It was only after Ozpin had left and their meals had been finished that James felt like he was finally able to breathe again.

James sank down into the couch beside Qrow and let out a breath that it almost felt like he'd been holding for the last few hours. He was tense- James knew that he was tense. He just needed to be able to relax for a bit, and James was almost certain that Qrow was going to be feeling a lot of the same tension that he was.

Having Ozpin around for any amount of time just tended to have that effect on people, it seemed. James supposed that it was good for business, but not so great for people who had to deal with them in the real world.

"Hey." Qrow said as he shifted and turned his body so that he could better face James before he made himself comfortable in that position. "Feeling alright?"

James blinked. Qrow had insisted on cleaning everything up while James took a little bit of time to just relax and get his head back together. James didn't even know what was going to be happening over the course of the rest of the day at the moment.

Things were weird, for a lot of people.

"Yeah." James said, keeping his voice as low as he could. He didn't want to deal with noise when he was already feeling incredibly tense as he was. "Are you going to be okay?"

He just watched Qrow's face in search of anything that would be able to give him an idea of what Qrow was thinking after having to sit in on a meeting as he had. They were going to have to talk about getting into contact with the others sometime, James reminded himself. But for now, he was going to sit by and wait with Qrow while they just tried to figure some things out.

The thin man at his side let out a heavy sigh and relaxed into the couch, stretching himself out a little bit further than he strictly needed to. Normally James would have fought back against it, and squirmed away from Qrow so that he would have just a little bit less to worry about. But right now, James couldn't quite find it in himself to do so.

"Yeah-" Qrow finally responded, resting his head against one of the armrests on the couch. He'd somehow managed to get almost his entire body up onto the couch without taking up most of it- a feat that James couldn't quite comprehend himself, especially when Qrow didn't even look like he was uncomfortable. "-You know that we're going to have to tell the others."

"We will." James said, quietly. "But we're not going to be doing that for a little bit."

The room went silent, like they were both afraid to address certain things that were going on. James didn't want to be thinking much about work any more for one- that was stressful enough normally.

Now, he just wanted to be able to relax for a little bit.

The feeling of Qrow's hand on his right leg was enough to make James nearly jolt to get away from the man. He jerked forward, his heart pounding too hard against his chest as he tried to remind himself that Qrow knew about the leg- even if he didn't know about everything else. James was about to edge to the furthest side of the couch when Qrow's voice interrupted and broke him out of the small panic that he was beginning to feel.

"Jim?" Qrow asked, his voice still kept low in volume. "Something wrong?"

James swallowed, and opened his mouth to speak.

Qrow seemed to realize what was going on and yanked his hand away from James. "Sorry." He mumbled quietly for a moment before setting his hand back down on his own leg, well out of the way. James felt a certain pang of guilt over that- Qrow shouldn't have been feeling that awkward just because of him. Qrow didn't deserve that at all.

He sucked in a deep breath and just did his absolute best that he could manage to steel himself before James reached out and gently took Qrow's hand in his own, hoping that it was going to be just enough to help the two of them feel a little bit less awkward. James knew fully well that the two of them needed to talk, but he couldn't quite bring himself to get there long enough so that they could breach the topic.

James did like Qrow, it was just that he was afraid to have someone around that knew so much about him. Especially when it came to such personal matters. The fact that Qrow didn't know the full story was an object in James' mind, but he tried not to let himself get dragged down too badly in that stuff.

He liked Qrow. He could force himself to enjoy his time that he spent with Qrow. That was something that James could do.

"Everything's fine." James said quietly as he just held Qrow's hand in his own. He scanned over the skin there for a moment, and just let himself drink in the details, as guilty as he felt for that. Qrow had smooth skin, but his hand had a bit of scarring on it that left James with a lot of questions that he wanted to ask but couldn't quite bring himself to raise. "I'm sorry."

