A/N: Updates will probably be slow, you'll know a week from now if I've settled on updating once a week or once every other week. STRQ are my children and I was probably gonna die if I didn't write them, so, here, enjoy!
And we know that we're headstrong,
And our heart's gone,
And the timing's never right
six months back
Qrow's feet were propped up on the dashboard, an offense that usually might have earned him a slap to the side of the head from Summer. Luckily, they were both too exhausted from their mission for her to acknowledge his transgression, so he got away without punishment this time. About the only upside that came from that hellish mission, really. That, and the fact that he'd managed to cajole his partner into getting them fast food on the way home.
The car was completely silent but for the quiet sounds of the two picking at their fries, and Qrow turned his head to look at Summer. He thought he'd probably be smiling, if it weren't for the fact that he was completely exhausted and ached all over. Like the mature adult he was, he picked one of the smaller fries out from the rest and tossed it at her, mouth opening to speak—but his train of thought derailed when Summer turned to shoot him a look, and a snort escaped his lips.
"You, uh," he gestured to the side of her head, the side that had been turned away from him up until now, where a small twig was entangled in her hair; it had probably gotten there during their recent scuffle with some Grimm in a forest. "You've got something there."
Grinning, he reached to pull the twig out of her hair, his hand brushing past her face, and Summer's cheeks colored in embarrassment.
"Are you serious?" she groaned, letting her head thump back against her headrest. "That was in my hair all this time? The girls at the drive through saw that?"
Qrow, on the other hand, only felt more and more amused as he watched her frustration, and he chuckled, tossing the twig down by his feet. "Relax, it's not like you know them. You met them for two minutes while they gave you food."
"Stop enjoying this," she huffed, prompting him to laugh a little harder.
Stop being adorable, was the first response to cross his mind. Instead he just shook his head with a smirk and leaned forward to tap her nose. "Calm down, you're not going to be known for centuries as 'that chick who had a stick in her hair.' No one cares that you're a little… disheveled."
Summer only pouted, and Qrow's heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. He felt an urge to roll his eyes at himself. Snickering and leaning back, his smile softened a little.
"Anyways, what I was gonna say, when I got your attention with that fry, which was clearly the most effective way to do so—" the look on her face warned him she was about to launch into a scolding about tossing food around in her car, so he rushed to continue, "—Remember when that reality TV show was setting up right on the edge of the city, and every Huntsman and Huntress in all of Vale told them not to do it, and when everything fell to shit within a week because all the stars and crew wanted to kill each other, it was STRQ who got saddled with cleaning up the Grimm that came for their negativity?"
"Gooood, do I remember," Summer replied with a shake of her head, and Qrow chuckled at the annoyance in her tone. "The Grimm weren't even that hard to deal with, it was just the idiots we were supposed to be rescuing who made everything difficult."
Qrow nodded. "At least today wasn't that, right? I'd take a mission like today's over that day every time."
Summer's head bobbed to the side, her eyebrows lifting to concede his point, but as she opened her mouth to respond, her scroll began to ring. Forgetting her thought, she heaved a sigh and reluctantly reached for her pocket—apparently she and Qrow were both in agreement about not wanting to acknowledge the real world outside of this car. Summer pulled the phone to her ear and answered.
"Taiyang?" she asked by way of greeting, and Qrow turned his head towards the window to hide his smirk. Poor bastard was probably calling in a panic to ask Summer for advice with Raven—apparently, his girlfriend being pregnant made him suddenly inept at having any idea how to help her with anything. His amused air dropped at the tone of Summer's voice when she spoke next. "What?"
Qrow's head whipped over to look at her, his eyebrows rising at the shock in her tone, and when she nodded and told Taiyang she'd be right there, there was urgency in her tone. Hanging up, Summer tossed both her fries and her scroll in Qrow's direction—he managed to catch them with minimal spillage, muttering under his breath about her double standards pertaining to throwing food in her car—before she threw the car into drive and pulled off from the side of the deserted road they'd been parked on.
"Raven's going into labor, Taiyang's panicking, and they both want us there right away," Summer rattled off before Qrow had a chance to ask, and Qrow's eyes widened.
"What, now, she's having the kid right now?" he asked, and if Summer didn't know him better she might have picked out nervousness in his tone. Evidently, pregnancy was a scary topic for men, she thought wryly.
"She's just having a baby, Qrow, it's not like not like she's disarming a bomb. What do you have to be worried about, anyway?—she's doing all the work."
