Part 5

Tai finally crawled home, exhausted from work at the security firm and ready to deal with the three girls.

The term "sleepover" may have been mentioned and Tai firmly shot it down saying that "pulling this on me at the last minute isn't how I taught you girls," which got appropriately shamefaced responses. Qrow helped Tai start dinner, cursed when he melted a spatula and swore his bad luck was just begging to screw up the rest of the evening.

Then Clover showed up.

Tai looked at Clover, glanced at Qrow, saw an overnight bag in Clover's car, and then rounded on Qrow.

"How bad is it that you're going to get laid?"

Qrow sputtered as Clover burst out laughing.

"No," Clover assured, "No disasters tonight. I'm just going to get Qrow into a different locale, knock some sense into him, then stay over to make sure he's okay. Nothing more."

Tai glanced to Clover, then turned some hard eyes on Qrow. "No more disaster, you bisexual disaster."

At least somewhat more composed, Qrow shrugged it off with a fake nonchalance. "Can't help it if everyone finds me hot."

Tai chuckled. "Go on."

Clover took Qrow out to a restaurant, a fancy they sat down, Qrow offered a hooded look. "If you're going to wine and dine me, you need to forget the wine."

Clover smirked. "Unless you plan on getting drunk on the penne alla vodka, you're not in too much danger."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow. "You know, in college I would have called that a challenge."

Clover chuckled. "I would have watched."

"Seriously, Clover, I know you're not interested in me," he said, taking a sip of his water. "That disaster to end all disasters shoved that home pretty thoroughly. I swear, I don't know why you agreed to still be my sponsor."

Clover ran a hand through his red hair, slicking it back. "It's part of the job," he said softly. "To be a good sponsor, I need to give you a lot of support and validation. That's attractive in a partner. It's not the first time someone I've sponsored fell for me. It won't be the last. I understand therapists have similar issues. You understood the boundaries and haven't violated it since. Why shouldn't I keep being your sponsor?"

Qrow smirked. "So you always say. And the dinner?"

Clover waved that question away. "Friends can go out and have dinner," he replied. "You and Tai, remember? Tai's about as straight as an arrow, right?"

"Hah! Straighter," he took a sip. "Didn't understand I was hitting on him till Raven explained a few things."

"That must have been quite the conversation."

"That's putting it mildly."

They laughed and kept conversing as dinner was served. (Qrow chose to avoid the penne alla vodka.) It was all banter, stories, happier times. By the time their plates had been cleared, Qrow leaned back with a smile. "I haven't felt this good in almost a month."

"Mission accomplished. Now, desert?"

Qrow raised a brow. "I thought you didn't want to sleep with me."

Clover offered a wide grin. "I may not, but someone wants to get laid."

He frowned. "Things were going good. Did you have to bring up that fuck up with Oz?"

"You need to talk about it."

Qrow shrugged. "What's there to talk about? We were texting back and forth and I shoved my foot so far down my mouth it came out my ass. I'm just lucky he let that slide."

"I think you'd rather do the sliding, particularly involving an ass."

"What?"

"Or maybe you'd rather be the ass with something sliding in?"

"Clover!"

"Ah, so you prefer blowjobs to penetration?"

Qrow dropped his head to the table. "Just stop."

Clover gave a gentle chuckle. "Did I go too deep into innuendo?"

"Fuck my life."

"So glad you brought up this Ozpin guy. Quite the intellectual," Clover glanced at the screenshots on his phone. "Pontificating on how to actually have sex with a life? Why haven't you actually had him suck your dick?"

"I am not having this conversation."

"Not here, no," Clover agreed. "Like I said, I'm spending the night at your place and we're going to get your head on straight. Or rather get your head on gay."

Qrow groaned. Fuck his life. Fuck his life with barbed wire wrapped around a sword.

The ride back to his apartment was blissfully quiet. And Qrow gave himself the time to recover whatever dignity he had left and to shove shame and embarrassment into a closet to never be pulled out again.

"Okay," Qrow said, shutting the door behind him. "We're home. Now what the hell have you been talking about?"

Clover sat on the couch and sprawled like he owned it with his usual confidence. He looked over with seriousness instead of his usual flirty banter. "Qrow, it's hard for you to reach out, and when you do, it's to a very small number of people. Usually just me and your brother-in-law."

"Yeah. And?"

Clover put his head in his hands. "Qrow, you reached out to Ozpin. That means you have added him to your very, very small and exclusive club of people you care about."

Qrow dropped into his recliner. "It's not like that," he said softly. "He has a biological son. He's definitely straight. He was married to a woman. A psycho woman, but a woman. And it's not like I even know the details of that."

"But you want to."

Qrow looked away. "Sort of. Just so I know where the triggers are. His hair went white in a year. He has a hard time walking. The last thing he needs is me bulldozing through with my bad luck disaster."