"I should be the one that's sorry." Qrow said with a low laugh as he let his hand just relax under James' touch. "I should have known better than to get close to you on your right side like that." There was that pause again, hanging over them. James closed his eyes and released Qrow's hand, since he was sure that he shouldn't have been holding onto the man like that anyways. "James?"

"I shouldn't..." James swallowed. Maybe the best thing that he could do was to change the topic and see how that helped things out in the long run. Maybe that was what they needed. "Qrow, I need to..." His voice trailed off for a moment as James just did his best to collect his thoughts before going forward. He wanted to sound right to Qrow, and he wanted desperately to make it sound like he wasn't actually that upset by everything that was going on at the moment. "I need to get used to having people on that side..." James squeezed his eyes shut and took in a breath that was a little too deep before continuing. "I have to get used to having people on my right side eventually."

"I still should have asked." Qrow shifted and turned his body so that he faced James directly now. Neither of them commented on it, and James just did his best to turn his body as well so that he and Qrow could look at each other directly and actually deal with things this way. "Look, if something's wrong you can say so."

"There's nothing wrong." James answered Qrow a little too calmly. "I..." He paused. "Maybe we should move on from this. I think we'll end up talking in circles about how I shouldn't feel bad and you shouldn't feel bad either."

Qrow blinked and stared up at him with those red eyes that looked entirely too gentle. How anyone could make red eyes look gentle, James didn't know, but somehow Qrow could.

There were a lot of things about Qrow that didn't quite make perfect sense to James.

That was one of the things that he liked about Qrow.

"Is there something else that you wanted to talk about then, Jim?" Qrow asked. He crossed his legs under him and made himself comfortable, but he did let some of his weight get held up by his arms as he leaned forward into the plush couch slightly. "Because..."

"Yeah." James cut Qrow off before he could finish. "I wanted to ask if there was anything in particular that you wanted to do while you were in in Atlas." He knew that probably wasn't the absolute best question that he could ask Qrow, but it was all that James could think of to bring up as a topic. There was no way that Qrow had agreed to come out to Atlas for no reason other than to sleep in a bed for a while.

There had to be something else.

Qrow's expression sank, and he looked away from James. there was even a moment where it looked like Qrow was doing his best to hide behind his dark hair so that he didn't have to breach something uncomfortable. "Yeah." he finally said, after a very long pause that seemed to stretch on for eternities. "I need to be able to go and see my sister sometime."

James paused. He remembered Qrow telling him about his sister once way back, but he hadn't paid it the most attention. Mostly he'd been too caught up in his own head to really follow Qrow's story about how his family was kind of a mess. "Yeah?" He asked, quietly. "Is there-"

"I'm going to need to do some stuff first." Qrow said, sounding almost confident. "She works up at Junior's club on most nights, which... Yeah, Junior's pretty good to us. I need to thank him again the next chance I get." The thin man shook his head, and James just decided that the best thing that he could do for Qrow was lean in and listen along. Qrow deserved that.

"Well," James began, weighing his words carefully before he asked them. "Is there anything in particular that you need to do other than get into contact with her?"

Qrow stared into space- seemingly almost afraid to bring up whatever was on his mind. James had to fight not to question it too much, and just relaxed as much as he could. Finally, Qrow spoke up, his voice lower in volume than James had ever heard it before and a certain tension running through his body that James didn't think he'd ever seen in Qrow before.

"Yeah." He finally said. "I'm..." Qrow paused and pushed his hair back out of his face with his right hand- the motion looked too rough. James couldn't help but imagine that it hurt, at least on some level. There was no way that was painless. "When I see her she tends to get me in a bad headspace, Jim." Qrow and his eyes met. "I'm going to... I need for you to lock the liquor cabinet up real good, James."

James was almost taken aback by Qrow's request. He hadn't imagined that he would be getting that sort of request from Qrow for anything. Most days he didn't think that Qrow even talked to anyone about what he was thinking about and what was in his head. James had always figured that Qrow was a bit of a heavy drinker, but how bad it was tended to be an issue in itself.