Qrow was preparing a no doubt very witty response, when Summer suddenly pressed down on the gas pedal and sent them zooming down the road at a speed he wasn't entirely sure was strictly legal. Summer managed to shave fifteen minutes off of what should have been a forty-five minute drive, and they pulled up to the hospital one nervous stomach and ten white knuckles later. She was already halfway out the driver's side door when Qrow was finally able to convince his fingers it was safe to let go of the handle above his passenger side door.
Shaking his head and shaking off the leftover panic from being stuck in the passenger seat while Summer was driving like a bat out of hell, Qrow couldn't help still feeling jittery as he clambered out of the passenger seat to follow after his speed-walking leader. So he didn't know what to expect from his sister having a baby, sue him. When he glanced over at Summer, she was on the phone, letting Taiyang know they'd arrived and getting instructions on where in the hospital to go. He raised his eyebrows at her in question when she hung up, and she pointed to the doors nearest them.
"Third floor, the maternity ward is in the north wing, he said there'll be signs outside the elevator telling us where to go." She was always so concise like that in a crisis. Not that his sister having a baby was a crisis. Probably. What did Qrow know, he'd never been in labor, okay?
Nodding, he followed her brisk pace into the building and to the elevators, feeling four years younger all of a sudden—somehow, he couldn't help feeling like a first-year student on his first day at Beacon all over again; scared, excited, not knowing what to expect. Just like then, something big was happening, something abstractly terrifying and completely new and life-changing. A niece was probably a pretty cool thing to have, and Raven could easily tackle something like this, right?
Glancing over as they stood in the elevator, Summer smiled a little and reached over to squeeze his hand. "Hey."
He glanced at her, and the reassuring—if also a little amused at his expense—smile on her face strengthened slightly, easing his nerves a little. "Everything's gonna be fine, don't worry. People have babies all the time. Some—" she nudged him, "—even have two at once."
Nodding, Qrow squeezed her hand back. "Heh, yeah. Well… think I'm ready to be an uncle?"
Rolling her eyes, Summer replied, "You've had nine months to get ready, birdbrain, I'd have hoped you'd figure that out yourself by now."
The elevators slid open then and Summer dropped his hand as she moved forward, head already craning to catch sight of the first signs pointing where to go—Qrow was barely out of the elevator before she abruptly set off down the hallway, in what was apparently the right direction. Qrow was never more grateful for having legs much longer than those of his vertically challenged team leader than during their trip through the following two hallways; she moved so quickly that were it not for his larger strides he doubted he'd have been able to keep up.
Taiyang was waiting for them when they reached the waiting area outside of the maternity ward, wringing his hands and looking pitifully helpless. Summer's eyebrows raised in concern when she saw him, but Taiyang's face seemed to light up in relief at the sight of them.
"Hey," Summer greeted as she slowed to a stop, head tilting. "What's going on, shouldn't you be with Raven?"
"They'll only let one person in the room with her at a time, and she says I'm panicky and unhelpful and she very specifically wants you, Summer," Taiyang explained, giving a weak laugh at his own expense. He'd barely even finished speaking when Summer had given a quick, dutiful nod and moved forward, briefly laying a reassuring hand over his arm as she passed, leaving Taiyang and Qrow to wait for news.
Looking over at his teammate, Qrow tried to discern how exactly Taiyang was faring with the situation—decidedly worse than himself, Qrow decided. The blond looked white as a sheet, and like he was about two seconds more strain away from a heart attack. Still, Qrow could understand just a bit of where he was coming from, nervous as hell himself—but like any self-respecting smug teammate, he clearly couldn't let on to that.
Clapping a hand on Taiyang's shoulder, Summer's amused smirk flashed through his mind as he paraphrased, "Relax, man, she's just popping out a baby, not a bomb or anything."
One look at his partner when Summer stumbled in the door with a drunken Taiyang supported against her side, and Qrow knew she'd had the same thought. A small nod exchanged between the two, and then they traded Xiao Longs; Summer taking a screaming, squirming Yang from helpless Qrow, and Qrow reaching to relieve his team leader of a stumbling, snickering Taiyang.
