Part Twelve
"Argh! She's with her boyfriend again? Are you kidding me?"
Oscar looked up from his book.
Ruby was already offering a sympathetic look to her sister. "Blake is still too busy to FaceTime?"
"Yeah. Apparently she's having difficulty with her parents so she keeps hanging out with the boyfriend."
Weiss didn't look up from where she was lounging in the sun, bathing in the light. "We're here because I'm having trouble with my parents. I at least have Winter to get me out of there. Blake doesn't have anyone to bring her up here."
"What about this boyfriend?" Yang grumbled. "He just graduated high school. Surely he can drive her up and drop her off?"
Oscar tried to refocus on his book to give them privacy. He never felt comfortable when Ruby and her friends talked amongst themselves. They were kind enough to invite him and his Dad up, but he didn't really feel part of the group. He felt more like a tagalong. So he tried to give them their moment.
"That's it," Yang stood up abruptly. "No more sunbathing. We're dunking each other in the water."
"Yes!" Ruby cheered, fists pumped into the air. "Team Rose Garden versus Team Freezer Burn!" She pointed at her sister and Weiss. "We lost last time! Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! Justice will be delicious!"
Oscar already had his hands up. He wasn't wearing his wetsuit!
But Ruby was already grabbing his arm. "Come on!" she started dragging him to the water.
"Wait, no, hold on!"
"We will avenge ourselves!"
"I'm not-Hang on! I don't have my wetsuit on!"
Ruby turned to him, silver eyes ablaze. "We will be victorious!"
"Wetsuit, Ruby! I need to put it on-"
"Let's go!"
And suddenly he was dunked in the water and Oscar's hands immediately went to his neck to make sure his button up was still covering him and his bandana was still around his neck. "Ruby!" he shouted.
But Ruby was on her sister, trying to get high enough up on her to push her into the water. "Got you!" Weiss shouted from behind him, dunking him under.
He'd barely come up for air, shoving his thick hair out of his eyes when he heard Ruby to his side. "Vengeance!" Then Weiss screamed as she was dunked.
Turning, Oscar wanted to run to the shore and get going to get his wetsuit, thank you, when- "Got ya, farm boy!" Yang dunked him underwater.
He surfaced again, panting. "Would you all just stop and let me-"
"Waaah! Oscar, save me!" Ruby shrieked, grabbing his arm. "Help me get the sunny giant!"
"Hey!"
And Oscar was pulled off balance and underwater again. He came up sputtering again and ignored protesting any more. He just stalked towards the tiny beach.
"Oscar! Come back! We haven't claimed victory!"
"Yeah, come on! Yang and I want to claim victory again!"
Oscar whirled around, angry. "You weren't listening to me!" he shouted. "I need my wetsuit!"
Honestly, this was a fun game; all he needed was to change, was that so much to ask?
But all three girls were staring at him.
He blinked, surprised that they were so quiet.
Then he saw his bandana floating in the water. His hands immediately went for his neck. His bare neck.
He turned and ran back up to the house.
His dad was already on his feet, hobbling forward.
"Wait, Oscar!" Ruby shouted behind him. "We're sorry! Wait up!"
His dad pulled him into a hug and whispered, "I'll keep them busy." Then pushed him to the house.
Oscar ran into the house, face burning.
They saw.
No one was supposed to see that!
No one!
What was he going to do? He ran up to the room he shared with his dad, not caring about the water dripping off of him, and shut the door. Someone called out after him, but he didn't listen. He stripped off his sopping clothes to throw into the hamper, grabbed a towel from the armoire to try and dry himself. Of course, it didn't work since his cheeks were wet no matter what he did, but eventually he gave up and just dressed and wrapped a clean bandana around his neck, double tying the knot so that it didn't come off again.
His cheeks were still wet and his tears showed no signs of stopping, so he just sat at the foot of the bed, brought up his knees and buried his face into his arms.
There was a knock at the door.
"Oscar? You okay?"
And now Mr. Qrow. The man who had hurt his dad months ago when something had happened with Yang. Oscar really didn't want to talk to him. His dad may be friends with him again, but Oscar always watched to make sure Mr. Qrow didn't hurt his dad again.
"Go away," he mumbled into his arms.
The door opened and Mr. Qrow came in. "Hey, kid. Your dad is raking my nieces over the coals in his quiet, polite way of not raising his voice."
"Good."
