Part Twenty

Ruby snapped awake on Sunday, sitting straight up in bed and stretching. Yang was still curled under her blankets, so Ruby got dressed as quietly as possible and snuck out of the room. Dad's door was still closed, but she heard the shower running. In the kitchen she dug through her backpack until she found the pancake recipe Professor Ozpin had given her and started pulling out what she needed: flour, salt, sugar, butter, milk, baking powder, egg, etc. She followed the directions religiously as she melted butter on a frying pan. Once the butter was melted she started making the pancakes, alternating between flipping and cutting up strawberries and bananas. Flipping was hard if only because she couldn't figure out when the pancake was ready to flip, and the first three were a little, er, misshapen as a result, but she eventually found a rhythm and made three stacks - layering each with the strawberries and bananas.

Dad came in when she was halfway done, blinking at the surprise breakfast before giving his Mom-Smile and offered to take over. With him in charge of the skillet she poked at the coffeemaker, knowing it was the only thing that would wake Yang up, and went digging through the cupboards for syrup.

"Daaaaad," she whined. "I can't find the syrup."

"Use the honey instead," Dad said with a smile. "She liked honey better anyway."

"Oooh, I didn't know that!" Ruby moved to the cabinet over the fridge, needing to pull a chair up to reach it and pulled out some honey.

Once Yang wandered in Ruby set up the last of the pancakes, using the bananas to make a smile and the strawberries to be eyes.

"Strawberry sunshine!" she said, setting the plate. Yang stared, not completely awake yet, as Dad poured coffee and apple juice. They all sat down, and Dad asked for everyone's hand.

"Summer," he said, "This breakfast is for you."

They dug in, Yang waking up immediately with coffee and smiling at the stack of pancakes, Ruby beamed, bursting that she had made the pancakes all by herself. "Do we have everything we need?" she asked. "Did you find watermelons?"

"It's March, Ruby," Dad said, but he was smiling. "But I finally found some. It's in the fridge right now. And yes, before you ask, I got lemonade last week."

"And the white cape?"

"Got that, too."

"You know it's not a cape, right?" Yang asked.

"Don't care," Ruby said brightly, "Because we're seeing our mom today!"

It was their special day of the year, when they drove to the coast and the beaches that Mom loved, visited her grave and had lunch with her. There hadn't been snow since February, most of it was melted and the coast was always warmer than inland, meaning there wouldn't be any snow and there was space to set up the blanket. Uncle Qrow said he was coming, but he always said that and always didn't, so Ruby was happy to spend the day catching Mom up on everything that had happened in the last year.

"Whose turn was it to write everything down?" she asked. "I did it last year, but I kept a list in case you forgot."

"No, I didn't," Yang said, bright smile on her face as she pulled out a spiral notebook. "See? Lake house, Memorial Day cookout, meeting Winter's sister, it's all here."

"Good," Dad said, after finishing a pancake. "Let's make sure we give her an earful. I got flowers, Ruby, could you pack the basket?"

"On it!" Ruby said brightly, running down the hall to Dad's room - and true to form, a bouquet of roses were there, wrapped in plastic and in a simple glass vase. Under the bed was the wicker basket, and Ruby grabbed it and the flowers and ran back to the kitchen, putting both on the counter. Dad was loading the dishwasher and Yang was making last minute additions to the list. Into the basket went the watermelons, sandwiches, aluminum water bottles (red, gold, and orange, holiday presents from Blake), a packet of dried fruits, and a can of soda in case Uncle Qrow showed up.

They piled into the car, Ruby and Yang in back, and they pulled out of the house and made their way to the highway. Dad played a book on tape, but Yang put on her yellow headphones Weiss had gotten (Ruby's red ones were at home) to listen to music and Ruby played games on her phone.

It was an hour drive to Massachusetts. Mom was born in Boston but grew up in one of the outside cities, Dorchester, and that was where she had wanted to be buried, home on a hill looking over the ocean. Dad hadn't found a cemetery that was looking over the ocean, but Ruby and Yang had gotten an audio loop of the ocean and played it when they visited. Most of the drive, Dad explained, was carefully circumventing Boston since all the drivers there were out of their minds, and even driving during off hours they were parked on the highway several times to get to Mom.