Clover narrowed his eyes. "Do you try and be this considerate of your coworkers?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

Clover let out a long sigh. "Do you worry about your bad luck and disaster energy messing with your colleagues the same way?"

"They're not damaged like Oz is."

Leaning back, Clover ran a hand through his hair, not to slick it back, but in clear frustration. Finally he crossed his arms.

"Different track," he said, looking Qrow right in the eyes. "You know your parents were abusive, right?"

"Yeah, you know I do. I told you they were."

"And you know that your sister is abusive."

"No, she's just a manipulative bitch."

"Ahhh, that's the problem." Clover tilted his head back, thinking. "Do you know that you've survived trauma?"

Qrow looked through hooded eyes. "What do you think?" he asked with bitter sarcasm.

"At this point, I need an honest answer."

"Yes, I survived trauma. What our parents did…. Listening for footsteps and stopping what we were doing to see they were coming closer or further away… I've seen how Tai is raising Ruby and Yang. It wasn't normal or right what we grew up with and it messed us up. Raven's still messed up. That's why she's in jail."

Clover nodded. "So your parents were abusive and you've survived trauma."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that's what I just said."

"So you were blackout drunk all the time after you escaped your parents?"

"No, why are you-" Qrow stared at Clover, wide-eyed. "No," he said firmly. "I- no, I was upset after what happened with Raven and what happened to the Poledinas. I wasn't… I didn't…. No."

Clover leaned over and put a hand on Qrow's knee. "Trauma comes in all shapes and forms. Drinking... The kind of hard drinking you were doing… That was a classic sign of bad-coping with a trauma of abuse."

"Raven't wouldn't-"

"Children of abuse can often repeat the cycle of abuse," Clover was all gentle tones and soft wording. "You chose to leave the cycle. You saw a reason to leave that cycle. She hasn't yet."

Qrow's head was spinning, he never would have called his own sister abusive, but… no, it couldn't be, could it? Clover never met Raven, he didn't know what she was like, how it was between the two of them…

"People in abusive situations are very good at the mental acrobatics needed to excuse it all away and not see things as they are." Clover offered a small, bright smile. "It's why you're such a disaster. You're good at turning your thoughts around to make excuses or turn something into what it isn't. You couldn't see Raven as abusive, only as a manipulative bitch. You can't see you're interested in this Ozpin, you can only see someone you just like."

"Wait, how are we back at Oz?"

Clover leaned back. "Because people who survive trauma and abuse are good at self-delusion. And you're deluding yourself into thinking that you aren't falling in love with this guy. We've talked about him before, you've shared some of the texts you've sent, hell, you spent the night there to give him help, saw his son off to school, and stayed to get him to talk about things instead of bottling them up. You babysit his son frequently, you regularly talk at school and banter and joke. Qrow, it's obvious. You're interested."

"But he's straight."

"That's the self-delusion," Clover said, smiling and pointing. "Has he stated, right out, that he is only interested in women? You're bi-sexual Qrow. Don't fall to bi-erasure as well. He married a woman. Yeah. So what? He could be bi like you. Have you even asked?"

If Qrow thought his head was spinning before, it was a whirlwind now.

"Now," Clover said, completely self-satisfied. "You have plenty to think about and reflect on. Ignore that sister-stuff, that's going to get you to want to drink and I'm here to stop that. Think about how you feel for that guy and revel in happiness."

Qrow could feel the headache coming.


Tai watched the girls get on the bus from the front window, saying his daily prayer as the yellow monstrosity left with a plume of exhaust cycling into the frigid air. Glancing at the clock, he saw the bus had been right on time, so he grabbed his backpack and laptop and moved to the garage, tossing it into his car and locking up before driving out.

Usually, he had an hour to do some quick housework: meal prep, cleaning, getting a round of laundry done and in the dryer before heading off to work. Instead, however, he navigated the pre-sunrise streets deeper into Patch, hooking onto Main, taking a right at the bank, and to Qrow's apartment complex. Seeing Clover with a night bag… Tai worried. He always worried, he couldn't help it.

He buzzed in, knowing Qrow's code for the building and went up to the third floor. He let himself in, knowing Qrow never used the door latch, and saw the shoes by the door. Clover was still here then?

True to form, the sponsor was on the couch, blanket pulled up around his shoulder and one foot dangling precariously over the edge of the cushion. Tai smiled and stepped quietly. A quick glance at the calendar showed that Qrow was at his shift, and he wouldn't be back until almost eight in the morning. Tai winced in sympathy - that gave him three hours sleep before he went to pick the girls. The guy was burning at both ends sometimes, and that made Tai worry more.