Mr. Qrow came over and sat down next to him, long legs stretched out and leaning against the bed.
"What happened?"
Oscar rolled his eyes and dropped his arms and legs. "You're not my dad," he growled, "what do you care? Go away!"
But Mr. Qrow looked at him with keen eyes. "They saw your neck, didn't they?"
Fear.
Oscar immediately reached up. His bandana was still in place. There was no way….
"I saw your dad's neck back when he was in the hospital and I brought you home. You've got that bandana on all the time. Doesn't take a genius to realize you both got the short end of the stick."
Shit.
"Oz may never have mentioned the how, but I can take a pretty certain guess on the who."
"B-back off!" Oscar shouted. "You don't know anything!"
"I know what pain looks like," Mr. Qrow said softly. "I know a guy who's now paralyzed from the waste down. A girl who had half her face burned. If you're worried about scars, I've seen plenty."
"I don't… you're just…"
Mr. Qrow gave a crooked smile. "The girls were wrong."
"I… What?"
"Oscar, we've been up here for almost two weeks. You always get your wetsuit when you go swimming and you always have a bandana on. You have a boundary. I'm willing to bet those girls didn't recognize the boundary and blew right past it, didn't they?"
Oscar looked away, his voice small. "Yeah…"
Mr. Qrow just kept a kind, crooked smile on his face, and waited.
"It's just…" Oscar sat down again, staring at his hands. "Normal people don't have scars like these. Who has a mom that does that?" The tears were flowing again. "After the accident, when I finally saw my dad, he took one look at my neck and everything changed. I didn't see it at the time, but… I think that's when he started planning the escape. I didn't realize that Dad always had collars or scarves to hide his neck until…." he gestured to his neck. "Around the house it didn't matter. If someone came to the door, he always buttoned up his shirt before answering. I thought that he was just being polite. But…"
"But now you understand on a different level."
Oscar nodded, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "Dad doesn't talk about it. He doesn't have to. But he's an adult. He can always wear scarves or collars or whatever. Kids ask. I don't know how…" Oscar rubbed at his tears again. "I don't want people to ask about it," he said quietly. "How do you even explain it?"
"You don't," Qrow said. "You never explain what you don't want to when someone rubs up against those kinds of scars. You don't have to explain why you are the way you are or anything like that." He leaned forward. "I got to a point where I needed to. I was hurt badly by my sister, the hurt didn't stop, and I made a lot of bad choices. I was hurting myself. So I needed to talk about things. But even then I didn't until I was willing to." he shrugged. "My nieces, they know I talk freely about the stuff I've done. They don't know that sometimes… Sometimes people don't want to talk about it and you can't make them till they're ready."
Oscar swallowed the lump in his throat again. Qrow wasn't asking what happened. Qrow was saying it was okay to not talk about it. Qrow… Oscar let out a sigh and just leaned into Qrow. Qrow validated him. His dad always said that validation mattered, made a point of always validating what Oscar was feeling at any moment, that feeling was okay.
"It's okay to be scared of it," Qrow continued. "It's okay to want to hide, as long as you know that someday, you'll have people you won't need to hide from."
"I don't hide from my dad," Oscar muttered.
"Nope. He's made sure you don't need to. But someday, you'll need someone outside of your dad. For now, you're good."
And the tears just started all over again. But this time? They weren't really sad tears.
The famous Connecticut resident Mark Twain once said about his home, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." Anyone who listened to a local weatherman could tell you: the warmer the day got, the more humid it got, the more unstable the atmosphere, the more the chance for showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon. After a week at the Schnee lake house they'd already had two rain showers, and twice they woke up to moist, dewy earth.
Today was no different. Qrow had been watching the kids playing volleyball on the beach - the token adult while everyone else was out as the skies started to darken and the humidity increased. He looked out over the water and saw the clouds rolling in from the west, and moved down to the beach.
"Come on!" he said, waving his hand. "Storms coming in! Better get inside before there's-"
A low roll of thunder reverberated through the air.
"-thunder," he finished.
Ruby gave a small squeak and all but ran to the house, Oscar following suit and Weiss pretending she was totally-fine-and-decided-for-herself-to-go-inside. Yang gave her uncle a smirk, and he answered with his own, and the two moved into the house. Board games were already set up, Ruby stretched out on her stomach and a throw blanket wrapped over her head to duck under when there was thunder. Weiss was assembling the pieces as Yang sat down declaring victory before she even started. Qrow smirked and moved back out to the porch to watch the storm. Thunder and lightning never bothered him, and with the open sky above the lake he could watch without having to see through trees or other rooftops. The sky turned an iron grey, then even darker, casting black shadows over the water as a gust of wind rustled through the treetops. It was beautiful, powerful, and Qrow was content to watch the show.