They piled out of the car once they were parked, Ruby and Yang happy to stretch their legs - Yang even climbed onto the roof of the car to shout for joy, but Dad pulled her down fast.

"This is a cemetery," he said, "Show some respect!"

The graves were all in neat rows, most headstones were plaques set in the ground, but several rows up; some were simple and some were ornate - from old famous people, Dad said, since they were so close to Boston and all its history. Even after visiting for several years in a row, Ruby was never quite sure how to navigate, but she guarded the picnic basket and followed her dad, who seemed to know what to look for.

"Hey, Summer!" Tai said, raising a hand, and they stopped at one of the plaques in the ground.

Summer Rose

Thus Kindly I Scatter

"Hi, Mom!" Ruby said brightly. "Here, I didn't forget your cape."

"... It's not a cape," Yang muttered, but Ruby didn't care. Her best memory of her mom was being wrapped up in the white blanket, looking like a cape, and holding her and singing to her.

Dad and Yang spread out the picnic blanket and Ruby placed the cape right next to Mom on the brown grass. They opened the picnic basket and started setting plates.

"Yang, Yang! Tell her!"

"I was just getting there," Yang said, crawling over so she was closer to the grave. "Hey, Mom! There's a lot to say about the last year. I think the first thing to start with is that my mom is still in jail. I don't remember if you knew that or not. Uncle Qrow had a big fight with Professor Ozpin, but he really helped me put things in perspective, and Uncle Qrow was being silly. We keep telling them they're dating but they haven't figured it out yet. Let's see, not a lot happened over April break, but we did have our Memorial Day cookout! Blake couldn't come but Weiss brought her sister Winter…"

"Hang on, we don't have the ocean going," Dad said, pulling out the bluetooth speaker.

They took turns telling stories about the last year, alternating for water breaks or to snack on the watermelon. Dad's stories were always the most concise, which always made them feel short and unimportant, and Ruby or Yang would embellish as appropriate. Yang was the most energized telling her stories, swinging her arms around and getting up on her knees sometimes to act something out. Ruby made a point to giving as much detail as possible - and sometimes that got her off on tangents but then Yang or Dad would put her back on track. Everyone had something to say as a story - sometimes to clarify something or sometimes to say, "No, it wasn't like that," (Usually that was Dad, and Ruby and Yang secretly liked getting that reaction out of him), sometimes to tell a joke or share a thought that popped into their head.

The weather was cold but not freezing, their animated story telling kept everything but their noses and cheeks warm. They went through their water bottles over the course of the late morning, and soon Ruby's stomach growled and she asked Dad if it was time for lunch.

"That it is!" he said brightly. The watermelon was just about gone, and out came the sandwiches. Ruby made a place for Uncle Qrow just in case, and they dug in.

Yang spotted him first, choking on her sandwich before jumping to her feet. "Uncle Qrow!"

Ruby and Dad looked over in utter shock, and up the hill came the man of the hour, hands in his pockets and red scarf trailing after him in the breeze.

Ruby shrieked in pleasure, getting up and dashing to her uncle. "You made it! You made it!"

"You make it sound like a miracle or something," Uncle Qrow said.

"It is!" Ruby answered, moving behind him and jumping up to his back. Uncle Qrow stumbled with her weight - she was a high schooler now - but she didn't care, as she pointed vigorously. "We're over there, see Dad and Yang?"

"You're both a little hard to miss, half-pint," he said, but he kept walking with Ruby, setting her down back on the blanket.

"Come on, Uncle Qrow!" Yang said. "You can tell your stories about dating Professor Ozpin! Mom's barely heard anything!"

"I'm sure Summer's heard plenty," Dad said, handing the can of soda over. "Your dating is like half of what they were talking about."