There was something wrong there that James had always been afraid to even try to breach or address.

"You want me to do that?" James asked, keeping his volume low since he was sure that Qrow was going to need the quiet too. "Because I can do that but I have to wonder..." He swallowed. This wasn't his place to say. "Are you sure going to see your sister is a good idea if she tends to make you feel that way?"

"It's not a good idea." Qrow said, sitting up properly and staring up at a spot on the wall that was over James' shoulder. "But she's my twin sister, I can't just go ahead and forget about her. If she needs me, I've gotta be there for her, and I need to tell her some things." Qrow shook his head and his eyes dropped down to his hands where they rested just in front of Qrow's body. "She needs to know this."

James felt trepidation beginning to creep up his spine. He was afraid to mention what was going on- afraid to breach the topic. He needed to give Qrow what comfort he could about everything, but James was beyond certain that he wasn't going to be able to do quite enough to help.

"What's going on, Qrow?"

Qrow sucked in a deep breath and spoke. "I've told you that Raven is Yang's mom, right?"

"Yes." James answered, deciding that the best thing he could do for Qrow as to just take a back seat and let the other man lead the conversation.

"Right." Qrow paused. "She kind of ran off on Tai and Summer back when Yang was a baby. Nobody quite ever figured out what was wrong, but she ran and we have missed her ever since." Qrow shook his head again. "Ever since, Raven's been kind of... taboo in the house. It's hard on Summer and Tai, especially when Yang asks about her, but it's for the best."

James couldn't miss the sadness that tinged Qrow's voice for a second. He wasn't sure that anyone alive could have missed that sadness. "How does it make you feel?"

"I miss her." Qrow admitted bluntly. "She's my goddamn twin and they want me to just act like she doesn't exist, and now that they know that Raven's still kicking around, well..." A shrug. "It puts me in an awkward spot, we'll put it that way, Jim."

James' heart ached for Qrow. He knew what it felt like to have an awkward home life, but to be put in a position like the one that Qrow was in was something else entirely. He knew that there probably wasn't any way to actually comfort Qrow over all of this, but the least that he could do was make an attempt to help his friend.

"I understand." James swallowed- it wasn't entirely true. "I think I understand."

"Thanks, Jim." Qrow huffed quietly and tried to relax, but it was clear that it wasn't going to work. James expected that- there was probably nothing that was going to be enough to help him relax until all of this business that he was caught up in the middle of was cleared up. "Point is, they know that she's around now and I have to..." Qrow swallowed visibly. "I have to do my best to let her know that I'm not the only one that knows she's around anymore..."

James reached out and gently took Qrow's hand, re-establishing physical contact between the two of them. It was all that he could think of to do for his friend at this point. "What do you think happens now?"

Qrow didn't look over at him. He didn't even react to James' touch. James figured that made sense, the guy was probably a bit too caught up in his own head. "She probably runs again." Qrow mumbled finally. "I just don't want to go through that shit again, you know? It was hard enough the first time."

"I'm sorry." James said, so quietly that it had to be hard to so much as hear. "You don't deserve this." Deep down, James felt bad for saying that. He was sure that Qrow was already of the opinion that he didn't deserve this sort of thing, but James couldn't think of anything else to say to Qrow about it. How could one truly comfort another with regards to a situation so awful?

Qrow squeezed his hand. James said nothing to his friend, just gently returned the squeeze with an even grip. There wasn't really anything that was going to be enough to make most of the awkwardness go away from what was happening. There wasn't any proper form of comfort that James could give Qrow.

The two of them sat together there on James' couch for a while, hands locked together and mostly in silence as Qrow just took the time to try and clear his head up with everything that was going on. After a while, Qrow shifted slightly and tried to rest himself up against James' side, and James very tentatively allowed it. He was sure that Qrow was going to be able to feel everything, but Qrow needed that touch right now.

It was the least that James could do.