He heard a car drive up at the front of the house, knew the other adults were back, and watched a flash of white, his eyes constricting to blackness to compensate and then slowly dilate back to being able to see. Some leaves were pulled from their branches, whirling around in the wind and then the rain came - not a gentle soaking shower but buckets of water pounding into the lake and making it choppy, hitting puddles and earth so hard as to bounce back up before falling again in rhythmic satisfaction. For ten minutes he was in heaven.
"Figured you'd be watching the storm," Tai said, coming out to the porch.
"How're the girls?"
"Ruby's okay unless there's a really big crack. Oscar's watching the storm from upstairs."
"Upstairs?" Qrow said, indignant. "He should be right here where he can feel the wind and hear the rain better. Best place to be in a storm."
Tai snorted. "I'll pass it on."
A giant crack of thunder, almost right overhead, rung so loud he heard Ruby and Weiss both scream inside, Tai laughing and reassuring them. Qrow smirked, making a note to tease them later - so much for being teenagers - and got up to get a can of soda. He moved upstairs to see Oscar, found him in his room, face glued to the window. Curiously, however, he wasn't looking up at the storm, but down. After earlier that ticked a box in his head, and his wry face leveled out to more concern. "You okay pipsqueak?" he asked.
Oscar turned around, and his face wasn't awe or wonder, it was tight with concern, ticking another box.
"My dad," he said, "He wasn't with Miss Winter and Mr. Tai. He went for a walk."
Qrow blinked, realizing what had happened. "You mean he's out in this?" he asked.
Oscar nodded. "Rain makes his leg ache," he said.
"Kid, you should have said something."
"I thought he'd be right back. He said he was going to take a lap around the lake, and that was right after lunch, so he should be almost back and…"
Qrow nodded, reaching out and running his fingers through Oscar's hair. "I get it, kid. Don't worry. I got this."
He went downstairs, saw Winter first, hair down as she worked on her omnipresent laptop. "Hey," he said, "Oz is still out in the storm. Oscar's worried. I'm gonna go looking for him."
Winter looked up. "Professor Ozma's a grown adult," she said, frowning. "He'll be fine."
"You know that, and I know that, but a twelve year old boy doesn't. Can't hurt to make him feel a little better," Qrow said, fishing out an umbrella from a coat closet. "I'll text if there's a catastrophe," he called over his shoulder, waving his phone.
"Enjoy your date!" Yang and Ruby said in unison.
"Only when you start dating that Belladonna kid!" Qrow called right back, smirking when he heard sputtering.
The umbrella opened with a snap and he lifted it overhead - and then nearly perpendicular the gust of wind was so strong. He glanced out over the lake and then up to the window Oscar was. The light was on and he was in silhouette. Qrow pointed: did he go this way? The silhouette moved, and pointed the other way. Qrow gave a thumbs up and moved to the far side of the lake house's beach. He'd walked the local trails already with Tai, if Oz left at lunch and went this way he was on the gravel trail and looped around the lake - it was longer but smoother for his hip. The trail had two major rest stops, one on the edge of the lake and the other further back, up on a slight hill and overlooking the lake. Visibility was too low to tell if he was on the lake one so Qrow had to check both. He pulled into a light jog as another crack of thunder rolled overhead. It was lower in register but still right after a flash, meaning the storm was still on top of them.
Another gust of the wind forced Qrow to hold it at an angle again, but he did note the rain wasn't quite so driving as earlier. The gravel path was little more than puddles and mud, his worn sneakers did little to keep the moisture from seeping into his feet. His shoes occasionally sank into the path and it was work to pull them out - he dreaded what poor Oz's cane looked like with similar treatment.
The further he walked along the path the darker the surrounding woods got - without direct sky above them the dark shadows made it seem almost like nighttime, and Qrow fumbled for a phone to see better lest his luck make him trip into the mud - which of course, just as he had the thought, he did exactly that. Openly cursing now, he got up and shook the mud off and started again. It took ten minutes to hit the first rest stop, the one on the lakefront. No Oz.
