For the first time in a very long time, Yang Xiao Long could solidly say that life was good.
Her manager at Scholar's had taken the news well, and was happy for Yang and her family, even though she was losing one of her best employees. Yang watched the Now Hiring! sign go up in the window above the Faunus Welcome sign on the shift after she had told her manager. She wished she could claim it was a bittersweet feeling- Scholar's had always treated her extremely well, especially given her circumstances, but the idea of returning to trade school, not working for minimum wage anymore, and living in a place that didn't look like the den of broke college students was far more enticing than the job at Scholar's had ever been.
She had not yet told her manager at Downtown Diner about the upcoming changes. She figured she would not inform them until she was ready to put in her two weeks- when she had heard back from the trade school. She had reapplied to her old trade school, and was waiting to hear back on if she could return for the spring semester.
Ruby was approaching the end of the semester. Although she was busier, and coming back later than usual, she seemed happier than Yang had seen her since the accident. She had tests or projects practically every day, and was constantly rambling to herself, Yang, Qrow, or Mezzaluna, about whatever topic she needed to be focusing on at the moment.
Qrow, well, Qrow was doing amazing. He had taken to his new job straight away. As it turned out, not only did they want him to teach languages at the school, they also wanted him to help restructure the foreign language program, which meant an even bigger paycheck. He spent all of his spare time bouncing between online real estate hunting and doing research on other foreign language programs.
On one particular day, Yang returned home from work to find both Qrow and Ruby sprawled out in the common areas of the apartment, with Qrow's work all over the futon, and Ruby's work all over the kitchen table. Neither of them had even looked up from their intensely focused work when they entered, leaving Yang to take a picture at the wild sight and laugh about it later.
After what felt like both one of the best and one of the longest weeks of her life, Yang awoke on Saturday morning with a burning excitement in her chest. She'd managed to get the day off, having traded her usual shift with the waitress who was so awfully late last week, and was going apartment hunting with her family before an actually planned date with Blake that night. It was their first proper date since their very first one, not one crammed into Yang's fifteen minute lunch breaks, or a so-called "date" that was mostly just Yang having a breakdown or falling asleep instantly.
Yang sprung out of bed with a flow of energy she was pretty sure she'd never had, getting dressed and heading out to the common space faster than she ever had.
Qrow was awake, sitting at the kitchen table and sipping at coffee. "You're awful chipper this morning," he commented, flipping a page in the newspaper.
"We all have good reason to be," Yang replied, sifting through the kitchen. She pulled cereal from the cabinet, preparing herself some breakfast.
"That we do." Qrow folded the newspaper and placed it down at the table. "The realtor is going to pick us up in an hour. Think your sister will be up and ready by then?"
"Hey!"
Both Yang and Qrow turned towards the other end of the common space, near the "hall" that led to the bedrooms. A smirk crossed onto Qrow's face at the sight of his younger niece pouting outside of her door.
"I'm already ready! I can get up on time!"
"Sure, squirt," Qrow teased, taking another sip of his coffee as Ruby sulked towards the kitchen. "I seem to recall you sprinting out the door for your classes yesterday."
"I was up late working on a project! I went to bed early last night!" Ruby insisted, pouring herself a bowl of cereal and bringing it over to the table… which still only had two chairs.
"Here," Qrow said, standing up with his coffee in one hand and his newspaper tucked under the other. "Sit and eat."
Ruby smiled, taking the seat. "Thank, Uncle Qrow."
"Having a table with more than two chairs is going to be great," Yang said, picking up another bite of her cereal with her spoon.
"You're telling me," Qrow replied, taking another sip of his coffee. "No offense, but that futon is shit."
Ruby let out a little laugh. "We're well aware. We got it for twenty lien off some graduating student who had it for at least four years before us."
Yang shuddered. "I don't want to even think about what types of things happened on that futon."
"Don't even go there," Qrow said, shaking his head. "Enough about this shithole-"
"Language!" Ruby cried out.
He let out a small smile. "Sorry, squirt. Enough about this… poophole-"
"Uncle Qrow!"
He ignored her this time. "I got a message from the realtor this morning. She's taking us to look at three apartments in the Downtown District, and three condos and three houses for rent in the Residential District."
"Houses?" Yang asked nervously. "Are we sure we can afford that?"
Qrow nodded. "I have more than enough saved up for a deposit, and with my new job… well, we won't have to worry about money for a long time, as long as we're smart about it."
Yang didn't respond at first, looking down into her cereal.
"Yang," Qrow said, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry about the money today, okay? Everything the realtor picked out is within our budget."
"What's the budget?" she asked.
Qrow shook his head again. "Don't worry about it."