If Qrow felt the metallic hardness of James' right side, he didn't say anything. He just laid there and tried to relax, and James knew that it probably wasn't going to be enough. Nothing was going to be enough to calm his friend down in all likelihood- and James was fairly certain that he and Qrow both knew that.

"Qrow-" He finally spoke up, nearly choking on his friend's name the entire time. "-Look, if you have to see her, just... do what you can to get into contact with her first, and I'll do whatever you need me to in order to make sure that you're able to have your meeting."

Qrow blinked and turned his head to look up at James. He didn't say anything again, mostly just nodded. James couldn't help but worry for what had to be going through his friend's head in that moment. The possibility that Qrow was going to end up feeling the need to hit the bottle was something that had already been discussed between the two of them.

It was entirely likely that Qrow was there already mentally and just didn't want to voice that thought.

That was okay. If Qrow got that bad, then James could be there to help him through whatever started flitting through his head.

Slowly, Qrow turned his body so that he could rest his head on James' shoulder. James swallowed nervously since he was sure that Qrow was going to be able to feel every connecting point of metal at that point in the evening. There were few things that were more nerve-wracking about the entire situation, but James just did his best to offer Qrow comfort.

There was some small part of him that was just pretty sure that he owed Qrow for all of the help that he'd gotten from the other man anyways. This was just a chance to even out.

After what felt like an eternity, Qrow spoke. His voice was ragged and he just sounded exhausted. "I'm going to get ahold of her sometime, Jim." Qrow whispered. "Just right now I feel like I need to be able to get my head straight and relax."

James nodded slowly and raised a hand to gently stroke Qrow's hair out of his face. It was perhaps a touch too intimate, but he was just doing what he felt like he could to help. "You can stay here for as long as you need, Qrow." He paused, realizing in full what he had just implied. But James was pretty sure that was something he was going to be okay with. "You know that the guest room is always open."

Qrow blinked and shifted. James pulled his hand away from Qrow's head, almost like he had just been shocked and stayed as calm as he could manage when Qrow looked up into his eyes in search of something that he couldn't quite name. "Mean it?"

"Yeah." James forced out a response. "I gave Winter the same courtesy and..." He stopped himself for a beat just so that he could figure out what he was actually trying to say. "You aren't like her but I figure the least I can do is offer you a proper bed to stay in while you're out here."

For the first time, Qrow actually laughed. It wasn't long or particularly loud- rather, it was the kind that seemed to get caught in his throat as he tried to think of something to say. When Qrow did finally speak, James wasn't surprised at all by it.

"You're allowed to say that you like having me around, you know that, right Jimmy?"

"Yeah." James smirked just slightly. "You know I don't like being called that, right Qrow?"

"Yeah, I do." Qrow shifted and turned again, this time so that he was able to face James directly. "Thank you, Jim."

Qrow shook his head, and James couldn't help but to smile at the way that the man's hair flopped down into his face. It was a good look on him, but James couldn't help the thought that there was absolutely no way that Qrow would be able to fare well in the realm of professional business. He was glad to have Qrow there, regardless.

Terrible nicknames that he hated included.

"Yeah," Qrow finally said again. "I know you hate the nickname Jim." Their eyes separated, and Qrow stared off to somewhere else. James reached out and touched Qrow's hand. Qrow opened his hand and James just slipped his hand into Qrow's.

"And yet you keep using it." James answered with a slight smirk. "I don't know why you do, though."

Qrow shrugged and relaxed in against James' side. "Well, you know-" He began with a low chuckle on his voice. "I like the fact that it gets a rise out of you when I use it." Qrow paused, gluing his eyes onto James' face from the awkward angle he was lying in. "I know that you don't like it, and I even think I have a pretty good idea as to why you don't like it." There was another pause, and something indistinguishable that neither of them wanted to breach lingered there in the silence.

Something that they were both afraid of.

"Well," James said quietly. "Regardless, I still hate it."

