Oscar's hand twitches.
This internal battle has been going on for over an hour now, punctuated only by the soft, raspy sound of Qrow's snoring. It isn't bad enough that Ozpin insisted on them staying in the offered room with the huntsman- after all, Oscar doesn't have but a few lien to his name- but Oscar's hand itches every time he looks over at the figure under the blankets, the foreign urge to reach over and run his fingers through the other's greying hair a persistent ache. Ozpin's doing, he thinks viciously, digging his fingers into his leg. All of this. All of it.
Stupid, meddling, gods-be-damned old ghost.
You seem upset with me, comes the thought from the recesses of his mind. Ozpin's voice inside his head is soft, hesitant. Did I do something wrong? I admit, I wasn't expecting this to happen, but-
"What is he to you?"
Ozpin goes silent.
"I mean-" Oscar is quiet, at least- Qrow is a heavy sleeper, especially when drunk, but it's still not a conversation he wants the other to hear- "you two… you liked each other, right? Like brothers, or something…."
The presence in his head doesn't speak, but there is a sudden tightness and ache in the heart the two of them now share.
You want to know if we were lovers, Ozpin finally sighs. It's all too easy to imagine him, that ageless spirit, sitting in the void with his head bowed above his head. It certainly makes it easier to speak with him, to think of him as another person. There is another sigh, and then, Yes, Oscar. We were. I have loved Qrow for a very long time. A brief laugh crackles through the static, pain and bitterness. Gods help me, I still do.
Oscar closes his eyes. "This is so screwed up," he chokes out.
… yes. I will agree with you there.
"So, what now?" He swallows nervously. "That may be your… boyfriend… but this is still my body."
The horror in the parasite's voice makes the boy flinch. Oscar, you're still a child! No one- not Qrow, not I- will ever ask you to act on emotions that are not yours! What would make you think-
Oscar scoffs. "You're a creepy- ghost- thing stuck in my head, reading my thoughts, dragging me away from my home for something you won't fully explain, and now I'm trapped with you and your boyfriend. What do you think I'm supposed to believe?"
The boy's hands grip his leg hard enough to bruise. His vision begins to swim. Ozpin, inside his mind, is shaking- Oscar can feel the waves of nausea the accusations bring, can see how his words are bladed like no sword could hope to be and how they make the ageless man bleed sorrow and fear into the void.
(It should feel like a victory. This resentment has been building up for so long, and he wants to feel vindicated, but he only feels hollow.)
Oscar, Ozpin pleads, his voice shaking. Oscar, you don't understand. I would never take that choice away from you!
"Why should I believe you?" Oscar digs at his hair, bitterly trying to keep his momentum. "You don't know what it's like! I'm just a kid! I don't know how to fight! You don't know anything about-"
A sound like glass shattering shoots through his skull. Fear, fear so palpable he can taste it bleeds through their shared consciousness, and behind it a pain so sharp it takes his breath away. A figure moves past their vision, in shadow, hooded eyes and crooked grin-
And then it is all gone, held tightly in by the silent figure hiding at the back of Oscar's mind.
"… Ozpin?"
Ozpin, in his mind, is hunched over, holding the shattered fragments of memory in his bloody fingers. You weren't supposed to see that, he whispers brokenly. I'm sorry.
Oscar wipes at the tears that are not his own, blinks back the echo of fear. "Who was that? What don't I understand? Why won't you just talk?"
There is quiet for a moment, punctuated by Qrow's breathing and the clack of the train as it runs along the tracks. I remember when this first happened to me, Ozpin finally sighs. The sudden voice in my head, the sudden orders. The people who knew who I was and who was within me. I was…. His voice cracks, grows softer. I was a fair bit younger than you when it happened to me. And the people under whose care I fell… It was a long time before I was strong enough to fight back.
Ozpin lifts Oscar's hand to wipe the tears away from the boy's face. I will not let you be hurt the way I have been, Oscar.
Oscar hugs his arms to himself. "Do you promise?" he asks, and hates how weak he sounds.
I promise. There's a feather-light touch to Oscar's cheek, and even though it's his own hand he leans against it, taking comfort in the touch. I promise, Oscar. I will keep you safe.
They sit like that for a long time, Oscar and Ozpin, until the tear tracks have dried on his face and his hand goes numb. The itch has gone away, that nagging desire, but after a moment's thought Oscar takes off his glove and tangles his fingers in Qrow's grey-dusted hair.
With every caress their shared heart cries out safe, safe, safe.