. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, see you tomorrow!"

As Blake shut the door behind her, Yang's smile fell as she immediately began feeling a thousand emotions at once. She walked over to the futon, collapsing on it with a deep breath.

She'd passed the in-home visit! Ruby was going to get a cat!

Blake wanted to be her friend!

She'd called Blake pretty. Out loud!

Blake had offered to take her shopping for cat supplies. She'd slipped up and called it a date.

Yang let out a long groan and threw her head into her hands.

Back in high school, Ruby used to always tease her and call her a useless lesbian after she'd seen an online post about a story of a, well, useless lesbian. It had been years since she got this thrown off by anyone, ever.

But it still held true.

Yang Xiao Long was still a useless lesbian.

AN: 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!