"That interested in my love life, are we?" Uncle Qrow said, devious smile on his face. "Maybe I should remind Summer here about the time she was all over me?"

Dad choked. "Qrow, this is a cemetery. PG stories only!"

"What?" Uncle Qrow said, sitting down and taking the can. "It's completely PG. See, your mom was always interested in my butt."

"Oh, my god, don't say it," Dad said, hiding his face.

"She was. She even told you, didn't she, that she thought my butt was tight and firm and worth looking at?" He turned to Ruby and Yang. "See, she wasn't dating your dad back then, so this is totally fine. Now, this was back in my disaster days - and I mean worse than the mess I am now - and there was one night when I came back from a party not feeling very well."

"Qrow, you were drunk, even Summer will tell you to not-"

"Quiet, Tai, this is my story, remember? Anyway, I came back from a party drunk, didn't know which way was up, and just fell on my bed to get a nap in. Raven was off to class, didn't care that I was skipping, but Summer did, and she came to check up on me. When I woke up-"

"Stop right there," Dad said firmly. "Summer might laugh at the story but the girls won't."

"She was just checking me out, Tai."

"Qrow."

"Okay fine," Uncle Qrow said, sipping his soda. "No lascivious details from here. We'll just say that Summer went to extremes to decide how much she liked my butt. And when I woke up I might have encouraged it."

"You were suuuuch a bisexual disaster… I have no idea how you're still alive sometimes..." Dad muttered, but Ruby was too busy laughing, her mind happy to supply details on what Mom and Uncle Qrow did to embarrass Dad when they were in college.

It was fun; having Uncle Qrow there. They always had fun visiting Mom, but sometimes the drive back was quiet in a sad way. Ruby didn't really remember much - she was seven when they lost Mom, even Yang had trouble remembering sometimes, but Dad… they remembered Dad before he got better, how shut down he was, and sometimes he had that look in his eyes on the drive home. Ruby and Yang silently understood that they had to be extra happy for this day, so he didn't shut down again, and they made the point of telling the stories as outrageously as they could as a result.

Uncle Qrow seemed to understand this, because every story he told made Dad turn red in the face and cutting him off before he got too deep. Ruby grabbed Yang's memories notebook and wrote some of the stories down to ask about later, when Dad was in a better mood.

"You do this every year?" Uncle Qrow asked. "Have all of Summer's favorite foods and catch her up on the last year?"

"And make sure she hears the ocean," Yang said, holding up the speaker. "Next year it's Dad's turn to take notes for the year."

"Oh, do you want to do it?" Ruby asked.

Both men froze, Uncle Qrow looking at Dad and Dad looking at Qrow. They seemed to have a conversation with their eyes, and Dad smiled. "Maybe not this year," he said gently. "We can ask next year. Right now he and Summer had a lot to catch up on. Come on, it's time for personal conversations anyway, and we should let Qrow go first. I'm sure he has the most to say."

"Okay! Uncle Qrow, help us pack up."

"How?"

Ruby showed her uncle how to pack the basket, leaving space for the speaker and the cape and the picnic blanket. They moved down the hill and put things away in the car. Ruby looked up to see Uncle Qrow standing over the grave, a tall silhouette against the blue sky, and she smiled.

"Game room's still open," Dad said, checking his phone. "Come on, let's have some fun while Summer and Qrow catch up."


"... Hey Summer," Qrow said, standing on a picnic blanket with the sound of ocean waves from some garbage speaker and her old cancer blanket folded up next to the marker. "It's, uh… it's been a while."

Without the noise of the girls, he ran out of words almost immediately, the surreality of having a picnic at a cemetery lost and leaving him… lost.

"I should have come by sooner," he said, crouching down. "I don't have an excuse, not really. It's just… I wasn't strong enough for a long time. We both fell apart after you left, and it took a while to pull ourselves back together. Tai got it together first, but he had the girls to look out for, so he didn't really have a choice. Me… I was more disaster than bi; you'da been real disappointed in me, I was…"

He ran out of words again, and his chest started to feel heavy. He dropped from a crouch to a full sit, eyes drifting to the dozen roses in the vase.

