Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Velvet watched the fog emanate from her mouth as she exhaled. It had snowed again and was now the coldest it had been all week. It didn't bother Velvet. She had always been somewhat resilient to the cold. Plus, the thought of the steaming mug of coffee she was about to enjoy helped keep out the cold.

As she approached the coffee shop, she noticed a blur of red rush out the door before running down the street and out of sight.

Was that Ruby? Velvet wondered before shrugging and proceeding to the coffee shop.

Once inside, she immediately focused on the counter, before spotting a most unexpected sight.

There was Penny, sitting by herself, staring into a mug. And, as if she noticed Velvet's eyes fall upon her, she looked up. Her eyes widened and her face lit up in a wide smile as she spotted Velvet.

Velvet felt a warm sensation spread through her chest as she returned the smile and approached the ginger. "Penny, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was gonna have tea with Ruby, but then she got a text, yelled about how she forgot something, then ran out."

So, that was her. Velvet couldn't help but notice the slight sadness in Penny's voice. "Would you like me to keep you company then?"

Penny nodded happily. "Very much!"

Velvet smiled warmly at the happy display. "Alright, let me grab a cup of coffee and I'll sit down with you," she said as she walked to the counter.

Once she got her drink, she sat down across from Penny. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been very well. Thank you for asking. How have you been?"

"I've been well. Things at the shop have been going well enough." A thought came to her. "It occurs to me, I never asked what you did for a living. You work with Ruby?"

"No. Not really. We were work for the same company, but Ruby works in marketing and sales, while I'm in research and development."

"Really? What's that like?"

"It's amazing! Every day I develop new and better machines! People say I'm so efficient, I'm practically a machine myself! Which is good! Something that is groundbreaking today, could be obsolete tomorrow, so it's better to always be on top of things!"

Velvet was stunned. Never before had she seen someone be so excited about their job. She liked her work just fine, but this girl absolutely adored her job. "I take it you've always wanted to do something like this?"

"Mhm, my father was an inventor. When I was a little girl, I'd go down to his workshop to watch him work."

"What was he like?"

Penny looked up, as if she were looking for the answer on the ceiling. "He was an artist. He could create technological marvels with the flick of his wrist. I could not imagine being able to create things like that. Not back then. Eventually, I decided I no longer simply wanted to watch." She looked Velvet in the eyes. "What were your parents like?"

"They were...are wonderful people. They used to own a groceries shop downtown, but were eventually run out of business by a larger store. They had to leave town, while I stayed to run my bookshop."

Penny frowned. "I'm sorry, Velvet. That's horrible."

Velvet also frowned. "That shop was their life. Losing it crushed them. But I hear they're doing quite well for themselves now, so it's not all bad."

"I'm glad," Penny half-smiled. "Let's talk about something else. What do you do for fun?"

"I'm a photographer. Whenever I find the time, I go out and take pictures of whatever I like."

Penny's face lit up. "That sounds amazing! I would love to see some of your photos!"

Velvet could feel her own smile widen. "I have my camera here! I could show you some of my most recent pictures!"

"Oh, yes, please!"

Velvet quickly pulled out her digital camera and searched for her pictures. Once she found them, she handed it to Penny.

As Penny scrolled through the photo, her eyes glistened with a sort of childish glee. Velvet actually found her to be quite gorgeous and was currently wishing she had a second camera to take a picture of her.

"These are amazing!" Penny stated, tearing Velvet out of her thoughts. "You're really good at this!"

Velvet could feel her cheeks warm up. She always got flustered whenever someone complimented her photography. "Thanks. It's a passion of mine. I've been taking photos ever since I was a little girl."

And so they continued to sit and talk. Discussing childhood adventures and future dreams, family and friends, work and hobbies. Before they knew it, the sun was starting to set.

"Oh, dear!" Velvet exclaimed. "It's that late already? I should get back home," she said as she got up.

"I'll walk you home!" Penny offered as she also got up.

"Oh, that's not necessary! My apartment is just down the road."

"I wanna do it!"

