Two For One

Chapter 17

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."