It was only a matter of fifteen minutes before Qrow had herded Taiyang to his room, gotten him to change into his pajamas, settled him into his bed, and convinced him to stay there. Not, mind you, that it had been easy to accomplish any of that—it just wasn't time-consuming. With Taiyang's door closed firmly behind him, and the hope that he'd remain in there rather than stumbling out to make them deal with him again in a few minutes, Qrow sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
Making his way to the kitchen, it only took Qrow a handful of moments of struggling with building frustration before he grabbed a glass and a bottle of one of Taiyang's better whiskeys, pouring himself a moderately sized drink. He'd only had time to take a single gulp before his partner slipped into the room, so quietly he didn't almost didn't register her arrival as he tucked the bottle of whiskey back onto the shelf where his teammate kept it.
"Yang's down for the night, hopefully," Summer commented in a soft voice behind him, and Qrow turned to face her, glass lifting to his lips.
"So's her dad, hopefully," he remarked wryly just before taking another sip, some of his mounting frustrations with the father of his niece faintly coloring his tone. "Who'd have thought that signing on to be a Huntsman who stays with my team would land me with the world-changing jobs like babysitting, am I right?"
Though she didn't comment, Summer's nose wrinkled slightly at the glass in his hand before she rolled her eyes affectionately and turned to start loading the dishwasher with the few bottles, cups, and dishes that Qrow had haphazardly lain about the counter during the few hours he'd had with Yang. "You love it and you know it. You love Yang and you know it."
Her back turned to him, Summer completely missed the conflict illustrated on Qrow's features over the next second or so—a helpless glance from her wrinkled nose to the glass in his hand and then back up to her back, followed by a beseeching glance to the heavens and an inaudible sigh of resignation, before he took one more sip and then dumped the contents of the glass into the sink, staring forlornly at the empty glass.
"Yeah, yeah," he conceded in the same good-natured tone his partner had used, betraying none of the inner struggle that had just occurred behind her. "Who'd have thought such a squirmy small fry could be so fun when she can't even talk yet? Kid's a character."
With a sigh, he leaned past Summer to place the recently-emptied glass into the dishwasher, his chest brushing past her shoulder as he did. Her eyebrows rose in surprise that he'd chosen not to finish it, but he could see the pleased look in her eyes that made it at least partially worth it. How the hell did she do that anyways? Qrow hated wasting good liquor, but one disapproving glance from Summer and suddenly his team leader's comfort was first priority.
Of course, it helped that Taiyang was passed out in the other room; his teammate was a mess, and Qrow was hurting at his sister's absence, too, but he never wanted to turn into that, drinking just to get through the day. It would take more than a half-full glass to get him to Taiyang's state, but he knew it always started with just one glass. Summer was good like that—just enough of a killjoy to keep him from downing a glass of liquor any time he got frustrated, just caring and kind enough to make it endearing.
Straightening to lean his hip against the counter, Qrow watched his partner shut the dishwasher and start it up, crossing his arms and continuing, "You know, I know she's still just tiny, but I think she's already a pretty smart kid, too. She already knows enough to love you, and she started crying at almost six-thirty on the dot. Pretty sure she knew you were supposed to be home and was grumpy at me for not being you, you know."
With a chuckle, he nudged Summer at that, and she beamed brightly. She'd always loved kids—he'd picked up on that pretty quickly; whether it was a frightened kid or an admiring one that they ran into on one of their missions, she always knew just what to say.
"Yeah, sorry." Reaching to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, Summer shrugged. "I was fifteen minutes from home when I got a call from some bartender, telling me Taiyang was at his bar and in no state to get home on his own. I guess he told the bartender to call me, so I had to turn around and go get him."
She gave a shake of her head and another roll of her eyes, but this time the look in her eyes was more sad than playful. Qrow, on the other hand, was finding it hard to be sympathetic about Taiyang's poor coping methods of being left behind by the mother of his child, considering she was Qrow's own twin sister and you didn't see him neglecting Yang or failing to be a functional human being. Not to mention that Taiyang wasn't even supposed to be at some bar—
As if able to read his mind, Summer sensed the progression of his thoughts and raised a hand in a placating gesture, giving another small shake of her head to try and dispel his increasing anger. "Hold on, Qrow, I don't think he lied to us or anything; he didn't just hand Yang off to you and go bar-hopping. It was a bit hard to get the story out of him coherently, but it sounds like he did consult with team MJRL about their mission, and then they invited him to join them for a drink. He stuck around a little longer than they did and needed a ride."