"Probably should have got you something," he said softly. "Didn't even think of it. Took everything in me just to come here, and that's even with this year being the best in a long while. I…

"... I should have been there." His world blurred suddenly, and he closed his eyes, dropping his head. He'd only said that once before - to Tai, after rehab - and saying it to Summer… god he wanted a drink. "I should have been there," he repeated. "But I wasn't. All I heard was 'terminal' and I just… I couldn't face it. Fuck, you were facing it every damn day and I couldn't even handle one hour before I was running to the nearest bar. The last thing you needed was asking Tai to go out and find me, but I was too… I should have been there.

"I should have been there at the treatment, I should have been there at the hospital, I should have been there at home when you finally… Jesus… I wasn't even there for the service, did you know that? Too piss drunk to show up at your goddamn memorial. Tai yelled at me for hours, and I just got drunk all over again because I was such a fuck up. For two fucking years that was all I did. It wasn't until Ruby and Yang staged an intervention that…"

His voice broke, and he had to work for several minutes to get himself back under control. A hundred blurry, drunk memories: the empty feeling of sickness, waking up in strange places, Tai or Clover dragging him home from… somewhere. He never asked how Tai found Clover, why Clover decided to sponsor him. He'd hated going to AA meetings, hated listening to the stories of others, hated having to say his name and attach the word "alcoholic" to it. He did it more readily after rehab, but even then..

"I'm glad you weren't there to see it," he admitted. "But I'm mad that you left, and I hate myself for feeling that. Oz had to tell me it was normal to feel like this, but…"

He looked up, let his eyes trace over the words. The white cancer blanket, it looked like snow against the dead grass, and he couldn't understand why it was there. He reached out, not quite brave enough to touch the headstone.

"I'm doing better, now," he said. "How much better is up for debate, but I'm just about six years sober now, and for once I'm in a good relationship. It's been hard - sometimes so fucking hard I need to call Clover or Oz - but you'd be so proud to see your girls, Summer. Ruby looks more like you every day, and she acts like you, too. She's got this air about her, in a few years she'll be a sight to behold. Yang, too, she's so fierce, and she thinks it's from Raven but really it's from you. I hope…"

His world blurred again, but he managed to touch the gravestone. It was curiously warm to his fingertips. "I hope you're smiling," he said.

"You should tell her more about Professor Ozpin."

Qrow looked up, surprised to see Summ-to see Ruby standing over him. She smiled, knelt down next to him.

"Hey, Mom," she said, and her energy from earlier was gone; she was subdued, quiet. "I wanted you to know, parts of the year were a little scary, but parts of the year were really fun. We're all moving forward, just like you wanted us too - and that includes Uncle Qrow. He's dating a college professor - but he keeps denying it. They're really cute together, and Professor Ozpin, he has a son named Oscar, and he's really bookish like me, and I think he'd make a great cousin. Yang has a crush, I think. She's a little harder to read because I don't think she's figured it out yet, but… we'll find out next year, maybe."

She nodded her head, and she stood up. "Come on," she said to Qrow. "Let's let Yang know it's her turn."

Qrow stood, helped by more than just Ruby, and they moved to exit the cemetery.


They had arrived at the middle school before the bell had rung, and Blake watched Yang fist pump with Ruby about getting there so quickly this time. The buses were still arriving to line up, which meant there was a good chance they'd be able to get out of the parking lot before the buses. Blake was expecting for the siblings to go running off to tackle Mr. Qrow, but instead, Ruby held her arm out, blocking Yang.

"Huh?"

Blake shared a look with Weiss, not having expected it.

"Ruby, what's up?"

"Shhhhh!" Then Ruby was looking around, grabbing all of them, and hiding behind a corner of the building, tilting her head out.

"Uhm, Ruby this is strange, even for you…" Weiss said.

"Quiet! They'll see us!"

"Who?" Blake asked. "Your uncle?"