Yang let out a long sigh, putting down her spoon. "I know you don't want me to worry about it, but I can't just turn that switch off, okay? It's been years since that wasn't a constant worry in my life."
"Oh," Qrow replied softly. "I hadn't thought of it like that."
"I'm trying, but I still need you to just keep me in the loop on things for a while. I just…"
"Hey," Qrow cut her off, squeezing her shoulder, "it's okay. Finish your breakfast and then we'll go over the numbers before the realtor gets here, okay?"
Yang looked up at him with a smile. "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."
"Anytime, firecracker."
"Well," Qrow began, collapsing onto the futon, "that was an adventure."
Yang laughed as she took a spot next to him. "That's one way to put it."
"I don't know what you two are talking about! I had a great time! All of those places were sooooo cool!" Ruby was still bouncing up and down, unable to control her energy. "Which ones did you like best? I loved the condo with the big pool! Ooh, and the apartment right in the middle of the Downtown District, and the other apartment, and the other one… and all the houses! Oh my Oum!"
"Calm down, Rubes," Yang replied with another laugh, sticking out her leg and causing Ruby to stumble over it. "I'm pretty sure all of the condos we looked at had big pools."
"Well, yeah!" Ruby opted for sitting on the floor and bouncing in her spot instead. "They were all great!"
Yang shook her head, still smiling. "You can't pick all nine places as your favorite."
"You didn't answer the question!" Ruby exclaimed, trying to divert the conversation. "Which ones were your favorite?"
"I enjoyed all the houses," Qrow replied. "I think I'm a bit too old for apartment life. The condos were nice too, but the idea of having a yard of our own sounds pretty nice."
"I liked the houses too, even if the prices still scare me a little," Yang said with a shrug.
"Okay, so one of the houses!" Ruby declared, jumping up and snatching a folder from next to Qrow before quickly sitting back down. She shuffled through the folder, pulling out pictures of the three houses and laying them out in front of her. "Should we do pros and cons of each?"
"We're doing this right now?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ruby nodded. "Well, yeah! We don't have to make a final decision right now or anything, just something to think about for now. We can make a final choice tomorrow, if we aren't sure today."
"She has a point," Qrow replied, pushing himself off the futon and joining his youngest niece on the ground.
Yang sighed, pushing down and joining the circle on the floor. "Okay, so, out of the three, I liked this one the least." She pointed to the first house in the line, a smaller looking house painted the color green. "It's way too small for its price. The other two were way bigger, and had cheaper rents too."
Qrow nodded in agreement. "I was going to say the same thing."
"Okay, so this one is out," Ruby replied, placing the green house back into the folder. The two houses left on the ground looked a bit similar, roughly the same sizes in their pictures with generally the same layout of the front of the house. One was painted dark blue, and was slightly larger than the other, which was white. "So, blue or white?"
"The white house was pretty nice, but I think the blue one has a better location. It's kind of close to both the Faunus District and the University District," Yang commented.
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "I gotta say, Yang, I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't consider that a better location."
"Yeah, well, we aren't exactly most people."
"I kid, I kid." Qrow reached over, trying to ruffle her hair, only for her to shoot back up onto the futon.
"No."
Qrow smirked, putting his hand back down. "Okay, okay, back to the houses. Ruby, what do you think of these two?"
"I love them both!" Ruby replied instantly, glancing between the photos. "Honestly, I'd be fine with either of them. Whichever one you two like better!"
Qrow picked up the two photos, looking between them again. "Well, the blue one did have a slightly bigger yard…"
Yang beamed. "So, we're good for the blue house then?"
"I think so," Qrow replied with a nod. "We'll talk about it again tomorrow just to be sure, and call the realtor on Monday when she's back in the office. Sound good to you two?"
Yang and Ruby nodded together, earning them both a smile from Qrow.
"I gotta go get ready for my date," Yang said, standing up from the futon. "I still have to shower and do my hair and everything."
"We'll be here, waiting to hear all about it!" Ruby called after Yang, who had headed towards her bedroom.
"Maybe not all about it," Qrow commented, pushing himself back up onto the futon. "I really don't want to hear about you having s-"
Yang poked her head out of her room with a quick yell, cutting him off. "UNCLE QROW!"
Blake was in the kitchen in her family's apartment, leaning on the counter and staring out the window. Yang was supposed to be coming any minute now to pick her up for their date- the first date in which Blake would be riding on the back of Yang's bike. It felt special to Blake, even more special than having slept in each other's beds. The way Yang talked about her bike, it was like it was her baby.