Qrow let out a frustrated sigh and turned to lean his back against the counter, arms still crossed. Summer mirrored him, leaning back against the counter as well, and released a more tired sigh. "I know, I'm not saying it was responsible, Qrow. I just… I don't know what to do. He really loved her, you know, and they have a daughter, and he's just alone now. We don't even know where she is, and it doesn't really make it much better that we know she's doing something important. It's rough on him, and this is how he copes, and I… I guess I just don't know how to make it better for him."
It took every ounce of willpower in his system for Qrow not to scoff derisively at that. This was rough on Taiyang? Taiyang was alone? Put aside the fact that Taiyang still had a team, still had Qrow and Summer half-parenting his daughter and supporting him and mopping up his messes, he was far from the only one having a rough time—
Yet another soft sigh from Summer as she turned to face him cut off Qrow's internal rant, and he blinked at the somber look on her face.
"Qrow, I'm so sorry. I know you lost her, too; she was your twin—she must have always been such a big part of your life. I know Taiyang's not the only one hurting, I'm sorry that I'm there for him so much I haven't even had time to see how you're handling things, it's just that with Yang—"
"Whoa, hey, hey, hey," Qrow cut her off, more than a little surprised at the direction that this had taken so suddenly as he pulled away from the counter, reaching for Summer's shoulders. "Come on, Summer, you've been here for me more than I could have even asked. I couldn't be mad at you if I wanted to—this is Raven's choice, and it's our choice how we deal with it. Don't hold so much on your shoulders, kid—being team leader doesn't mean you have to fix all our shit for us. Taiyang can figure out how to pull himself together the same as I can, and you don't have to tear yourself apart to make us okay. You lost her, too, you know—she was your best friend. It's okay to worry about you."
Falling silent a moment, Summer met his eyes, biting her lip as she mulled over his response. For a moment, he thought she was going to reject it, decide she was team leader and they were her responsibility and she had to do everything she could to make things better for him—but then a slow look of appreciation crossed her face, and the corners of her lips tugged up a little as she looked more reassured and gave a small shake of her head.
"No. Raven was a good friend, Qrow. But you're my best friend." She paused. "And you know I hate when you call me kid."
The corners of her lips lifted a little more, and it was honestly kind of embarrassing how quickly four words brought a grin to his own face. He couldn't help it, his bright smile or the way everything felt a little better, a little easier. Chuckling, he shrugged. "Try not being so short, then, kid. But that's… it's really good to hear, Summer. Raven decides to show her face around here again sometime soon, I'll let her know I was finally the better twin at something."
The grin was still on his face, his tone clearly joking, and Summer gave another roll of her eyes. "Yeah, well, you be careful or I'll take it back. We're the same age, birdbrain."
"Hey, hey." His hands lifting from her shoulders, he held them up in surrender, eyebrows raising. "No need to get hasty, o fearless leader, teasing nickname officially retracted. Besides, you and I both know you're the most mature out of any of us."
"What a sorry state that puts our team in, then," she chuckled in response, and he leaned back against the counter again, watching her. The easy smile hadn't faded from his face, and as he noted her joking self-deprecation with mounting fondness, he found himself struck with a familiar feeling that he was ruining absolutely everything by not leaning down to kiss her in this moment. No big deal, really, because he'd been quietly tucking away and sidestepping feelings like that off and on for a good three or four years by now.
Caught up in his own thoughts, Qrow didn't notice at first that Summer had ducked her head and was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, two nervous habits of hers. Cocking his head to the side—a gesture he knew she'd tease him about for it being so birdlike were she paying any attention—Qrow noted the way her eyebrows furrowed, and the distracted look in her eyes, and he reached to nudge her shoulder.
"Hey. Everything all right?"
Blinking, Summer looked up, small smile returning to her lips. "Yeah, of course. Sorry. I was miles away, that's all."
"Well, I don't suppose you wanna share what's on your mind with the class?" Qrow prodded, his own eyebrows lifting in slight concern. Summer shrugged, glancing away and releasing a small puff of air.
"It's nothing, I'm just… still worrying about Taiyang, I guess. And how he's not thinking straight."
Qrow found himself less inclined to respond to Taiyang's state with disdain this time around, and he was sure the easier-to-find supply of sympathy was due to the mood boost Summer had given him. Still, there was something in her tone, something heavy hinting at more to her thoughts, so when Qrow nodded, he also opened his hands in an inviting gesture, saying, "Go on."
After a moment of hesitation, Summer let out an amused huff of air, and leaned her back against the counter once more.