"Exactly! Look at him and Professor Ozpin!"

They all looked at each other, before carefully leaning out to look beyond the wall.

Sure enough, Professor Ozpin was in his usual handicapped spot, leaning against the passenger side to talk with Mr. Qrow. But Mr. Qrow wasn't perched on the hood of his junker like he usually was. Instead, he was next to the professor, leaning against… the car… No... Blake squinted. Mr. Qrow was leaning against Professor Ozpin, his head was resting on the professor's shoulder.

"Ruby," Weiss said with infinite patience, "it's cold today. Your uncle and Professor Ozpin are probably warmer like that. Besides, didn't you say your uncle's heat is broken in his car?"

"No," Yang whispered. "Ruby's right. Just watch."

Blake glanced at Yang and was surprised to see a wide smile and delight flickering in her lavender eyes.

Glancing back, she was shocked to watch Mr. Qrow tilt his head up and kiss Professor Ozpin.

"Yes!" the siblings hissed.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You've been saying they've been dating for a while, I don't see what the big deal is."

"You don't?" Ruby demanded.

Yang turned with a flat star. "Really?"

Blake and Weiss looked to each other. "What?"

Ruby let out a looong beleaguered sigh. "We knew that Uncle Qrow has been interested in Professor Ozpin forever, but they hadn't done anything."

"Wait," Weiss said, "you've been shouting to everyone listening that they've been dating and they haven't been?"

"They have," Yang retorted. "Why else do you think Uncle Qrow is always parked next to Professor Ozpin? Why else did they hang out at the lake house? They just didn't know it yet."

"Seems more like you two were making assumptions," Blake offered, watching Professor Ozpin reach up to Mr. Qrow's face.

"Because they were perfect for each other, duh!" Ruby hissed. "But lately Uncle Qrow has been super energized. Yang and I have been wondering if he finally made it official with Professor Ozpin, but he just wasn't saying at all!"

"He's still not," Yang said, still peering around the corner. "Look, Uncle Qrow's back on his car like nothing happened."

"No," Ruby said, "he's preening, but he's not letting anyone see it."

"Does it matter?" Blake asked. "It's their business."

"Yeah," Yang said, "but Uncle Qrow is a Bisexual Disaster. We both want this to be good for him."

Ruby nodded emphatically. "He's had too many disasters. We want this one to last."

Weiss was offering a flat look. "So you've been their cheerleaders all this time, without knowing if it would actually happen?"

"Duh!" Ruby said. "How else were we going to get it through Uncle Qrow's thick skull?"

Weiss rolled her eyes spectacularly and dragged them all out from the corner.

"No! Weiss!" Ruby cried out, trying to crawl back to the corner. "We could have started seeing the good stuff! Something more definitive than that! You know how couples are in tv and video games! Where's all that hot action!"

Blake flinched, but Yang was by her side, holding her hand. "That's it, Ruby," Yang said. "No more shoujo comics for you."

"What? Whyyyyy! Can't a girl read her comics in peace without being judged?"

"I do not want to hear you talking about boy love in the context of our uncle." Yang continued forward, holding Blake's hand while dragging Ruby along. "Uncle Qrow, you tell her she can't have her shoujo manga anymore."

Mr. Qrow gave a flat stare. "You wanna explain that more?"

Weiss walked up, all prim and proper. "Ruby seems to think you and Professor Ozpin are the stars of a shoujo manga and has been begging for hot action."

Professor Ozpin frowned, but Mr. Qrow slouched down to Ruby's level, looking disappointed. "Pipsqueak, I'm going to side with Yang. No more shoujo manga, and I'll be talking to your dad about it too. I'm not your fujoshi bait and I don't appreciate that you thought that I could be used like that."

"But Uncle Qrow!"

"Stop, Ruby," Mr. Qrow said. "My sexuality isn't for your pleasure. The same way lesbians aren't lesbians to get guys bothered. Fiction is one thing, but I'm not fictional. We'll talk about this more later."

