A cold Autumn breeze blew past Weiss' body, causing her to shudder. Winter was fast approaching Atlas, and though her outfit looked good, it offered no more protection from the cold than a long-sleeve shirt.

"To hell with the weather here." She muttered under her breath, picking up the pace of her walk. The heiress had just returned from a month-long vacation in Vale. The change in temperature nearly left Weiss in shock upon arrival in the warmer nation. Despite this, she came to enjoy the warm feeling all day and had just gotten accustomed to it before her trip came to an end when she inevitably landed back home two days prior.

Not that Weiss hated the cold by any means, she typically preferred it to sweltering heat, it'd just been a nice change of pace.

The glittering sign of Café Schnee caught her eye just a few feet ahead of her. Though there weren't many places in Atlas that brought Weiss joy, her job always seemed to at least lift her spirits.

She owned the Café in conjunction with her father; her taking on the role of head manager and helping out the staff whenever available, and him taking on the role of never being around and dealing with more important things. She made it sound bad, but Weiss truly enjoyed the absence of her father and the feeling of freedom, save for the few advisory meetings he'd summon her to every now and then.

She was brought out of her reverie by the ringing of a bell, signaling her entrance into the café. The white-haired girl was greeted by the smiling face of Blake Belladonna behind the counter. "Morning Weiss, good to see you back." Greeted the dark haired employee. "How was your little getaway?"

"Relaxing, but it's good to be back on a routine at the very least." She answered with a shrug, looking around in confusion for a second. "Where's Sun?" Weiss asked, knowing that he typically worked Saturday morning shifts with the raven-haired girl. The corners of Blakes's mouth fell before she gave her response.

"He put in his two weeks right after you left. Your father received it in your absence." There was no sadness in her voice, just slight annoyance which Weiss took as a good sign.

"Figures he'd wait till he wouldn't have to face me." She responded, equally annoyed but not at all surprised. Everyone knew Sun was going to leave after Blake and his falling out. Beforehand, the two had been on track for a relationship, steadily flirting throughout workdays. Though it had nearly made the white-haired girl throw up, she was happy for her quiet friend. That was until they had apparently gotten into a pretty heated argument that the Faunus girl still refused to open up about. Though Weiss respected her friend's choice in that regard, she couldn't help but feel resentment towards the boy for making her friend feel hurt.

"You did make it pretty obvious you wanted him gone," Blake said with a half-grin and a side-eye.

"Well, I'm glad my tactics proved effective," Weiss responded, her face softening before both girls shared a laugh. She then walked behind the counter and towards the back, intent on getting the majority of her office work done now so she could help out during the lunch rush.

"Oh, we have some new regulars that come by around eleven every day, make sure you're out here, I'm sure you'd love to meet them." Blake sing-sang the last part of that sentence, to which Weiss only sighed out a barely audible 'Fine' before closing the office door. In truth, she was excited to meet some new committed customers, especially in a business like this.

…

…

…

Weiss looked at the time in the lower right corner of her screen. '10:50 a.m.', which meant she should probably put a hold on the current email she was sending and join Blake out on the floor for the new regulars. She stood up and stretched her back before exiting the office and joining her raven-haired employee just as she finished serving a mocha to a girl with a brown beret and sunglasses.

"Thanks, hun." The girl said with a wink over her shades, before turning to sit at a table. Blake was evidently a bit flustered by the encounter. Weiss decided to pry regardless.

"A new regular I see?" She said on the verge of a teasing tone. Blake paid no mind to it as she eyed the mysterious girl.

"Not exactly, though I have seen her around. From what I've gathered her name is Coco." The whole time Blake's stare was unwavering, Weiss couldn't help but grin in amusement.

"What'd I tell you about eavesdropping on customers?" She teased. This time, you could visibly see the pink dust on her employee's cheeks.

"Hey! It's not my fault they talk loud." She defended, finally breaking her stare to glare at her boss. "Even so, I don't really plan on pursuing anyone for quite some time."

"That may be your plan, but I have a feeling Ms. Coco is on a completely different wavelength," Weiss replied with traces of teasing still evident in her voice.

