Special thanks to my buddy:

Pearl Darkness.

Hello. Uh…Happy Valentines!

And for those of you who're single, c'mon lets drink beer with me. *cries*

Anyway, here is the promised Elderburn for a certain someone.

I hope you enjoy it!

Note: This is a modern AU with Faunus.

~T

FB Page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author, Pa-treon: The Tanker

I do not own RWBY.

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Personal Fireplace

It was winter in Atlas. It snowed occasionally; the temperature was freezing low and it had been like this for the entire month. The residents were all hoping for a warmer spring and they all wanted this season to be over as soon as possible. Well, except for the kids that enjoyed snowball fight.

Winter Schnee, despite her name, actually hated winter. She loved the sun – she absolutely enjoyed the heat because she liked warm things. She was also a sucker for traditional fireplace.

Sighing, the woman rose and retrieved the white colored handbag on the couch located just beside the exit. She put her cellphone in it, tied up her hair into the usual style, put on a mask and walked out. She had been sitting inside her studio alone for hours trying to figure out lyrics for her new song; a little stroll down the street wouldn't hurt at this point, even if she disliked the weather so much.

The shattered moon shone bright tonight. Winter could easily see her path without the help of the streetlights. She took her sweet time scanning through the shops that she passed by, and a sweet voice had caught her attention.

Winter Schnee plans on releasing her third album on Fall 2017.

The woman exhaled deeply after seeing the title on all the screens inside the TV shop. Being a celebrity had made her rich and famous – as well as powerful – all the things she loved. But she was not loved.

Singing on the stage was exciting, but at the same time extremely lonely. Millions of fans cheered for her, and yet no one could fill the emptiness inside her heart. Perhaps nobody could ever do that.

Winter took out a stylish beret from her bag and wore it to complete the disguise. She didn't like the attention. It was ironic, really, for she wanted them because she would be richer, but at the same time hated them because it isolated her from people. Everybody treated her like she was superior, but in fact she was just a normal lady who longed for love; it was just hidden well under the cold expression she wore all the time.

Her feet had taken her downtown before she knew it, and soon she had reached her favorite place – Atlas Fire Cafe. It was a small cafe with a vintage design; although it looked more like an abandoned shop because of the poorly done renovation two years ago.

Winter frequented this cafe ever since she found it, and it quickly became her favorite place. She pushed open the wooden door and took a deep breath before stepping inside. Smell of burnt wood rushed to her nose immediately as she moved towards her favorite spot – the table for two beside the fireplace.

The woman was the only customer present inside the shop at this moment – it was also part of the reason Winter loved visiting here. No one would recognize her; there was nobody except for the workers anyway.

Everything seemed to be normal. Winter raised her hand to signal the waitress to come over so that she could take her order.

And instead of the usual smug sunglasses-fanatic Coco girl, a blonde came.

Winter raised an eyebrow as she looked at her watch. It read eleven fifteen in the night, which meant that Coco's shift had just passed. She was very late to arrive today.

"What would you like to order, miss?" The blonde waitress asked as she approached.

An idea played in Winter's mind as she slowly took off her beret and mask that had covered half her face. She revealed it on purpose to test the waitress, and-

-And nothing happened.

What.

"Umm…miss?" The blonde's voice snapped her out of the amusement. Did she really not recognize her? She was Winter Schnee for Oum's sake.

Maybe she was just pretending to not be.

"You don't know who I am?" Winter asked. Now the waitress' reaction would determine everything. She might not be the best lyrics writer, but she sure could read people accurately.

"And why am I supposed to know who you are?" The blonde chuckled slightly, "What are you, a celebrity or something?"

"Well maybe I am." Winter smirked as she lazily put her head on the back of her hands.

"Oh sure!" The waitress laughed merrily, "So what can I get for you, Miss Celebrity?"

"My name is Winter." The woman replied, "And I would like a cup of hot chocolate."

"Alright Miss Winter." The blonde scribbled on a piece of paper, "Anything else?"

"Yes."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could get…to know your name?" Winter looked at her in the eye.

"That's so smooth." She winked and handed her a piece of paper, "Here ya go, Elsa."

The woman giggled at that nickname.

"Well, calling you straight up ice queen is kinda rude." The blonde shrugged.

"I appreciate that, Yang." She smiled, "So can I get my drinks now?"

"Sure thing." Yang, the waitress nodded and took the order to the barista.

A few minutes later, a mug of hot chocolate was being placed on Winter's table. Yang smirked before she left and said, "I suggest you Winter-few minutes to let it cool a little before drinking it. Blake accidentally added too much hot water."

The woman literally face-palmed after Yang laughed at her own pun.

"Blondie, I swear if you make one other pun tonight, I will break your right arm." The barista growled from behind the counter.

"Whoa, chill…" Yang sent Winter an apologetic look and proceeded to attend to the angry woman.

"Yang Xiao Long, huh…" The woman crossed her legs as she took a sip of the smoking hot chocolate, "Interesting."

She had decided to change the hour she visited this cafe.

#

Winter hated to admit to the fact that she was very attracted to the blonde waitress who did not recognize her. It was probably because she had never encountered someone who didn't know her name. It made her happy, and at the same time determined. Her next goal would be for every single person in Remnant to recognize her fame.

After another long day of struggling with the same piece of music, the woman had decided to once again visit her favorite place. She glanced at her graceful watch, and it read eleven thirty. Smirking, she left the studio, heading straight towards downtown.