Sighing, he stuck his head in Qrow's room. It was a mess, like the guy's life, and Tai started picking up clothes and sorting through towels and candy wrappers and empty cans of soda. At least it wasn't something harder…

Clover was up shortly after, Tai could hear the morning moans of someone struggling to wake up. Tai stepped out and went to the kitchenette, putting on the coffee and went back to cleaning his brother-in-law's room.

In the span of fifteen minutes he stepped out with a basket of laundry and saw Clover staring at the coffee pot with something like consternation, as if he could will it to go faster.

"Morning."

The sponsor looked up. "Morning, Tai," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "He didn't break this, did he?"

"Don't think so," Tai said, pulling open the pocket door that hid the stackable washer dryer. Ugh, it was going to be at least three loads, how did Qrow do this to himself? "But you never know with his luck."

"Noted."

Tai let the other man wake up a little, starting the first batch and going back to the room to handle the garbage. When all was said and done, two cups of coffee were on the counter, Clover rummaging through the fridge to find cream.

"Sugar's in the cabinet above the fridge now," he said, "I'll be right back." Tai left the apartment with not only the bedroom garbage but also the bin by the kitchen counter, going down three flights, outside to the dumpster, and then back up the three flights. The coffee was ready, and Clover was rubbing more sleep out of his face, muscles rippling under his shirt. Straight or not, Tai was impressed with the build.

"Quite a stock," Clover said, chin jutting to what the girls called the "new baking cabinet."

Tai smiled. "The professor likes to bake," he said, sipping the coffee. Ah, that was perfect. He sat down at the tiny table with Clover. "They spend almost every afternoon together now."

"Wow," Clover said. "Qrow must have it bad."

"He has no idea," Tai agreed.

"When did you know?"

"When he spent a night at the guys house."

"Same."

They lapsed into silence, both sinking into their coffee. It was a very old routine for them - it used to be much more frequent in the darker days, before they were able to pull Qrow out of the worst of it: Qrow would be passed out in his room, Tai having dragged him home and calling Clover or visa versa as they tried to figure out how to get Qrow the help he needed. That first month of detox... This had been almost daily.

"Does he talk to you about him?"

Clover shook his head. "He doesn't need me nearly as much as he used to. You probably know more about the guy than I do. Have you met him?"

"Yeah. Nice guy, way different than what Qrow normally goes for."

Clover smirked. "Before or after going for you?"

Tai winced. "Don't even," he said, "I had no idea."

Clover smirked again, that confident quirk of the lips that made Tai think he had everything under control. "I'd like to meet him," he said, hooking one ankle over the other. "Anyone that can sneak into Qrow's radar and not have him even notice has to be something."

"It's the disaster energy," Tai said, sipping his coffee. "That or his luck."

"Probably both." Clover paused, green eyes narrowing slightly. "He said he met the family yesterday. The Poledinas."

Tai winced. "Yeah… I couldn't get off work, and Qrow kept saying over and over he could handle it. I believe him, now… and I know to push if I get a hint that he couldn't… but it didn't feel right. Was he okay? After, I mean?"

"Not really," Clover replied, sipping his coffee. "Texted me almost a dozen times to keep himself calm. I was with another guy in crisis so I couldn't answer, and instead he texted the professor. Qrow showed me the texts. Guy did his best to be a distraction, and then Qrow's disaster energy started to get thrown around. I spent the night trying to sort through that." He breathed in slowly through his nose, thinking again. "Can I ask a question?" he asked.

Tai blinked, even as he felt his stomach sink. He knew that tone. "Yeah," he said, bracing himself.

"Did you think Raven was abusive?"

Tai blinked, working through first the reaction of hearing the name, then processing the question. "Not at the time," he said. "I mean, we were all college idiots. What did we know about anything? We were kids. It was after she left - well, really it was after Summer…"

Even now, years later, it still hit him all at once: Losing Summer, the downward spiral, waking up one morning and seeing what Yang and Ruby really needed, trying to find Qrow in the darkness he was mired in, meeting Clover, the intervention… "You learn a lot in therapy," he said, voice and memories far away. "Qrow never really got into it. He wasn't ready, I don't think, but the girls and I, we got a lot out of it. Now, today, I can say that she was abusive. The fights we would get into, the way she could never be wrong… you know, I realized in therapy, I don't think she even apologized once in the years I knew her."

Clover nodded. "I might have made Qrow realize it last night," he said.

Tai blinked. "Wait, what?"

Clover shrugged, massive shoulders smoothly going up and down. "I was trying to get him to see how head over heels he was for the professor, but he's still spending a lot of time making excuses for people - including himself. He could say that Raven was a manipulative bitch but it didn't even occur to him that she was as abusive as their parents."

"But… but he was there!"