"... so much for being almost done with his walk," he muttered, moving further down the path. His umbrella flipped and flapped in the wind, turning inside-out twice, before all of the sudden the rain let up suddenly to light shower. Qrow risked looking up and saw the sky was much brighter. There was another rumble of thunder, much further away than before, and Qrow knew the worst of the storm had passed.
More relaxed now, he continued down the path and slowly curved around the lake as it continued to lighten. The second rest stop was up a small hill, and as he climbed it he thought he caught a glimpse of grey through the trees. He moved closer and saw Oz on the crest of the hill, standing by the bench and holding his phone up, then bringing it down to check, then holding it up again. Qrow shook his head, somehow not surprised the professor was taking pictures.
"You alive over there?" he asked, tilting his umbrella back.
"Ah, Qrow! Quickly, before it disappears!"
Curious, Qrow widened his stride, reaching the bench and moving passed it. A series of planks and boards lay together as a weak platform, makeshift guardrail for the crest of the hill. Oz's cane rested on the guard rail, Oz himself standing with his hip tilted to lean on one leg as he lifted his phone up again to snap a picture. Qrow looked where he was looking - he'd never paid much attention to the rest spot when he walked by with Tai, and blinked as he realized why it was on the hill.
There was a gentle slope down to the lake and no trees, only ferns and low shrubbery, giving a perfect view out to the lake, and the sun broke through the clouds just as he looked, and from the lake rose a humid mist, and in the mist was-
"A rainbow?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes," Ozpin said, lifting his phone up again. "I must have three dozen pictures on my phone, the lightning was extravagant, and I was lucky enough to get one I think…"
"You mean you've been standing here the last half hour, in the rain, under trees, in a thunderstorm?"
Oz turned to protest, "I was hardly in any dan-Oh, the trees." He looked up, brown eyes wide and turning almost gold as the sun continued to peak out. "I hadn't realized, there were hardly any trees in… oh, dear. That was rather foolish, wasn't it?"
He looked to Qrow, and he was completely soaked through, hair falling in white-grey clumps and strings about his head, eyes wide and face round, streaks of water shining on his cheeks. He was freakin' beautiful and Qrow felt the urge to-he coughed and looked back out over the lake. "Yeah," he said, voice rough. "Oscar was worried, said your leg hurt in the rain."
"Yes, it does," Oz said. "I can hardly put weight on it right now. I thought so long as I was immobile…"
"I get it," Qrow said, still not looking at the professor. "I came out to see if you were still alive."
"Of course. I'll text Oscar now that I'm on my way back." He navigated his phone quickly as Qrow tamped down on his libido as hard as he could. Straight, he reminded himself, the man was freaking straight. He looked out over the lake, over at the rainbow. Symbol of Pride. Fuck.
Oz finished his text and slipped his phone into a pocket, bracing himself on the railing of the rest spot and gripping his cane. He looked out over the lake one last time, a wistful smile on his face. "The rainbow," he said, "isn't that your flag?"
"Nah," Qrow said, still putting himself together. "Bi-disaster, not a gay-disaster. My colors are pink, blue, and purple. Blue and pink for the guys and girls, purple for loving them both."
"Clever and appropriate," Oz said, tapping his cane and taking a breath. He took a step, moved his bad leg, and tried to put weight on it. The limp was so cartoonishly big Qrow thought he would fall over. Only noise he made was a tiny hum, which in Oz-Speak must have meant the pain was excruciating. Qrow bit his lip, mustered his courage, closed his umbrella to the lingering raindrops, and stepped forward, offering his shoulder.
"Here," he said.
Oz looked for a long moment, his mouth a small pout (mind out of the gutter, Qrow) and looped his arm around Qrow's shoulders. He shifted his leg, angling it forward, and tried to walk. It was awkward by several degrees, Oz was almost too tall for Qrow, but they were able to work out a half-hopping, half-swinging gate.
"Your kid's probably going to kill you," he said, eying the path for more puddles.
"I shall endeavor to take my chastisement with grace," Oz said brightly. "I hadn't even realized… I used to go for walks and bike rides all the time in California. After the accident - worse, after moving here - I hardly get the chance any more. Beacon is a small campus and now I have to drive home and pick up Oscar so I don't have the time. I finally get the chance and utterly forget my own safety."
"I'm surprised you're still doing an hour drive," Qrow said. "You could move closer to campus." Not that Qrow would want that, of course, he'd much rather-god what was wrong with him?