"Regardless," Blake grumbled. "Our regulars should be making an appearance any minute." As if on cue, a bouncy girl bundled in a deep red jacket burst through the door, followed soon after by a radiant blonde wearing shorts and a t-shirt, slightly shivering. The shorter of the two had dark hair with red ends in a spiky style that didn't detract from her cute, energetic aesthetic.

The girl wasted no time running right up to the counter. "Hi, Blake! Medium hot chocolate please!" The smile beamed off the girl, almost blinding Wiess with its intensity. Blake was quick to ring up her drink and take her cash. Weiss took this opportunity to start walking towards the back to make the requested drink, but not before hearing her employee ask a question that caught her attention.

"No marshmallows today Ruby?" Blake questioned as if she couldn't believe her own ears. The brunette sounded nearly dejected as she answered.

"I know it's not a lot extra, but I'm trying to save little bits of money wherever I can for a new book I found at Tukson's." That was all Weiss caught before she started brewing the hot milk.

As she poured the drink, something compelled her to add a scoop of the marshmallows the shorter regular had so sadly declined. "I mean, it's only one scoop…" She muttered to herself as she dumped the sugary puffs into her patron's drink and capped it.

As she walked back out, Blake was just walking past her to make the tall blonde's drink. The Faunus gave the girl a smile before starting a caramel frappuccino. Weiss placed the hot chocolate on the counter in front of the energetic girl, earning an equally energetic smile.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed before grabbing the drink. Weiss took a moment to notice the girl's rather abnormal eye color, silver. It wasn't one she'd ever seen before, quite the oddity. The unfamiliar color held her attention until the brunette turned to her taller companion. "Where should we sit?" The taller girl only facepalmed before forcefully turning Ruby around.

"Sorry she's so hasty, we never introduced ourselves. I'm Yang! And this here is my little sister Ruby!" The blonde said, ruffling her sister's hair. Ruby batted at the offending appendage before sheepishly waving at Weiss, which she returned with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I just really enjoy the hot chocolate here, it's why we come every day!" The brunette seemed to easily segway back into her energetic, cheerful mood. Weiss simply shook her head with a smile.

"It's no problem at all, it's nice to meet both of you. My name's Weiss, I'm the manager and co-owner here." Just then Blake walked out with Yang's drink and placed it on the counter in front of her. Yang picked it up with a smile.

"Thanks, kitten!" Yang said, accompanied by a wink. For the second time that day, pink dusted the raven-haired girl's cheeks. She only replied with a bashful nod as the girls turned away and walked towards the booth where Coco was sitting on the left side of the café. Blake didn't take her eyes off the ground until she felt a poke at her side.

"Hey!" She jumped, pushing away Weiss' hand. The white-haired girl pulled back and giggled to herself.

"Two pet names in one day. Chick magnet much?" Weiss teased, only deepening the blush on her employee's cheeks. It was always fun to get the usually quiet girl flustered. Blake let out a long sigh before responding.

"This is actually quite typical of Yang at least, she's pretty forward about almost everything." She said, thinking back to the day Yang had tricked her into giving away her number.

…

Only a week after coming to the café, the blonde had walked up to the counter sheepishly, asking Blake if she could call her phone for her. Yang had apparently lost it, so the cashier had wasted no time taking her own device out and calling the number that was read off to her. Only a second after pressing 'call', ringing could be heard coming from the blonde's pocket.

"Whoops, guess I forgot it was there." She said rubbing the back of her head before pushing a few buttons on her phone and presenting it to Blake. "Thanks for the number anyway, kitten!" The raven-haired girl inspected it and sure enough, her number was now saved in Yang's phone, under the name 'Kitten'.

This was going to be a long ride.

…

"So the blonde one's got a thing for you?" Weiss chimed with a smirk. Blake rolled her eyes this time, but a pink hue was still present on her cheeks.

"As I said, I'm perfectly content keeping to myself at this time." Blake responded in a huff, though it was obvious she wasn't truly upset. Just then both girls heard a loud squeal come from Ruby, which drew the attention of a few other customers in the café. A closer look gave Weiss all the explanation she needed, Ruby had uncapped her drink to reveal the marshmallows she had skipped out on that day.