Velvet looked into Penny's eyes for a moment before nodding. She could not say no to those gorgeous emerald pools.

As they left the coffee shop and walked to Velvet's apartment, they continued talking and laughing.

"And then, this one time, Ruby..." Penny started, but was interrupted by a gruff male voice.

"Oi, lookie here boys!" They looked up to see four young men approaching them. "Looks like we got ourselves a freak!"

"Oh, no," Velvet groaned as one of the men came close.

"You got somethin' to say, freak?"

Velvet looked him in the eye. "Look, just leave us alone, please. We're not looking for trouble."

The man made a mock hurt expression. "You hear that, boys?" He said as he turned to his friends. "She thinks we're trouble!"

"Well, that's insulting!" One of them replied.

"My thoughts exactly!" He said as he turned back to Velvet. "I think we need to teach this freak some manners!" With that, he grabbed Velvet's, eliciting a pained yelp from her.

Velvet struggled for a bit. She was about to plead with him to let her go, when suddenly, Penny grabbed his arm, forcing him to let go, and shoved him into his friends.

"Leave her alone!" She yelled.

The one grabbed Velvet quickly regained his balance. "Well, well, this one's feisty! Looks like we're about to have some fun!" With that, he raised his fist and swung at Penny.

It all happened too fast for Velvet to see. All of a sudden, Penny vanished from in front of the man's fist, only to reappear right in front of him. Before he even realized he'd missed, Penny caught him with an uppercut, sending him straight to the ground.

There was silence. The man's friends just stared at him dumbfounded, before one of them shouted "Get her!" and they all lunged at Penny.

The woman quickly leaped forward and swept one man's legs, sending him flying into another. As they toppled over each other, she ducked under the fist of the third, jumped behind him, kicked him in the ankle to force him to his knees and knocked him out with a punch to the side of the head.

With the second man down, she focused on the other two, who were just scrambling to their feet.

Now more cautious, they slowly approached Penny. After a few moments, one of them got the courage to attack. Penny easily dodged the man's clumsy strikes as she danced around him. When her back was turned to the other attacker, he took the chance to attempt a hit. Penny caught the arm of the man in front of her and turned, pulling him between her and his friend's fist. As he took the hit, Penny continued to pull him and sent him flying headfirst into a wall.

Turning to the last man standing, she could see he was afraid. Eyes wide, breath ragged, entire body shaking. All it needed was one more push.

"Boo!" With a yelp, the man ran as fast as he could.

Satisfied, Penny dusted herself off before turning to Velvet, who was just staring at her, wide-eyed. "How...how did you...?"

Penny shrugged. "I took a few self-defense classes. It's no big..."

Penny was cut off by Velvet hugging her. "Thank you!"

Caught off guard, Penny just stood there for a moment before returning the hug. "Hey, it was nothing."

"Not for me! I've had to deal with jerks like that my entire life. It felt so good to watch them get what they deserve." She broke the hug and looked into Penny's eyes. "So, sincerely, thank you."

Penny smiled. "You're welcome." For a few moments, they just stood there, staring into each others eyes, before Velvet cleared her throat.

"I should probably get home before they wake up."

"Oh, yeah, that's probably a good idea."

And so they left the three unconscious men behind as they continued to Velvet's apartment, remaining mostly silent all the way.

"This is it," Velvet eventually said as she stopped in front of a building. "Thank you for accompanying me."

"It was my pleasure."

"I had a great time today, you know."

"Oh, me too! It was a lot of fun talking to you!"

Velvet smiled. "Perhaps we could do it again sometime."

Penny beamed. "I would love, too."

Velvet nodded, then leaned forward and kissed Penny on the cheek. "It's a date." She then walked to the door. As she gripped the knob, she turned back to Penny. "I'll see around." With that, she unlocked the door and walked in.

Penny stood there, frozen. Slowly, her hand rose to her cheek, gently palming the spot where Velvet had kissed her. Then, a smile grew on her face and she jumped up in the air before proceeding to skip down the road.