"In all honesty, I would have preferred an even longer drive," Oz said, limping along.
What? "Why?"
Oz threw a look to Qrow, far different than the awe at the rest stop, narrower, more closed off. Then he sighed and looked away, out over the lake. "To keep Oscar safe," he said.
"... Gonna have to explain that one, professor."
Silence was his answer, and it stayed that way until they got back to the lake house. The sun was fully out by then, and Qrow had avoided (most) of the puddles on the gravel path. Oscar was pacing the porch and ran over as soon as he saw them. "You're soaked through!"
"Guilty as charged," Oz said graciously. "I've come to accept my punishment."
"... come on. Your leg must be really stiff. I'll get a hot bath going."
"Thank you."
"Uncle Qrow! You're both soaked!"
"If Professor Ozpin needs a hot bath, do you need a cold shower?"
"Keep talking, firecracker," Qrow droned, "And you'll be flying up into the sky to explode. Now are you gonna help the professor into the house?"
"I got it!" Ruby said brightly.
"You do not, you're like half his size!"
"Then help me, Weiss."
"Oh, do I see another date?"
"Yang!"
Qrow lingered on the porch, pulling his muddy shoes off and tugging at his drenched shirt. Tai came out after a few minutes. "You okay?" he asked.
Qrow gave Tai a very, very long look, silently demanding that he tell no one of what he was about to speak. Tai's eyebrows raised, but he leaned in closer and offered an ear. "You were right," Qrow muttered in the smallest of voices. "And I need a cold shower."
The eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, and he quickly covered his mouth to hide his laugh, and Qrow was going to kill him where he stood, but Tai composed himself and only smiled, giving a soft nod. "Okay," he said. "Okay. Do you need to talk about it?"
"No," he said emphatically. This was followed several seconds later with an inaudible, "... yes…"
Tai nodded again. "See me when you're done."
While Oscar may have been elated to start life as an eighth grader, Ozpin spent his day in a curious melancholy. He was happy for his son, of course, bittersweet over how fast he was growing, glad that he was continuing to grow out of the shell he had constructed for himself - all of those things. But it also meant the Xiao Long family was in high school, and he was uncertain if Qrow was still picking up his nieces or not - regardless, that meant they did not have ten minutes to talk while waiting for the school day to end. It was perhaps selfish, but he had enjoyed the time he'd spent with Qrow. The man was darkly witty; cynical and pragmatic; enviously honest about the growth he had brought upon himself; and kind in a gruff, abrasive, capricious sort of way. He lived to the beat of his own drum even after everything that happened to him, sunning himself on the roof of his car, languishing in a chair or couch, lazily offering dry sarcasm in a way that was deeply entertaining.
To know he was in all probability now at the Xiao Long residence, tending to his nieces and their friends, possibly catching sleep before his shift started, while Ozpin drove to the middle school, caused a pang in his heart he was unfamiliar with. He hadn't had such a good friend in years - since high school himself. After the wedding his world had shrunk immeasurably and he was only just now remembering how large it was.
And now it would be that much smaller without Qrow.
He sighed again, his bad leg aching and desperate for movement lest it seize up. The hour drive was brutal, holding his leg in one position for so long, but it was a small price to pay to hide where Oscar was. He reminded himself of that as he pulled into the middle school and circled around to the handic-
What?
Qrow?
But there he was, stretched out on the hood of his car like some kind of bird, sunning himself in the hot August air as Oz parked his sedan. He maneuvered out of his car and moved to the passenger side, staring in disbelief.
"Hey," Qrow said, "Right on time."
What was… why was… "What are you doing here?" Ozpin asked. "Was someone held back?"
"Nope," Qrow said, stretching into a sitting position. "I'm right where I'm supposed to be."
Yes… but… why? "Forgive me," Oz said, "But you seem to have me at a slight disadvantage."
Qrow's red eyes darted over Ozpin, and then a confident smirk as he pulled out his phone. "I owe Tai money for this but I don't mind paying," he said, snapping a picture. "Last week the girls tried to tell us they were old enough to walk home by themselves. We laughed in their faces and they tried to revolt, so we compromised. It's a forty-five minute walk from the high school to here, so they get to practice their independence and then get here just in time for the middle school to get out. If they're late they catch hell from us, but if they prove themselves they earn the right to walk to each other's houses on weekends. Tai said you'd be shocked off your rocker, and he was right." He tapped on his phone, presumably a text, and put his phone away. "Besides, the girls think we're dating or something, so it keeps the fantasy alive."
