AN: Something I forgot to mention last time, Neo kissing Hazel wasn't just a one-time flirty gesture. They're an intended pairing for this story. I was writing the Hazel scene and that pairing showed up in my head and wouldn't leave. So yeah, Romance with Hazel and Neo and a Bromance with Hazel and Roman. Feel fear my readers, feel fear as I do for the world of Remnant.

A Grimm Huntsman

Chapter 20

-Jaune-

Groaning, Jaune sat up and forced his eyes open, cursing his rumbling stomach and pounding head. "Ugh," he groaned "why does my mouth taste like old socks?" looking around he saw everyone was in various states of waking up, pillows and blankets falling off and covering the living room floor.

"Why do you know what that tastes like?" Yang asked, trying and failing to give him a raised eyebrow without wincing at her own apparent headache.

"Seven older sisters whose favorite past times were finding ways to torment and humiliate me." He replied dryly, getting looks of sympathy from his friends "Them shoving old socks in my mouth happened more than once." A smell wafting into the living room pulled him from the unplanned trip down the pothole ridden memory lane.

"Pancakes!" Nora's love of the syrup covered breakfast food overrode her pain as she shot like a bullet towards the kitchen, knocking the large couch aside without even breaking stride.

"Well…someone's eager." Qrow chuckled in dry amusement, pulling out a flask to take a sip and showing no signs of the symptoms everyone else in the room was openly suffering from.

"Uncle Qrow, why aren't you in pain too?" Ruby whined out as Yang helped the little red reaper to her feet, her confusion shared by everyone bar Taiyang who seemed more exasperated than anything else at the coming answer.

"My hangovers are worse than this squirt." The, adult, alcoholic chuckled "I will admit though, the old sock taste isn't pleasant. Now come on, if we wait then that other brat will probably eat all the food." Knowing how true that was the rest of them got up and entered the kitchen where they saw with an empty plate and arguing with Harry about getting more.

"No Nora, you already took seconds when I told you not to. You can't have any more until everyone else has had the same or they're full." Harry told the orange haired hammer wielder as he kept the food out of her reach.

"But that's not fair!" Nora whined, trying to give Harry the puppy eyes of doom.

"And eating all the food I made for everyone is?" Harry asked her, sounding, amusingly, like an exasperated parent.

"It's pancakes!" Nora exclaimed as if that answered everything, taking another attempt to snatch some pancakes from the platter. Harry's response was to smack her hound with the spatula, not showing any guilt at her kicked puppy look or shocked yelp.

"That first bit meant 'Yes' in Nora." Ren supplied to the adults.

"Yeah, caught that." Taiyang slipped into a stool at the end of the kitchen counter as everyone else claimed a seat as well.

"You know," Qrow chuckled, adding what looked like whiskey to a cup of hot coffee as Harry made plates for the rest of them "we never did get a chance to really talk about your crushes on my nieces brats." Qrow's hardened gaze was more than enough to make Jaune freeze up but Harry just continued making plates, not fazed in the slightest.

Glancing over, Jaune saw Yang looking like a deer in the headlights as her father joined Qrow in the sending of Death glares to himself and Harry. Ruby meanwhile just stuck her tongue out and made a disgusted face "Blegh! No way Uncle Qrow!" Ruby protested "I look like his sister!"

"Same eye color." Harry supplied, sitting down to eat as well and patting a sulking Nora's head "It was a bit of a surprise to see them at first, I hadn't seen anyone but Luna with that shade before I met Ruby." Qrow choked slightly on his coffee, something that was lost to most as everyone ate, only Harry showing signs of having seen that and the subsequent look shared between the two adults as well.

Planning to look into it when his stopped pounding, Jaune looked at the others, "So," he began, wanting to steer the topic of conversation towards safer waters "what's the plan now."

"We go back to Beacon." Qrow shrugged, acting exactly as he had before the mention of Harry's sister "Tai and I need to talk to Oz se we'll come too." The elder Scythe wielder smirked in his direction "The Flight back will give us plenty of time to talk bout you and Yang too."