Qrow smirked and shook his head again. For a second, he looked over at James and it almost felt like the entire world stopped then. He almost had to remind himself to even be able to breathe, and then he felt Qrow shift again, still against his side. At this point, there was no way that Qrow wasn't aware of the fact that James' entire right side was mostly metal.

He'd been pressed into James for more than long enough to try and figure it out.

But Qrow said nothing, and that was probably the best thing that James could have hoped for.

When the other man raised a hand to cup the side of James' cheek, James had to fight back the desire to pull away and run or hide over the whole thing. This wasn't simple, but it needed to be taken care of. But at the same time, James was content to let the issue sit until they figured out what they wanted to do with all of it.

"Qrow?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he tried to breach a topic that they were both wanting to deal with.

"Yeah?" Qrow asked, turning further so that he was almost straddling James' leg. James swallowed and tried not to mention it- the closeness.

"What are you-"

"I want to-"

"Qrow-"

"Can we?"

Silence again. James was going to have to give the other man an answer, as hard as finding the right words for it tended to be. He would get there though, he was going to be able to deal with Qrow. The request was simple, one that had been asked before, but always in different contexts.

Usually James would have said no, but the last time that they'd been together, on the couch as they were now...

Well, that had somehow managed to change everything. It had made him feel like it was worth it to be there and to say yes. Things were going to end sooner or later, but for now James was content to enjoy himself while things lasted. He was going to be glad to just take it in.

Sure, it was going to hurt even worse when it was finally time for it to end, but for now, he could deal with what was going on.

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before he nodding. It was all that he could manage to do, it was all that he could think to do. There were no words for what he wanted to say or do, and so all that he could do was nod and hope that Qrow was going to be glad to go with it.

And it was Qrow, so of course he was.

Qrow leaned in and pressed his lips against James', and James didn't move to push him back. He just let himself relax as much as he could and took in the kiss. He tried to ignore the fact that Qrow was there so close. The fact that Qrow was straddling his leg wasn't what he wanted to think about.

It was a kiss- it was all in good fun. The fact that Qrow was fisting his hands in James' shirt was something that James could ignore, just for a little while. The voice in his head that told him that this was a terrible, terrible idea was also something that he could forget, just for a little while.

Instead, James tried to focus on the little things. He tried to focus on Qrow's scent- earthy, and the feelling of his lips- slightly chapped and rough, but not unpleasant.

When they pulled away, it was Qrow that led in that.

James didn't look up into his friend's eyes because he didn't know what was going to end up coming out of it if he did. He needed that slight amount of separation, as small and hard to believe as it may have been. It was nothing like what James really needed- closer to a thin veneer of being okay than anything else.

Neither of them talked about what had just happened because neither of them wanted to talk about it.

Qrow sat back, balancing himself on the balls of his feet and resting his body so that most of his weight was supported in his legs. James couldn't help the way that his gaze lingered on Qrow's body for far too long, or the way that his stomach began to churn at the knowledge of what was happening.

He closed his eyes and swallowed, hoping that he was going to be okay.

"Jim." Qrow spoke finally, his voice quiet. "You still with me?"

"Yeah." James managed to say, his voice just barely above a whisper. "I am."

"You okay?"

"I think so." James mumbled quietly. This wasn't easy, and James knew fully well that it was never going to be easy. Not really. "Just a little bit lost."

Qrow laughed and leaned in, kissing James again. This time it was incredibly short lived before Qrow finally pulled away and climbed off of the couch. "It's fine, Jim."

They both paused, afraid to say anything about what else was going on.

Deep down, James was sure that the both of them were probably aware of the fact that any dynamic that they had for work had just gotten thrown off almost entirely. Now they were going to have more to deal with, and much much more that could go wrong.

The attachment that was forming between the two of them was dangerous, and they were both fully aware of that fact.

James didn't know why neither of them tried to stop it or cut it off.

They'd figure it out someday, in theory. Someday they might have figured everything out that they needed to deal with.