"And he was piss drunk through about half of it to cope," Clover said. "That's the whole point with addicts: they know on a gut level that they're in pain and they can't face it, that's why they turn to something. Facing something - anything - is hard for them, and they create layer after layer after layer to keep themselves from facing it."

"But I thought we got through all of it," Tai said.

Clover nodded. "We did. But that doesn't mean all those mechanisms were dismantled or went completely away. Qrow can admit that he's scared of commitment, but that doesn't mean he's ready to admit he's into someone. Look at what happened with me. How many times did he say I was the one coming on to him? He might have learned not to do that, but that doesn't mean he had another defense mechanism ready to spring for the next time."

Tai put a hand to his forehead, massaging the oncoming headache. He had to take a long, shaky breath as it slowly dawned on him that Qrow wasn't as well off as he thought he was. "Should I be worried?" he asked, voice pitifully small.

"No," Clover said, looking at his mug. "At least not yet. The professor is the best choice Qrow's made when it comes to relationships, and he's being his usual disaster, but he's trying to make the right choices when it comes to the professor. He's not dismissing advice - though you have to hit him with a brick before he realizes it is advice."

Tai snorted. "That's Qrow."

"Yes it is." Clover took another sip of his coffee, then grabbed his phone. Tai realized it was vibrating. "My crisis from yesterday," he said. "Duty calls."

Tai looked at the clock. "I gotta go, too," he said, quickly finishing his mug and putting it in the sink. "Hey," he added, turning around. "Come by sometime. The girls would love to see you."

Clover smiled and winked. "Sure thing. Conveniently when the professor's there, hopefully."

Tai laughed. "It would be just Qrow's luck."

"Take care."

"You, too."


Weiss asked to be dropped off two streets away from the Xiao Long household. It was, perhaps, silly, but she didn't want the address of her new friends(?) home to be parroted back to her father. Mother wouldn't care, but then, she didn't care about very much these days. She sighed, wished Winter had replied to her email for the umpteenth time, and straightened her spine.

The weather was ice cold, and she held her coat close as she walked down the salted sidewalk, around the corner, and down two streets before arriving at her destination. Ruby must have been watching for her, she came bursting out of the house - no coat - and shouting: "You're here, you're here! We were afraid you wouldn't come!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "After all the effort you put into arranging this stupid thing? Really!"

That, and - well, she hadn't exactly told her dad she was going to a sleepover. Just left a note for Klein to find (maybe at the personal assistant's suggestion). She had sleepwear, deodorant, perfume, homework, shampoo and soap, everything she could think of for her first sleepover.

"Come on come on," Ruby said, grabbing her arm and tugging. "Dad's already started cooking and Uncle Qrow is staying with us until he has to leave for his shift. Blake's already here and showed us some of the books she reads and she brought her mobile gaming system. Yang's pulling out the sleeping bags and I'm looking forward to fighting over what movie we're going to see."

Weiss stared at Ruby flatly as they moved into the garage and through the back door to the kitchen. "Fight over what movie we're going to see?" she asked. … Why had she agreed to do this again?

"Yeah," Mr. Xiao Long said, standing over the stove and in a pink frilly apron. What…? "It's a long family tradition. You should have seen the fights Qrow and Summer would get in over what movie we saw."

"Yep," Mr. Qrow said from somewhere in the house. "Action movie versus romantic comedy - fight for the ages. Ha! I win again!"

"No fair!"

A dog barked from somewhere, and Weiss and Ruby followed the noise to the living room, seeing Blake and Yang and Qrow playing some kind of video game. Weiss shifted her weight, uncertain what the protocol was for setting her bags down for a sleepover. Blake looked up, saw her standing there, and got up from the couch. "Here," she said, "I'll show you where our stuff goes."

"Thank you," Weiss said gratefully. They moved down a hall to the bedrooms. Weiss saw the larger bed of the master bedroom - Mr. Xiao Long's then - and then across was a bedroom with two beds smooshed on opposite sides of the room - a nightstand and window between them. To the side was an open closet with clothes spilling out of it and a double-wide bureau, drawers in scattered states of open.

"This place is a pigsty," she said as Blake motioned to the black backpack stuffed in one corner of the room.

"I feel sorry for you if you think this is a pigsty," Blake said, a smile on her face. "You should see Adam's room."

"Is that your boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

Weiss made a noise of disgust. "If I let my room get this bad…" She didn't bother to finish the sentence.

"Same," Blake said. "Mom would kill me. Good thing we're not them, right?"

Weiss smiled, a little, and placed her things next to Blake's. "What's the first item on the agenda?"

Blake shook her head. "There is no agenda," she said, not unkindly. "Not for a sleepover. We talk, we have fun, we play games, we stay up late if we can."

"I see," Weiss said. "Where does homework fit in?"