-Hazel-

"Hazel!" the ever-cheerful voice of Roman Torchwick called out as the door opened, letting in the master thief and his assistant.

"Yes?" he asked the duo he was living with, not pausing his exercise routine, continuing the pushup set he was in the middle of, barely slowing for a moment when he felt a faint weight settle on his back as Neo decided he was to be her chair during this conversation.

"I told you I'd come through and I have." The man grinned "The kid you told me you were here to recruit, that Harry kid, turns out he went to one of the biggest poker games of the underground and everyone there is quite 'eager' to get him to return so they can try and win their money back off him, apparently last time he was there he cleaned house. I called in a favor that the guy who gave him his seat owed me to have him guarantee to get the kid to come again and I'll let you have my anonymous card, I'll even front you the Lien to play."

"I'm impressed Roman." And he genuinely was. Cinder had kept Roman on an incredibly short leash, having lured him in through promise of business and resorted to threats to make him too scared to leave. 'Shockingly', getting him to actually want to help yo resulted in Roman Torchwick being able to do things that surprised even Hazel.

"I made sure your name wasn't tied in with mine either, don't want to risk the kid getting pissy about you working with the greatest thief in Vale." Roman buffed his nails on his chest, smug about his work which Hazel supposed was earned.

"Cinder was defiantly a fool," he finished the set and sat up, the sound of shattering glass filling the room as Neo suddenly appeared beside Roman "you have my word that if Cinder attempts to dispose of you then she will have to answer to me and our employer for her incompetence."

"See, this is why I like you Hazel, you know how to do business." Roman grinned, tossing him a briefcase that was likely full of the promised Lien "Now, do you know how to play poker and, more importantly, how good are you at keeping your cool during a game?"

"I know the basics of the rules." He said slowly, wondering what Roman was getting at, "And while I've never played I was recruited by my ability to keep a level head at near any situation."

"Can you read someone else's poker face though?" Roman urged, "Neo! Cards please." The diminutive woman pulled a deck of cards out of…somewhere and dealt a hand out to Roman, "Hazel, from my expression alone do you think my hand is good or bad?"

He looked closely for any minute clues on Roman's face, "Good?" he attempted only to frown in irritation when Roman revealed a horrible hand.

"Being able to keep a blank face means nothing if you can't read the faces of everyone else. I won't be able to be there to help you and they read everyone for hidden bugs and cameras when they enter so congratulations, you get to attend Professor Roman's school for the art of Poker, class is in session. I have a job at the docks tonight but other than that the next few days will be the grind for your final exam." The next thing he knew, Hazel found himself at a table with Roman, Neo, and a Faunus named Perry. Roman would offer advice to the three of them for how to improve their poker faces and what to have looked for after each round, Neo helping by being a 'distraction', taking various forms to get various reactions from him, Roman and Perry. Her favorite forms to take seemed to be Ozpin, to force him to practice keeping his temper in check should the man come up in conversation, as well as a version of Glynda Goodwitch but he was sure the Beacon professor's skirt was not that short, nor her blouse unbuttoned that low.

"Whelp kiddos," Roman sighed and stood up after several hours of poker lessons, Neo rising with him while in her Goodwitch form "I have a job to do down at the docks. Feel free to keep practicing if you want, if not then you can raid the fridge, Netflix password is next to the TV, and don't use the pay per view. Ta ta." Neo blew him a kiss before the duo shattered.

"...There's a football game on tonight?" Perry offered as Hazel sighed and stood up, refusing to admit that he hadn't relaxed in a long time and the thought of doing so was more appealing than he would ever say "I have three bean cheese dip." Perry offered as he stilled before giving in.

"I'll get the beer." He said neutrally as Perry nodded and went to go make the dip. Frowning Hazel clenched his fist, he could have respect, he could have comradery, but nothing more. He couldn't afford to go soft, not until everyone was safe from the monster that was Ozpin.