Well, it kind of was her baby. It had once been nothing more than a dying bike held together by scraps when Yang had gotten it for her 16th birthday. The fact that it ran at all, let alone so smoothly, was a true testament to Yang's workmanship and her natural talent with all things mechanical. Apparently, only Ruby had been the only person ever allowed to ride passenger on it. Until today, that is. Blake certainly felt honored.
"Someone's anxious about their date," Kali said as she entered the kitchen, pulling the filtered water jug from the fridge.
"Not anxious, nervous," Blake corrected, not pulling her eyes from the window.
"Why so nervous then?" Kali pulled a cup from the cabinet, pouring herself a glass of water.
"We're going on her motorcycle."
Kali raised an eyebrow at the statement. "Nervous about a motorcycle?"
"Not just any motorcycle… her motorcycle. It's like, her first born child," Blake replied flatly, her eyes still trained on the window.
"And that's the only reason why you're nervous?"
Blake bit her lip, thinking before she spoke. "She's a good driver, a great driver, extra cautious all things considered."
"But?"
"But her spare helmet is designed for Ruby," Blake finally admitted, her eyes lowering to look at the ground, her ears flattening on top of her head. "I don't think she thought about my ears…"
Kali glanced out the window, a small smile forming on her lips. "Why don't you go just talk to her about it? She's here."
Blake shot up, her eyes and ears perking up in a swift movement. Kali had spoken the truth. Yang had just pulled into the lot, and was parking in a space just in front of the apartment lobby.
"Bye Mom!" Blake called over her shoulder, out the door in a heartbeat.
"Have fun!" Kali replied, shaking her head with a smile before taking another sip of her water. She turned her eyes back towards the window, watching Yang, who was standing next to her bike, waiting for Blake to come outside. "Ah, young love…"
Yang looked up from her scroll, just having sent her Here message to Blake, only to find that Blake was already barreling out the door to the lobby.
"Hey," Yang said with a cool smile.
"Hi," Blake replied, realizing she was completely out of breath. She stopped just in front of Yang, taking a moment to catch her breath and trying to straighten out her clothes.
"Someone's excited." Yang pulled her backpack off her back, putting it on the seat of her bike, next to her own helmet.
"I… missed you," Blake admitted sheepishly.
Yang stepped forward, catching Blake in a soft kiss. When she pulled away, she smiled softly at Blake, running her thumb across Blake's cheek. "I missed you too."
"How is your right hand so warm all the time?" Blake asked, cupping Yang's right hand that was still on her cheek.
"It is?"
"Yeah. Always just a little warmer than your left hand."
Yang blinked twice at the question. She released Blake's cheek, feeling her right hand with her left. "I guess it is. I never really noticed. I'll have to ask Ruby about it later."
"Ruby?"
"She's reading up on my arm. Penny sent us a new computer chip for it, and Ruby's doing a ton of research before she tries to install it. Temperature is supposed to be a new feature with the chip- so I know she's been doing some reading on that part."
"Ah, I see," Blake replied, glancing at the bike behind Yang. "So, your bike?"
Yang's eyes grew wide, her smile growing even wider. "I have a surprise for you." She spun on her heel, grabbing her backpack.
"Oh?"
Yang unzipped the backpack, pulling out a helmet. Blake immediately knew it wasn't Ruby's bright red helmet. This was different- sleek, matte black, and tinted with a slight purple shine. It was beautiful, a true piece of art, but Blake wasn't necessarily focusing on that.
She was focusing on the two purple triangles at the top of the helmet. Perfectly spaced for her ears.
"I got it custom made. I had to contact your mom for the exact measurements, since I wanted it to be a surprise, and it took a bit longer than expected, which is why it's taken me so long to offer you a ride on my bike, and-"
Yang was cut off by Blake's lips colliding with hers, Blake pulling her closer, tangling her hands in Yang's hair. It took her a moment to break her shock, but she wrapped her arms behind Blake, dropping the empty backpack but still holding the helmet behind Blake's back. They stayed that way, wrapped in the most passionate kiss either of them had ever had.
Blake pulled back, gasping for air. "Yang," she muttered, "Yang, I love you."
There was a moment of silence as Blake's heart skipped a beat. She'd actually just said that out loud. Over a helmet. And Yang wasn't responding, for what felt like years.
It was only a second.
"I love you too," Yang replied, bringing up her free hand to Blake's cheek, bringing her in for another kiss.
Kali smiled to herself, finally walking away from the window. Sienna trotted at her heels, chirping in an attempt to get attention.
Kali placed her cup down and crouched down onto the floor, running her hand along Sienna's back and taking extra care to scratch between her ears. The purring started instantly, coming from Sienna as Kali spoke to her.
"I have a feeling, my little queen, that it won't be long before we have a spare room in this apartment."