"Usually at the last minute on the bus to school," Blake said. "Unless you already did it ahead of time like I did."

Weiss nodded, starting to get a feel for the evening. "Very well," she said. "Do I assume we go back to the living room?"

"Yeah. Are you much of a gamer?"

"Not really."

"Then we'll cheer Yang and Ruby to beat Mr. Qrow," Blake said, nodding. "Or we can read."

"Sounds like the perfect time to do homework," Weiss said, crouching down and getting her notebook.

For the next hour she figured out how to concentrate through the exclamations of the Xiao Long family as they gamed, Blake next to her either reading or texting her boyfriend, the dog - Zwei - curled on Weiss' lap. It was loud, and Weiss found it hard to concentrate, but she couldn't begrudge the noise, either, because it was always playful teasing or laughing or smiles. It was happy noise, and as quiet as the Schnee house was she much preferred that to when the house was noisy. If it was noisy that meant Father was in a bad mood, and nobody in the house wanted that. More than once Yang or Ruby would make some kind of declaration and Weiss had to hold in a snort. The two were funny, in their own way. Mr. Xiao Long came in once or twice, frilly apron still on, to add a comment or mention them to pipe down, which were summarily ignored. Weiss couldn't understand how they could ignore their father so readily, but she was afraid to ask at the same time.

Blake made a face at her phone.

"What's up?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing," she said. "He wants… nothing." She got up and went down the hall, the sound of a door closing.

"Okay guys!" Mr. Xiao Long said from the kitchen. "Curry's ready!"

"Yes!" Ruby and Yang said at the same time, arms pumping into the air. All gaming was immediately abandoned, Mr. Qrow was left to power the system down while Weiss folded up her homework and followed the sisters into the kitchen. The table was utterly tiny compared to the one at home, two chairs were folding chairs to make room, and corners were used to make it all work. Mr. Xiao Long had a pot in the middle of a table, a ladle and a pile of bowls next to it.

"First!" Ruby shouted, grabbing the ladle.

"No, I'm first!"

"Girls! We have guests!"

"Oh, right. Blake? Where'd she go?"

"Doesn't matter, Weiss, you're first! Hurry up!"

Weiss noted the tradition and wondered if it was normal or specific to the Xiao Long family. She took a bowl - trying not to notice the chip in the side - and gave herself two ladle-fulls. The dog ran under the table, panting happily.

"Aw, only two?" Ruby said. "That's so small."

"That's so smart," Mr. Xiao Long corrected. "At least someone knows how to portion meals so I'm not eaten out of house and home. Weiss, pass the ladle clockwise, okay?"

Weiss nodded and gave it to Ruby, who moaned pitifully before taking two ladles of curry, then Mr. Xiao Long, then Yang, then Blake who just arrived, then Mr. Qrow.

"There, see? Now there's enough for seconds."

"Only if we have dinner rolls," Yang said pointedly.

"Don't worry, timer's on."

"You'd better worry," Mr. Qrow said. "I'm in the room, remember?"

"... Maybe you're right."

"Okay," Weiss said, "Explain that to me. This isn't the first time someone's made that kind of comment."

"That's because Uncle Qrow is a bad-luck magnet," Yang said sagely. "It goes along with his title. He makes sure life is never boring."

"And the complicated rules about serving?"

Everyone shrugged except the adults. "Been doing it since we were kids," Ruby said.

"I started it because you two would fight over food," Mr. Xiao Long said, pulling out a pan of dinner rolls. "First ice cream, then soup, then fried chicken. Your mom got tired of the fighting and made the rules. I added the portion part, though, because I was tired of going to the grocery store every other day to refill the fridge. Then they got wise and tried to rig the game."

"Just like I taught them," Mr. Qrow said, lifting his soda in salute.

"Oh, sure, take credit for all the trouble they get in."

"Got to, it's part of my image."

"And what about mine?"

"You're too embarrassing to have an image, Dad."

"I am not embarrassing!"

Weiss tried to chip in: "Says the man in a woman's apron."

But the entire table fell silent.

Weiss felt immediate anxiety, looking around at everyone. Only Blake seemed just as confused as Weiss, and she felt her back starting to stiffen.

Mr. Xiao Long sighed and put a hand on the frilly thing. "Sorry, Weiss. This was Summer's."

Ruby's mom. "... Oh," she said, looking down. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," Mr. Xiao Long said, getting up and untying the apron. "I don't need it now that we're eating, right?"

Ruby and Yang seemed to immediately recover - another thing Weiss just didn't understand, and in seconds the conversation was loud and lively. A glance at Blake - her only real metric - indicated this was normal and to not question it. Shrugging, she had a taste of the curry: it was delicious, better than the cook's and she asked what the secret ingredient was.