"He kissed me." Qrow froze at that—it didn't register at first, didn't make sense, and he stared at her blankly as he tried to wrap his head around it exactly. "I went to pick him up from that bar, and I just sat with him for a couple minutes as I talked him into taking it easy and calling it a night, and he was barely even coherent, but when I pulled his arm around my shoulders to help him out, he thanked me for being there for him, and then he just—kissed me."
A small snort escaped her, and she shook her head. "He was hammered—it's just funny to think about, you know? Put a couple drinks in that guy and he's out to kiss the nearest girl, I guess." She chuckled, but something was off with the sound. Or maybe just with Qrow.
He felt sort of hollow, almost—and mostly, well, mostly he just felt like someone had come into their home and moved all the furniture two feet to the left, enough to make everything not quite right, everything slightly confusing and not the way he expected it to be. It just… didn't add up. There were facts in his head: Taiyang loved his sister; Taiyang and Raven had a child; Qrow and Summer were partners and best friends; and all the times over the years when he was just shy of kissing her, all the times Taiyang and Raven were off making out somewhere and Qrow stole furtive glances at Summer as she read or strategized, all the times they teased each other and he could feel something for her, those moments couldn't all add up to nothing.
Those facts were in his head, but they didn't fit with this. They didn't make sense with Taiyang kissing Summer, with Summer dwelling on it even now.
But his moment frozen in confusion ended quickly and he forced a feeble chuckle past his lips, tight smile forming on his face. "Heh, wow. That…" A small snort of artificial amusement escaped him as he fumbled for words, and he shook his head more to dislodge his own thoughts than to show any kind of reaction towards Taiyang. "That's ridiculous, someone needs to get ahold of that guy's libido. I can defend your honor, if you'd like, o fearless leader."
Summer laughed with him, but where his laugh still rang false, hers sounded almost relieved. Did she expect him to be mad? Should he be mad?
Summer was his team leader, his best friend, and just because their teammate got drunk and kissed her didn't mean that meant anything. And even if it did, it all came down to Summer—what she wanted, what would make her happy. No, Qrow had nothing to be angry about, and though he felt his heart sinking in his chest, he wasn't upset.
"That's not necessary," Summer replied, still laughing a little. "He was drunk, it didn't mean anything, and I think it'd take a little more than that to besmirch my honor."
"And if it did?" Qrow suddenly asked. "Mean anything?" Her brow furrowed at him, like she didn't understand the question or where it came from, and Qrow shrugged. "I guess what I mean is, do you want it to mean anything?"
She blinked, brow still furrowed as she considered him and considered her answer, then slowly shook her head. "I don't know. We've… we've been spending a lot of time together, between taking care of Yang and trying to help him figure everything out, but—I mean, he was just drunk, Qrow. It wasn't anything like that."
"Right," Qrow nodded slowly. "It's just… Summer, you know you're always bending over backwards to take care of us and make sure the rest of the team is doing okay. If something might make you happy—it's just worth thinking about, is all."
"Qrow." Summer eyed him, bemused. "He's not thinking straight tonight, he's not even walking straight—you know me, you know I've never really cared about dating or kissing or… any of that stuff. I'm not gonna suddenly start sighing and mooning over anyone just because a teammate got tipsy and drunkenly smacked a kiss on my lips."
He watched her a moment or two, gauging her expression, but... he couldn't really tell. She was right; while the rest of them had been off chasing dates—and, eventually, in Taiyang and Raven's case, chasing each other—Summer had always rolled her eyes and kept out of it. Dating, guys or girls, it had always seemed the farthest thing from her mind; just another reason Qrow had never really tried to figure out what to do with himself when he found himself thinking maybe—possibly—he might just… want more with her. But the fact that she was still so distracted by what Taiyang had done… well, maybe it meant nothing. Maybe it meant everything.
"Heh, guess you're right." He rubbed at the back of his head, chuckling a little if only to make sure she didn't think it was bothering him. It weighed on his mind, though, and with another forced smile, Qrow reached to pat her shoulder. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay, having a kid scream in your ear for half an hour straight saps your energy pretty quick, I'll have you know. You should probably head to bed soon, too; you deserve it after carpooling our drunk teammate and being the only one who could get Yang to calm down."
Smiling, Summer gave a short nod, and Qrow slipped out of the room, heart heavy.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it or didn't, or if you have any questions!
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