Winter Schnee
Atlas; One Year Previously
September 8th

"Give me your flask," I say as I continue brush out my damp hair. "You promised me that I could try whatever it is you put in it."

"I'm not sure you'll like it…" Qrow says with a smirk. "But you're right, I did promise you could try it, so here."

I take it from him with a smirk. "You act like I've never had -" I swallow down just a little bit of the drink with a gag. "What is this? It tastes like old whisky mixed with -"

"Black coffee," He says. "It gives me both alcohol and caffeine."

"How do drink this stuff?" I ask, handing it back to him. "It's utterly disgusting."

"I would say that it's an acquired taste… although I came up with this mix a few years ago when I was drunk."

"Of course," I say rolling my eyes. "Because that's normal."

"At least you seem better than you did yesterday."

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine -"

"Look, Snowflake, are you totally sure that you're alright?" Qrow asks, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling my neck.

"Yes… no, I mean, Qrow, I'm fine," I say turning around and leaning further into his embrace. "I just told you -"

"Then why were you avoiding talking to me yesterday? I mean, I know that you had a meeting, but you didn't come home. That's not like you, at least not now -"

"I'm just nervous, okay?" I close my eyes and let him hold me close while I try and relax. "I stayed with Alison last night, in case you were wondering."

"You could have at least called me!" He shakes his head but softens his tone. "Snowflake, what's bothering you?"

I sigh irritably. "Qrow, we just told my family about our relationship a few weeks ago and it didn't exactly go over well. How can I not be nervous? Do you not understand -"

"Let's think about this for a minute," He says, running his fingers softly through my hair. "Now, Jacques didn't understand what you're doing hanging around someone like me, but he doesn't seem all that motivated to stop it. Willow was better though, she thinks I'm too old for you. Robbing the cradle my ass. Caitlin… well she was pretty reasonable wasn't she? Yeah, remember how happy she was for us. Weiss was fine, although her threats concerned me… remind me never to cross her. And then Whitley. Well, I mean I don't think he liked me at all..."

"This isn't helping Qrow!" I groan and throw myself onto our bed, covering my face with a pillow.

"Winter," Qrow says, laying down next to me. "We don't have to talk about this. Does it really matter what they think? This is about us, not them. We just wanted them to be in the loop."

"No," I say, rolling over to face him. "No, it doesn't really matter what they think. It's just there's something my mother said to me a few days-"

"Winter," Qrow says gently. "What did she say?"

I fight back tears as I try and explain it. "It doesn't matter, I'm just… Qrow she, she said that you are just a distraction… and that you're going to…"

"Hurt you?" Qrow guesses. "No, no, no. Win, do you have any idea what it'd do to me if you got hurt and it was my fault?"

"You're not going to hurt me Qrow. I'm just… I'm just being stupid..."

"It's convenient how you always forget about my semblance," He says quietly. "I'm bad luck, remember?"

"Will you shut up about your semblance!" I snap, pulling myself up. "Qrow Branwen, you are not going to hurt me!"

"You don't know that! If I ever hurt you, I… Winter -"

"I am not going to let you feel guilty about us!" Wrapping an arm around him, I pull him close. "I know that you worry about what your semblance could do to me but nothing bad has happened to us, has it?"

"That doesn't mean it can't… that doesn't mean that it won't."

"Qrow, how many times do I have to remind you that I can take care of myself? I'm not in danger because of you or your semblance."

"Win, I worry about this because I love you. I don't want to hurt you."

I'm just about to respond, but I'm stopped by his lips pressing softly against mine. I close my eyes and place my arms around his neck, slowly deepening it. I sigh, wishing I could stay like this forever. I love being held in his arms and the feeling of his lips against mine.

"Winter…" Qrow says, picking me up and lightly kissing my nose. "Maybe we shouldn't wait… maybe you're right that I need to stop worrying about my, my semblance." He pauses, taking a second to pull me closer. "I know we've never really talked about it before but, we've been together for the last four years and -"

"Qrow, what are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean, we've at the very least gotten to know each other the last six years, right? We've gone on missions together, and we've been dating for four of those six years. And we've lived together for one of the four years we've been dating, so -"

"Qrow -"

"Will you marry me?" Qrow says quickly. "Winter, I want to get married. I don't want to wait any longer. I love you so much, and I want to make it official."

"I… I…. Qrow…"

"I mean, if you aren't ready we don't have to. I don't want you to feel pressured to do anything you aren't ready for and of course I want you to consider everything including my semblance, but I love you so-"

I cut him off with a sweet, tender kiss. "Of course I'll marry you, but we can't do this right away. We've got to plan this out, and since we're getting married -"

Qrow slips a small, silver ring with a beautiful amethyst onto my finger. "There. Now we're definitely engaged," He says with a smile. "Oh I can't wait to see how your father reacts to this…"

I laugh, knowing that he'll be beyond furious. "I have a few guesses as for how that will go over."

"So do I, Snowflake," Qrow says, kissing me gently. "Now, you should probably eat something before you go to work."

Work, I almost forgot.

"Damn it Qrow," I say, looking at the time. "Normally you're a welcome distraction, but I'm going to be late if I don't leave in the next seven minutes!" I scramble across our room, miraculously pulling my hair and clothes together with two minutes to spare. I smear on my makeup, and hope it doesn't look too rushed as I run out the door to my car.