"Love, obviously!" Mr. Xiao Long said brightly.

"Oh, come on, Dad, that's so corny!"

"Only thing Tai can manage is corny," Mr. Qrow said, before choking on his next bite.

"Oh, sorry, that must be the arsenic."

"Keep talking, and I tell the girls what Summer and I had to go through to get you lai-"

"Say another word and you're never eating here again."

"Ooooo, now I want to know the story! Dad, what's the story?"

"Ruby, it's not fit for little girls-"

"Good thing we're teenagers, then, huh, Dad?"

"No, you are not hearing this story-"

"Well, you see, girls, we were in college…"

"Give me your curry right now. You're not finishing it!"

Everyone was laughing, and it was boisterous, and Weiss couldn't help laughing with it.


"Friends! Comrades! Weiss!"

"Hey!"

"We've done the movie fight and the movie. We've done the gaming. We've done the supper. We've even done the homework thanks to Weiss being a wet blanket."

"Hey!"

"What should we do next?"

"Read?"

"Besides that, Blake," Ruby whined. "Reading is so quiet."

Blake leveled a flat glare before sighing and changing her option. "Spin the bottle?"

"No," Weiss and Yang said simultaneously. Weiss might not know much about sleepovers but she knew that.

Ruby, it seemed, was not that savvy. "Wait, I don't get it, I've never heard of that game."

"The name kind of explains it, Ruby," Yang explained. "You spin some kind of bottle and then kiss the person it points to."

"Oh." Then, "That doesn't sound so bad. We kiss Dad and Uncle Qrow all the time and-"

"On the lips," Weiss said, horrified. "You'd be kissing one of us - even your sister - on the lips."

Ruby blinked once, twice, and made the worst face. "Ew! That's so stupid! Who would come up with a stupid game like that anyway?" She threw an accusatory finger to Blake. "I veto that suggestion! Unilaterally!"

Blake shrugged. "It's more interesting at high school parties anyway," she said, sounding bored.

Weiss and the others all looked to Blake. "You've been to high school parties?"

Blake blinked. "... Yes?"

"Were you okay?" Yang asked. "Some of the stuff they say about high school parties…"

"It was fine. I was with my boyfriend. He made sure nothing happened to me."

"... Okay, then," Ruby said, clapping her hands together. "What about truth or dare?"

"Oh, those can be fun - especially if Uncle Qrow is in on it!"

"No," Weiss said, crossing her arms and sniffing. "Someone will be mean."

"No we won't."

"Yes, you will," Weiss said. "We used to play this when we were kids, and Whitley was always mean, and it never ended well."

"Okay, then," Yang said. "We'll all take a vow." She lifted her right hand. "We solemnly swear not to give a dare or a truth that's mean. Ruby, Blake, make the vow."

"We solemnly swear not to give a dare or a truth that's mean," they said, mostly in unison.

Weiss sighed, knowing she wasn't going to win this and not looking forward to it. "Fine," she said. "Who goes first."

"Me, me!" Ruby said, raising her hand. He pointed to her sister. "Truth or dare!"

"Truth!"

"What's-wait, that's mean. Who did you-no. When was your first-Weiss, you're making this hard!" She crossed her arms and thought. "Okay! Have you had your first kiss yet? That isn't mean, right?"

"No, but it's embarrassing," Yang said, rolling her eyes. Then she smirked and ran a hand through her golden locks. "I have though."

"Wait, really? And you didn't tell me?"

"No second questions," Yang said, shaking a finger. "Blake: truth or dare?"

"... Dare," she said after a thought.

"Great! I dare you to ask Uncle Qrow what his title is."

"All right girls, I'm off to my shift. Thought saying goodnight won't crimp my style too much." All four girls froze to see the topic of the dare come right into the bedroom. He leaned against the frame, smooth and rugged at the same time, and then he winked. "Got any questions?"

"Uh," Blake said, cheeks bright pink. Ruby and Yang were snickering, and Weiss was starting to wonder if this was going to be mean after all with the way they were giggling. "What's… what's your title?" Blake finally asked.

Mr. Qrow winked again, putting a hand on his hip. "Thought the girls already told you," he said smoothly. "I'm a bi-disaster. See ya!"

He shut the door.

Weiss asked the most obvious question: "How did he do that?"

"It's his cool-uncle energy," Yang said, nodding sagely. "We don't even question it anymore. Blake, hurry up."

Blake shook her head, still blushing, gold eyes darting around. "Weiss," she said, recrossing her leg. "Truth or dare?"

Weiss considered. The dare wasn't technically "bad" but if that was the bar they were setting she wasn't comfortable with it. "... Truth," she decided on.

Blake nodded, eyes narrow as she thought. "What are you most afraid of?" she asked.