It was Friday night and there weren't a lot of people on the street. A few recognized her and asked for her signature in which the woman willingly gave them. She needed their money anyway.

Before pushing the door open, Winter subconsciously tidied up her appearance a little. For some reason, she wanted to look good in front of Yang.

I wonder if she still remembers me though.

The woman sighed; she had heard of her little sister talking about her girlfriend's work in a cafe. She wasn't happy that Weiss hid the identity of that particular woman from her; it wasn't like Winter was against homosexual relationship or anything. In fact, she herself was attracted to more than one gender.

According to Weiss' mysterious girlfriend, customers in a cafe sometimes would come over and greet her. She just smiled and talked to them casually, but the fact was that she did not know who they were. Seriously, it was easy for a group of people to recognize one person, but for that one person to remember every customer…it wasn't that easy. And for some reason people tend to get angry when one didn't recognize them.

Obviously people can't be considerate.

Winter felt a rush of anxiety – a feeling that she had never experienced before, as she pushed the door and stepped inside. Would Yang remember her?

She scanned through the whole shop; it was in the exact same shape as yesterday with her being the only customer here. The moment her eyes locked onto Yang, the latter's lilac brightened up immediately.

"Hey Elsa!" Yang waved her hand vigorously, "Nice to see ya again!"

Winter's lips curved upwards. She walked to her favorite spot and sat down as the blonde approached, holding a memo pad on her hand.

"Do you like hot chocolate?" The woman put her head on her palm and looked seductively at Yang.

"Huh?" The blonde blinked twice.

"Well, if I were to, say, buy you a drink, I have to at least buy the correct one, right?" Winter smirked.

"Uh…I…what?" Yang scratched her head, "But I'm working at the moment…"

"It's not like there's any other people for you to serve anyway." The woman replied, "So, hot chocolate?"

"Yeah, no problem." The blonde had a slight shade of pink on her cheeks. Winter thought that was cute.

"Okay, two hot chocolates that is."

"Coming right up." Yang hurried to the barista after scribbling down the order.

A few moments after, two mugs were being placed on the table as the blonde sat down at the opposite of the Schnee. Something ticked inside the woman's mind as she grabbed the mug and said, "So…Xiao Long do I need to wait for it to cool down today?"

It was amusing to see the blonde's face turned from awkward to surprised, then slowly to a shit eating grin, lastly a genuine laugh.

"Gotta hand that one to you, Winter." Yang wiped her tears, "You…I didn't expect you to make a pun…"

Winter shrugged, "Because I look like the most arrogant woman on Remnant?"

The blonde almost spilled out the hot chocolate she was drinking, "What? No, I- You- I mean-"

"Relax." The woman smiled as she leaned forward, "Just a little punishment for not calling me by my real name."

Yang pouted – and that almost made her heart explode.

"Anyway, I was glad that you remembered me." Winter said after clearing her throat (she needed to keep calm), "You serve so many people a day, so I thought you wouldn't have remembered me very clearly."

"Of course I did." Yang grinned, "Honestly, the cafe isn't really crowded at night. People prefer going to bars and clubs."

"I see."

Their conversation ended there. Winter watched as the blonde fidgeted, trying her best to figure out what to say. And it was amusing.

"Umm…Winter?"

"Yes?"

"Can I…well…I was wondering if you want to…you know, exchange phone numbers…" Yang scratched the back of her neck.

"For?" Winter teased.

"You know, maybe we could go out and have dinner together or something…"

"Of course." The woman reached for her handbag and took her name card out of it, then handed it to Yang.

"Whoa, you have a name card! Win…ter…" Yang's voice slowed down gradually as she squinted at the black colored paper, "Winter Schnee…"

…

"Wait, you're Winter Schnee?!" The blonde dropped the name card and made a 'the scream' expression, putting both her hands on her cheeks, "Like that celebrity?! A Schnee?!"

"Well, out of the thousands of people I met, you're the only one that did not recognize my face, so I really have to give you the props, blondie." Winter smirked as she touched Yang's hand with her own and exclaimed, "Wow, you're warm. Like a fireplace."

The blonde blushed madly at that. She put her hands onto the table while slowly looking down, her ears burning with embarrassment.

Winter rose a little and leaned to whisper in Yang's ears, "And I would like to feel that warmth more. I would really like a personal fireplace now, so what do you say, Yang Xiao Long?"

The blonde shivered a little, hearing the woman said her full name for the first time ever since they met. She nodded subtly.

Just at that moment, the door to the shop opened and a young man walked in. Yang shot right up in reflex and hurried to the new patrons to take his order. Winter watched the blonde glanced nervously to her occasionally while answering the man's questions regarding the food. Smirking, she mouthed 'I'll pick you up after your shift' to the blonde and the latter blushed while giving affirmative response.

I know what my new album is going to be named.

#

Have you ever seen a person who is real bad at writing fluff? Yes, it's me!

I'd like to think that Winter is the 'even if I'm blushing so hard on the inside, I need to appear calm because everything needs to be under my control' type of person. Am I the only one?

Anyway I hope you enjoy this little story, as well as my first Elderburn. Tell me what you think about it in the review.

Thank you and I wish you all a happy Valentine!

~T

FB Page: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author, Pa-treon: The Tanker

I do not own RWBY.

Special thanks to my buddy:

Pearl Darkness.