Ozpin blinked again. "... They're still on about it?"
Qrow blinked back. "You didn't know?" Qrow laughed again. "Now Clover owes me money," he said brightly. "He thinks you were playing hard to get."
"Your sponsor? Have I even met him?"
"Not yet, but you will if you come to the cookout on Labor Day this weekend. It'll add fuel to the girls shipping us."
Oz felt like he was still trying to catch up. "Forgive me," he said, knowing he sounded distinctly… unprofessorial, "but do you mean to tell me there is some kind of betting pool on… on my love life?"
"Give or take," Qrow said, tapping at his phone. "Nobody seems to realize you're straight even though you have a son."
Ozpin was indignant. "But I'm not…!" He caught himself.
"You're not into it, I know," Qrow said, still absorbed in his phone, tapping away at a game not not meeting his eyes.
"No," Oz said, pinching a brow. "That's not what I meant. You misunderstand. Relationships… romantic relationships are not something that comes naturally to me."
Finally, Qrow's eyes flicked to him, the fastest of darts before turning back to his phone. He had stopped playing his game. "You were married young right? It takes a while to get back on the horse again, and after what that bitch did anyone would be a little gun shy. No one's blaming you, it's just a kids game, a fantasy they like to play in. It's fine."
"Oh for heaven's…," Oz said, rolling eyes up to the sky and then pinching his brow again. "I don't like talking about it because she assumed I was just lying, trying to weasel out of meeting her needs, but those impulses have never… I didn't even know what letter I was until after…" He huffed a sigh, moving from the bridge of his nose to his temples. "I almost told you once," he said, looking down at his shoes. "You were texting, trying to distract yourself, but I lost my nerve and… Talking about this is very uncomfortable."
Silence. Oz was bright red now, struggling to articulate something he had never said out loud - even to Oscar. He shifted his weight, leaning back on the door of his car. He was too afraid to look, to see the confusion or disbelief or accusation.
"Oz."
He looked to the school, wondering when the bell would ring.
"Oz, I'm not going anywhere. Bi-disaster, remember? I had to figure it all out myself, too."
Ozpin took a deep breath through his nose, settling for looking at Qrow's shoulder. "Teenagers," he said, "they all receive that awkward talk about puberty, about having hormonal urges when looking at people they are attracted to. That urge only hit me twice in my life. My wedding day, and later when we conceived Oscar. I pleased my wife many times, but it was never something that was an 'urge.'" He looked down again at his feet. "I thought I was a failure, that there was something wrong with me. She said…"
Shoes appeared in front of his, and a firm hand was placed on his shoulder. "Never listen to her," Qrow said, his voice rough. "Never give that bitch any say in what you are. So you tell me. What letter are you?"
"... D," he said, embarrassed that his voice sounded so small. "Insofar as I can tell I am a demisexual."
"Then okay."
Oz dared to look up, and Qrow's red eyes were intense, but not the kind of intense Salem's eyes got when he tried to explain he was never in "the mood." It was the kind of earnest acceptance Qrow took when he was talking about his recovery, or when he talked about wondering when Yang would figure out what she was. Gravitas, that was the word; he was accepting Ozpin's admission with gravitas.
The acceptance was dizzying, he felt so light so suddenly he almost wondered if he would fall over. He didn't know what to do with himself, just stared at Qrow, drinking in the acceptance over and over again. What had he ever done to deserve this…? All he could offer was gratitude:
"... thank you," he said, a little surprised his voice was so shaky.
Qrow smirked again. "First time admitting it?" he asked.
"Yes… yes, I suppose so." Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "After we left, there was a period after we settled here that I felt the need to research every claim she had ever said. Looking for objectivity, I suppose. I know I'm not completely ace, I've experienced that drive twice before, as I've said. I don't think I'm gray because both times were with her, but I could be mistaken. I am not repulsed, I'm confident I am romantic. On the heteronormative scale… I've no idea."
"So you don't know if you're straight or gay or somewhere in between?"
"I can recognize attractive people of both genders," Ozpin admitted, "but at present I don't know what that means in terms of me."
Qrow shrugged. "And that's okay, too," he said. "You don't have to have it all figured out all at once."
"Qrow, I'm over forty."
"So?" he asked, eyebrow raised. "You think I have my shit figured out yet? Do any of us?"