Weiss froze, because her first answer wasn't one she was ever allowed to say. She frowned, trying to think of a more appropriate second option that could still count, but Ruby was already pointing. "See that?" she said, "She's about to lie! No lying Weiss! You asked for truth! You can't lie!"

Honestly, she was such a child! Weiss crossed her arms again and huffed. "I was not," she immediately denied.

"Then what are you most afraid of? Is it spiders? Bad grades? Being poor?"

"I'm afraid of my father!" Weiss snapped. Then she heard herself and froze. The others froze, too, blinking almost in unison and then staring. Weiss shrank back, uncertain what was going to happen next.

"What do you mean by that?" Blake asked, her eyes narrow but somehow not judgmental. Just… shrewd. "My dad can be plenty scary when he's mad, but he's not my worst fear. I mean, he yells when he's mad, but not to the point where I'm… where I'm that afraid. Afraid to the point where that's the first thing I'd think of for a game like this."

"What's that even like?" Ruby asked. "To be afraid of a dad?"

And now Weiss had to explain, and she fumbled, worrying her hands and taking several false starts. She frowned, opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, trying to find the words. "Picture… picture dinner," she said. "Earlier. How loud it was. Picture that coming from one person. And it isn't happy."

Silence. Weiss listened to the silence and she wondered if she had said too much. She was afraid to see their faces, to know what they were thinking after she had admitted this. She'd never admitted any of this. It was always implicitly understood that you Did Not Talk about the things that went on at home, and she hadn't even brought up her mother or Whitley. But sometimes… sometimes she just wanted to shout about it from on high, announce to the whole world this is what my life is like and have someone say that must be terrible. And it was a silly idea, really, because it wasn't like he-

"Has he ever hit you?" Blake again.

"Only once," Weiss said, and her voice was so small. "When I was ten. But it was my fault - my birthday party was too loud when he came home, and he'd had a Bad Day, and he was in a Bad Mood, and-"

Two hands filled her vision, reaching out and grabbing her wrists. Startled, she looked up, saw they were attached to Ruby and Yang, Blake taking their free hands in turn. Something was happening, Weiss wasn't really sure what, she was scared and hopeful at the same time, and she didn't dare breathe.

"I solemnly swear," Ruby said, "That the four of us are sisters. Everyone else needs to say it."

"I solemnly swear," Yang said immediately, "That the four of us are sisters."

"I solemnly swear that the four of us are sisters."

"Weiss, you too."

"I… I solemnly swear that the four of us are… sisters?"

"Good!" Ruby said. "That means our dad is your dad, and Blake's mom is our mom, and your siblings are ours." She nodded, lifting and dropping her hands. The others did the same, Weiss tepidly, still wondering what was happening. Then Ruby got up and left. "Dad," Weiss could hear her say in the hall. "Dad, we have a problem."

"What?" Weiss demanded, all but flying to her feet. "What are you doing?!"

"It's okay," Ruby said brightly. "Because our dad is your dad, and he's great at fixing things."

"You can't fix-"

The door across the hall opened and Mr. Xiao Long was there, in pajama pants and a t-shirt, Zwei was on the bed already asleep. "It's pretty late, girls," he said, "What's wrong?"

Ruby opened her mouth and Weiss was horrified. "Don't say a word!"

"Dad, you told us to tell you when something was really bad, right?" Ruby asked. "Well, we were playing truth or dare, and Weiss picked truth and Blake asked what her biggest fear was and-"

"Don't say it!"

"-and she said her worst fear was her dad."

Weiss froze again, immediately putting her eyes to the floor, holding herself stock still. Her ears were burning, and shame was filling her.

Mr. Xiao Long knelt down, filling her field of vision. He reached out and she flinched automatically. He froze, and his face changed, and his hand lowered. "Weiss, I'm going to ask two questions," he said gently. "I want you to answer them honestly, okay?"

She nodded, afraid to speak.

"What's the worst thing your father's ever said to you?"

She didn't want to admit it. Her eyes snapped to Ruby, standing next to Mr. Xiao Long, and she nodded encouragingly. She looked back down to her bare feet. "... that I'm not worth the investment he's already put in me and that he should disown me to teach me respect because I'm thoughtless and irresponsible and-"

"Okay," Mr. Xiao Long said. "I understand. That must be very hard to hear. I can't even imagine saying something like that to my girls. Now my second question: what's the best thing he's ever said to you?"

Weiss frowned, and she reached through her memory. Winter said she was very smart and capable. Winter said she should be proud of how good her grades were. Winter said... but what about Father… or even Mother…

A hand touched her arm, and she saw Mr. Xiao Long again, and his face was gentle, and he was smiling. "I want to tell you something," he said softly. "This family had to learn the hard way that it takes a lot of courage to admit when you need help. So I mean this from the bottom of my heart: you are very, very brave." He pulled her close and hugged her, and Ruby joined in, and Weiss could see Blake and Yang at the door, nodding and giving thumbs up. Something deep inside her… was melt the right word? She felt breathless, light and warm, and Mr. Xiao Long still held her shoulders even when he let the hug go.