Blake blinked. Mr. Qrow was generally easy going unless he was protecting them. She'd never seen him be anything other than annoyed with his nieces. She stepped back and leaned against the car next to Professor Ozpin as Mr. Qrow turned to Yang and started asking some pointed questions as well.

Not something Blake wanted to see. So she turned to the professor. "We saw you and Mr. Qrow kissing," she said quietly.

"Ah, that clarifies a few things," the professor said, shifting his weight on the cane. He looked to her. "Do you have questions?"

Blake looked down. She herself was confused. On a lot of things. She looked to Yang, who was looking surprised at Mr. Qrow's questions and struggling to answer them. "You have a son," she blurted out.

"I do indeed," Professor Ozpin said brightly. "I'm very proud of him."

"You were married."

"For too many years."

Blake looked away, not sure what she was going for. "If you settled down and married a woman… had a son… but now you're with Mr. Qrow…"

He gave a low hum. "Yes, I can see where society is still struggling with that. Most of our media presents heterosexuality, and more recently we've seen an increase in gay and lesbian portrayals, minuscule as it may be. But there is still that structural belief that one is interested in only one gender. Reality is far more complicated."

"But…" Blake didn't know what she wanted to say. She'd always looked to boys and then there was Adam…

"Let me assure you, Miss Belladonna, even adults can still be learning where they are," the professor offered a gentle smile. "Qrow was lucky. He realized the various spots he was on the three spectrums very young and his sister supported him. I married very young. I locked myself into both what society said was correct and I locked myself to the first person I fell in love with. I wasn't able to learn about myself until I was away."

Blake nodded politely, but she was still looking to Yang. She was so confused.

A hand rested on her shoulder. "Patience, Miss Belladonna. You don't need to have things figured all out now, or this year, or when you graduate. One day at a time, one step at a time."

Blake nodded, thoughts of Adam and the boys she would crush on when she was younger and Yang's strength. Thoughts of what she'd seen compared to how reality was between Mr. Qrow and Professor Ozpin. And how it all swirled around her.

"Take all the time you need."


Oscar sat in class, three floors up, staring out the window. It was last period, and he and half the class were watching the buses drive in. Mr. Qrow was already there and waiting, stretched out on the hood of his car - and really, was the engine that warm for that long? - and right as he had the thought he watched his dad drive in. Nodding to himself, he leaned back and touched Jaune's elbow. "Hey," he said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Jaune shifted in his seat, but behind him Pyrrha touched his back. "Yeah," he said. "It's only right."

Oscar nodded. After winter break with the switching of specials, Jaune was with him for art and music, and with him was not Cardin Winchester, but Pyrrha and Ren and Nora. Apparently since the start of the school year he'd been put on the other team, and without Cardin Winchester he had become a lot nicer. Oscar was still suspicious, but Pyrrha especially was nice and kind and respectable. Most of her classes were with one of the three, and he hadn't realized Jaune was even on his team until the third quarter started. For the last three months - now with the quarter nearly over - Jaune had tried every day to say something nice to Oscar.

It was Pyrrha who had clued him in that he was trying to apologize for last year.

"A lot happened to him," she said. "He was cheating to try and catch up."

"What?"

"I know, I know! That's bad, but it's because he felt a lot of pressure. He knew it wasn't right, but Cardin found out and made it worse."

"That doesn't make what he did right," Oscar said, confused on why he was being asked to forgive Jaune.

"No, it doesn't," Pyrrha said. "But that also doesn't mean you should hold it against him for the rest of his life. Just… let him give you a better impression of him. You can decide what to do later."

And now, the last week of the quarter, Oscar could allow himself to think that maybe Jaune wasn't a total jerk. The blond had asked if he could meet Dad and apologize to him proper. Oscar didn't want to at first, his dad was happy, and while Oscar himself wasn't quite… there… yet, he was getting more used to Mr. Qrow.

He looked out the window as his father got out of the car and moved around to be near Mr. Qrow. Mr. Qrow slid off the hood of his car and moved to stand next to Dad. Oscar shifted in his seat, still not completely comfortable that his dad was seeing someone.