"But I…"
"It takes as long as it takes," Qrow said, shrugging his shoulders again. "None of us are gonna get scared off by it."
The bell rang, and Qrow's eyes snapped to the students as they poured out of the building. "You come out to Oscar yet?"
"No," Ozpin said. "I've no idea how to even give him the talk let alone what I am…"
"Smile, Oz, before he thinks I'm mad at you again."
Oz blinked. "What? Why on earth would he think-?"
"Hey, Dad!" Oscar slid forward for a hug, and hazel eyes were thrown at Qrow. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yes," Ozpin said, leaning down. "More than okay. Qrow and I have had a very enlightening conversation."
"Okay…" he said, still eying the both of them.
"See! I told you they'd be together!"
"Uncle Qrow!"
Qrow had to dodge his nieces before they buried him, Blake trailing after them in a huff, and just like that everything was exactly as it should be, and Oz felt a rush of happiness flood him.
"Were you enjoying your date?"
"Keep talking, firecracker," Qrow said, running a hand through her blond head. "He and I were just talking about my coming out story."
"You're what?"
"My coming out story. You want to talk Bi-Disaster energy? Let me tell you about the time I came out to Tai - who, I might add, is so stick straight there was nothing left of his ass to fill."
"Ew, Uncle Qrow! That's our dad you're talking about!"
"Exactly. So straight he had no idea I was hitting on him in college…"
"Oh, my god I am not hearing this story."
"There may have been a corset and thong involved, but at least it wasn't on my part. I might still have the pictures, Summer took them because we were both too drunk to keep a steady hand and…"
"There is no version of this I want to hear!"
Ozpin outright laughed, lighter than he'd felt in years. He ran his hands through Oscar's hair. They talked and laughed until long after the buses had left, Qrow distracting the kids and giving Oz a chance to come to terms with the entire tenor of the conversation.
"Dad," Oscar asked quietly. "Are you really okay?"
"Yes," he said. "Qrow has proven to be the best of friends, and there's something I need to tell you."
"Okay, Oz," Qrow said, car door open and filling it with girls, "your place or mine?"
"Yours," he said smoothly. "Oscar and I need to have a talk on the way. We might stop off for ice cream."
"Take your time. It'll give me a chance to hear all the girly stuff high school girls talk about. I'm sure it's all about lip gloss and make up and cute girls and whatever stupid stuff silly girls talk about."
"Uncle Qrow, just for that, I want you to know we're going to make you suffer."
Qrow made a show of gulping in worry, cartoonishly mouthing the words, "save me," to Oz as they all piled into the car.
Author's Notes: Eeeeee! We finally have one of our big reveals! Aaaah, we've been waiting on this one for quite a while.
First things first: Oscar gets a small blip of development around Qrow. The two of them have a lot further to go but Oscar no longer has open animosity, because Qrow has demonstrated that he can be soft when he needs to, something Oscar up to now wasn't sure existed. Then Qrow finally realizes Yes, Dammit, He has a thing for Oz. Tai continues to be greatest supporting character because he just accepts Qrow's confession without any mirth or teasing (for now). And Qrow is still self-defeatist because he assumes that Oz is straight for being married and having a son. Let the pining begin!
Oz being on the Asexual spectrum is an idea we've been toying with baaaaasically since the inception of the fic, there's a lot of misconceptions about being Ace and while we're not going to go out of our way to make Oz's sexuality a big plot point, it does play a role in his life - especially with Salem - and would affect his relationship with Qrow so it will get brought up on occasion.
We were researching as we went about demi's and tried to incorporate it as we could; as the fic stands we don't want to call it a completely correct representation (final say goes to anyone who reads this who is demi), but we did try. We mitigate it because Oz doesn't have himself completely figured out yet - he's been repressed for years and has only recently, since his Year of Hell, realized there was even a word for someone like him. But then there's Qrow - who is basically out and proud and recognizes how big something like this is - not only coming out for the first time, but coming out after a marriage of gaslighting and denial of what Oz was - Qrow knows how important acceptance is and gives it to him in spades. If ever there was a moment when Oz truly melts, it's here.
Also: Oz lonely at the prospect of picking up Oscar without Qrow? Aw, he has it bad...
Next chapter: Labour Day cookout: we finally shelf the Weiss drama for a little bit and start to spin the Blake drama. Also Clover walks in to steal all the scenes.