He leveled a long look at Ruby, then Yang. "You four are all asleep," he said. "Make sure of it."

"Got it!" Yang said quickly. "Come on, guys, it's time to go to bed. I'm really, really tired, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby said. "I'm just so tired! Weiss, my pillow is missing, come sleep with me!"

"... What?"

Before Weiss really knew what was going on her sleeping bag was pulled onto Ruby's bed, Ruby herself stuffing Weiss in before climbing into the sliver of bed that was left. Yang turned the lights off and jumped into her own bed, curling in. "Sh," she said. "Remember, we're all asleep."

Weiss was still confused, but Ruby was pressed up against her, effectively pinning her to the wall, and as the quiet descended, Weiss realized she could hear the noises of the house: settling, creaking, a door opening and Mr. Xiao Long walking down the hall to… the kitchen?

"Hello?" he said, "Is this the Schnee residence?"

Weiss gasped. "What-"

"Shh!"

"Hi!" Mr. Xiao Long said from the kitchen. "I wanted to let you know that the girls are now all asleep. They watched cartoon movies and played some games and did their homework. I got the impression Weiss hasn't been to many sleepovers so I wanted-Uh-huh… uh-huh… Okay… Hello Mr. Schnee, I wanted to let you know-Mr. Schnee, the girls are finally asleep… Mr. Schnee… Mr…"

Weiss closed her eyes. She was going to be dragged home for leaving a note with Klein.

And then a funny thing happened. Something in the tone of Mr. Xiao Long changed. "Mr. Schnee," he said, "Weiss gave me the impression that she's been to very few sleepovers in her life… excuse me, Mr. Schnee, but I'm talking from one father to another. How are you talking - from one employer to an employee? ...Okay, as I was saying, from one father to another, Weiss gave the impression she's been to very few sleepovers, and tonight was a good night for her. She was smiling, happy, laughing. She convinced everyone to do their homework first before they got to fun and games, she was the most responsible girl of the bunch, and I thought you would be proud to know that. I also thought, given how few sleepovers she's been to, that you wanted the courtesy call of letting you know that she's asleep - tuckered out from all the fun she's had. It would be a shame to wake her up in the middle of the night just to take her home and put her to bed again, don't you think? ...I can tell you right now no one is going to be up that early - it's a weekend…. No… Uh-huh… No, no, I insist on taking her home myself. The girls are very attached to her, and sleepovers at my place are pretty ritualized anyway… Oh, don't waste your money on sending a driver, I don't mind, we'll drop her off. I'll call when I'm leaving and text when I'm five minutes out. Uh-huh… uh-huh… I'm glad we understand each other, Mr. Schnee."

And then Weiss could hear the click of a phone being put back on the receiver.

A minute later there was a polite knock on the door, the twist of the knob, and a small creak as it opened a crack.

"Coast is clear," he said gently. "Sleep well."

"... It's okay to cry, Weiss."

"Shut up. I'm not crying. You're crying…."


Author's Notes: Otherwise titled: the chapter where the twins realize how cool Tai is. After Clover by obligation steals every scene he's in we get to Tai, and it's in this chapter where we realize he's kind of cool. Somewhere - was it an interview or something? - someone, we think his voice actor, said that Tai had a lot of Big Dad Energy, and when writing this fic and trying to get in his head it became this, like, literal thing. He's one of our favorite support characters in the fic as a result, and he gets to be a Dad to more than just his girls and Qrow. He just stood toe-to-toe to Jacques Schnee and won - that's impressive!

We also get a little preachy here when we talk about abuse. Other fics of ours have dived into our opinions more deeply and we talk in much greater depth. The cliff-notes version is that we're abuse survivors ourselves, we have experience in therapy, and sometimes it bleeds into a fic for good or ill. We don't know if Raven of the show is abusive, but she does not have healthy coping mechanisms or interactions, and is a weak person deep down. Messy a Volume 5 was, that confrontation with Yang in the vault was amazing. Chef's kiss for what we learned about Raven. For the fic - because this is a Make-The-Twins-Feel-Better-During-2020, instead of making our antagonists sympathetic or understandable, we wanted all that emotional energy on the main characters instead. So, if anyone out there are fans of people like Jacques or Adam or Salem, you should probably set your expectations now.

Also, forgot to mention- we finished writing the fic last week. Thirty two chapters and 400 pages on the google doc.

Next chapter: Oscar get's a story arc, and Yang yells at her dad and uncle.