"Woah, see that? Two guys are kissing!"

Oh, my god, Oscar quickly covered his face, not wanting anyone to recognize it was his dad.

"Everyone, focus," the teacher said.

"But Miss!"

"Doesn't matter. If you have a problem with whatever you think is so fascinating outside you can take it up with guidance. Some of us can't afford to be distracted with grades due, remember?"

Oscar thought they were being subtle, giving him time to get used to it. Geez, apparently not. He looked outside, risking peeking out from behind his hands, but Mr. Qrow was getting back up on the hood of his car. He hid his face again, somehow certain everyone knew that was his dad down there and praying he was just being paranoid. The bell finally rang and Oscar couldn't get up fast enough, messily throwing everything into his bag and powering to his locker to get his coat and hat.

"Oscar, hold up!"

Right… Jaune…

Oscar slowed his steps and turned, seeing Jaune in his black hoodie with a bunny face on it. "Sorry," he said, "I'm in a bit of a bad mood."

"Oh… uh… this can wait. I don't mind…"

He shook his head. "No, it's fine. It's not you. Let's go." He pulled his backpack on and made for the stairwell.

"Hang on, your backpack's unzipped!"

Oscar was in a mood, but he stopped and shifted his backpack, zipping it up and throwing it back on his shoulders. He and Jaune exited from the school and made their way down the sidewalk. Ruby and the other high schoolers were there, Mr. Qrow talking to Yang and Blake standing next to his dad. "Hey, dad," he said.

"Hello," he said, soft and warm like he wasn't flaunting his relationship in front of a middle school. He moved in for a hug but Oscar ducked out of it, instead gesturing to Jaune.

"Dad, this is Jaune Arc. We share specials together."

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," Dad said, holding a hand out.

"Um… I mean… It's really…" Jaune floundered, stammering and twiddling his hands, eyes looking just about everywhere, and Oscar just wasn't in the mood. He glared at his classmate, and Jaune finally managed to gulp down his nerves.

"Professor," he said, holding out his hand.

Dad was about to take it when Mr. Qrow but in. "Hey," he said, "I know you. You're Skateboard Kid."

"Wh-what?"

Dad looked to Mr. Qrow and Jaune immediately stood ramrod straight, face losing color.

"Oz, this was the brat that broke your leg last year."

"Oh?" Dad asked, turning to study Jaune more closely. Oscar sighed silently, this was turning into a thing. And Dad… Dad just took it in stride like he took everything else. "Well," he said, "It appears we've met before. It's a pleasure to meet again."

"No-I mean, yes-I mean… I don't know if that counts as meeting exactly but…"

"Meeting is a pretty light term, kid," Mr. Qrow said, leaning forward aggressively. Oscar put a hand to his face, knowing his dad's… his dad's boyfriend was going to make this worse. "As I recall you took a skateboard and kicked back right into a man's leg. Doesn't really sound like a formal introduction, does it."

"Wait, this is the kid who broke Professor Ozpin's leg?" Weiss asked, peaking out from the car. Blake paused in getting in and Yang whipped around.

"Wow, Jaune! I hardly recognized you - you look so different!"

"Uh, n-not really. I mean… I just…"

Oscar scoffed and stepped in front of Mr. Qrow. "Could you stop being a jerk for a few seconds?" he demanded.

"A jerk?" Mr. Qrow said, indignant. "See here pipsqueak."

"You don't get to give me a nickname, old man," Oscar said. "You don't have a say in anything that has to do with me, and right now that includes Jaune." He turned to his classmate. "You had something you wanted to say, Jaune," he prompted, just wanting this over with. His mood was getting worse, and he just wanted to get Jaune on the bus and go home. He didn't even want to go home with his dad, his mood was so bad, and that was saying something.

Jaune was twiddling again, but he took a deep breath. "I wanted to say sorry, sir," he said, shifting his weight back and forth. "I hurt you last year, and I… It was stupid and calling it an accident doesn't really help and I wanted… I just wanted to say sorry. Sir."