Without wasting a second, the red-haired girl ran straight to the counter and nearly threw her entire body across it to hug Weiss.

Hug Weiss.

Or, more accurately, tackle her.

Regardless of how the white-haired girl would have described the action, she was left speechless by the sudden show of affection, which left a strange, warm feeling in her chest.

"You're the best Weiss!" Ruby said before releasing her hold, noticing that her sister was getting up to pry her off the café owner.

"It's really no problem at all," Weiss said slowly, still trying to wrap her head around what'd just happened. Yang was quickly at Ruby's side, chastising the younger girl.

"What was that about Rubes?!" The blonde asked, more confused than anything. The brunette simply pointed to her cup of hot chocolate with floating marshmallows present in it. Suddenly Yang put it together and grinned at the café owner. "How sweet of yah Schnee. Tryin' to get on my sister's good side?" Weiss frowned at this but noticeably avoided eye contact.

"It's just marshmallows. I was rewarding customer commitment, nothing more, nothing less." Weiss said with a hint of defiance in her voice. She prayed she wasn't blushing based on the grin Yang was still shining at her.

At that, Ruby flashed her another smile and thanked her again before the pair returned to their seats. "You sure made her day." Blake chided in, earning stale look from her boss.

"Don't overhype good customer service, Belladonna," Weiss said shortly, to which Blake only giggled. The white-haired girl rolled her eyes, but couldn't get her mind off the warm feeling still radiating inside her from the show of affection.

All over some marshmallows.

…

…

…

The rest of the day continued on like normal. Ruby and Yang made their leave a few hours ago, and Blake herself was preparing to clock out as Jaune and Pyrrha entered the café.

"Reporting for duty, Weiss Schnee!" Juane said with a mock salute, which Pyrrha found quite humorous. Weiss, on the other hand, only blinked lamely at the display.

"Good to see you both as well." She said with little enthusiasm. Pyrrha smiled nonetheless and the blonde-haired boy dropped his ridiculous pose.

'Enjoyed your trip I presume?" The redhead of the pair asked, earning a nod and smile from Weiss. "Either way, it's good to have you back."

"Yeah, don't know how we managed without your iron-fist attitude overseeing us." Jaune laughed, earning a scowl from his boss.

"Oh hah hah, go get ready, vomit boy." Weiss shot back, leaving a hurt look on his face.

"It was one time!" Jaune whined defensively. Ever since he had tried to eat fifteen of the croissants as the result of a dare, and promptly thrown them all back up in the bathroom during his shift, no one at the Schnee Café would let him live it down.

…

…

…

Weiss found that small embers of that warm feeling lingered within her until she had clocked out and set foot into the cold Autumn night. She cursed under her breath once she had felt it completely extinguished, it had been bringing her some comfort throughout the day.

She shook her head to clear out these confusing thoughts. She'd have to get to the bottom of this immediately.

Weiss, being Weiss, quickly got to researching something she didn't understand. Upon arriving home, she wasted no time opening her laptop and searching for answers involving physical contact. She was far from an expert on it. In fact, Weiss couldn't recall the last time a family member had hugged her, or done anything close to affectionate. The Schnee family was very professional at all times to all people.

Even the children.

As results poured in, Weiss found that hugs were actually physically and mentally healthy to be receiving on a day-to-day basis and that every person should be getting 8-12 in order to remain as happy and mentally healthy as possible. This idea seemed almost alien to the white-haired girl. How was she supposed to do that?

Weiss let out a frustrated sigh as she closed her laptop and crawled into bed. Rather than answers, she had only come up with more questions, but she was sure of one thing.

She enjoyed the warm feeling the hug had left her with.

Hi there! Thanks for reading!

This is actually the first chapter to a story I started and promptly gave up on a few years ago. I finally decided to make a new account on here and give it another go, rewriting most of this chapter, and planning on changing the rest I had done completely.

I will warn you, life is hectic for me right now so I probably wont be updating very fast but I'll at least try!

Reviews and suggestions are always welcome, yours truly,

Grey.