Honeycomb Hearts

Joyride

The clock couldn't move fast enough for Yang. She had told Blake to meet her at the bus stop at eleven, yet for some reason she decided she'd leave half past ten. She stood on her tiptoes, then swapped to the balls of her feet, then back again. She re-tied her hair, giving herself a tighter ponytail than the last four times she tied it this morning.

"Gotta find something to pass the time, and I don't wanna go back in case she shows up." Yang thought. She leaned against her motorcycle and tapped a rhythm on the leather seats with her metal fingers. An errant thought passed through her mind – had she checked the bike thoroughly enough since the last time she rode it? It was several months ago, what if she needed to change the oil? She kicked the kickstand a few times with her heel and crouched down to the frame, running her fingers over the oil tank. She tapped it a few times – didn't sound hollow, always a good sign. Qrow must have filled it up with gas.

She leapt back to her feet and sighed. She just couldn't seem to sit still, in neither body nor mind. Was she ready for this? What if she messed up big time and they had to ride back together awkwardly on the bike? Would Blake even talk to her again? What if she didn't like the café? She turned around towards the woods and yelped.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Blake said. She was standing just a foot or two away from Yang. "You looked like you were focusing, so I didn't want to interrupt."

"Oh, no, it's fine. Just checking something. Nothing big." Yang said. She was about to start rambling again. She had to find something else to talk about.

Blake peered behind Yang's back. "Oh, we're taking your bike?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you had a helmet, so I modified one of my old ones for you." Yang picked up a purple helmet off her handlebars and tossed it to Blake. "Take a look inside!"

Blake turned the helmet upside-down and peered inside. It was hollow, just like a helmet should be. The foam on the inside, however, seemed oddly thick – but there were two large holes cut in the top.

"I hope it fits, I wasn't sure exactly how to measure it without asking you and sounding weird," Yang said, "Ruby helped me research how exactly to do it."

"What are the holes for?" Blake asked, "Extra pockets for food?"

"Your ears. I didn't want them to get squished."

Blake laughed, "Oh, I can flatten them completely. Watch." Blake's ears drooped down and flattened against the top of her head as if they were never there, blending in near perfectly with her hair. "It does ache after a while, so this is still very nice of you."

"Oh, ok cool, so it was a good idea after all." Yang said.

Yang looked down at what Blake was wearing. She had a summery green t-shirt on and a skirt dotted with sunflowers – it was like she was a fairy of the forests around them. Meanwhile, Yang had on just a tanned leather jacket with ripped jeans. When Blake noticed, she looked back and forth between the different styles.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure how to dress for this," Blake said, "I asked Coco for some help."

"No, don't apologize. You look great!" Yang said.

"Same with you, Yang. Although we do look like the epitome of the 'bad guy and good girl' trope, no? Leather jacket and motorcycle, flowery skirt with a simple hairstyle, it seems like fate."

"Heh, maybe," Yang said, "Well I'm bad. Real bad."

"Oh? How bad can a girl with purple eyes and a cute laugh be?" Blake asked. "Did I just straight up say she has a cute laugh? Oh no."