Dad smiled, soft and gentle, and leaned forward on his cane, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulders.

"Thank you," he said. "It must have taken a lot of courage to admit such a mistake. You have my gratitude; and you are forgiven."

"Good," Oscar said, trying to cut all of this short, "Thanks, Dad. Come on, Jaune, I'll see you to your bus before you miss it."

"What? Really? Don't you have to go home with-?"

"I kind of can't stand them right now," Oscar said in a low voice. "I need some time to cool off."

"Oh. Okay…"

Oscar lead Jaune down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, along the long line of buses and away from his dad and Mr. Qrow. Happy, Oscar reminded himself, you're supposed to be happy for them… but then they kissed in front of the entire school and Mr. Qrow made an already awkward conversation with Jaune worse and he just didn't want to deal with it. He growled low in his throat and helped Jaune onto his bus, waving him goodbye and taking a deep breath. The drive home was going to be terrible - Dad apologizing for no reason and being understanding and empathetic when he wasn't the one Oscar was mad at. He grit his teeth for the upcoming ordeal, and-

"Hey Pine!"

Nope. Nope. Did not need Cardin Winchester to cap off this day.

Still, he looked up and saw the bully leaning out of one of the bus doors, dark smile on his face and oh, what did that mean….

"You wanna kiss, fruity? You a fag like your dad? A twink, a tonk? Always knew your dad was a pansy but now I know he's a fairy, haha!"

… and that was the last straw.

Now thoroughly angry, Oscar turned and surged onto the bus with a shout, startling Winchester and making him stumble back onto the steps of the bus. Oscar grabbed at whatever he could purchase - the lip of the boy's coat and moved to get a punch in. It didn't connect like he wanted, and Winchester managed a punch just under Oscar's ribs; everyone was shouting and cheering and the busdriver was trying to grab at both of them. Oscar wasn't going to let go, however, tried to angle himself better but Winchester managed to get a foot up and shoved into Oscar's middle, actually lifting him off the ground. He stumbled backwards, missing the lip of the bus door and staggering out and to the ground, banging his elbow to the concrete and feeling something in his backpack poke into his back. He got up, and he was really mad now, and he saw Winchester scrambling up the steps of the bus to hide in the vehicle, and Oscar was going to make him learn not to-

Arms wrapped around him and yanked him back, Oscar tried to slide out of his backpack but instead he was lifted off the ground. "Let me go!" he shouted, grabbing at the hands around his waist, adrenaline burning through him.

"Oscar, stop!" Jaune said, tall enough that he could keep Oscar off the ground.

"Yeah, that's right Pine! Let your boyfriend hold you back!"

"Shut up, Cardin! Or come off the bus and say that to Oscar's face!"

"Break it up, break it up! That's enough!"

Adults seemed to appear out of nowhere, grabbing at Oscar and Jaune. He thought he saw Nora, too, shouting and pointing to the bus.

Worst of all, he saw Dad trying to get to him, hobbling through the mass of people.

That just made his mood even worse.


Author's Notes: Oh, Oscar, you try so hard, but you haven't admitted the real problem yet. More on that next chapter.

The highlight of the chapter is the cemetery for obvious reasons. It's a small but painfully human moment for everyone involved -the girls for reconnecting to someone they barely remember and deliberately distracting their dad. Tai for coming up with the ceremony and all the small things that entailed. Qrow for finally being brave enough to face someone he never wanted to disappoint and admit that's exactly what he did.

And Ruby gets to be the best thing of the chapter as a result. We struggled the entire fic to have something for her to do, but moments like this show what she's really capable of. Maybe Volume 8, now that it's coming out, will lean into it.

Also, Ruby and Yang continue to be shippers on deck, and Qrow explains why there's a right way and a wrong way to ship IRL. Also: META.

Also, also, a blink and miss it moment with Blake setting up, well, stuff for later.

Next chapter: Fall out for Oscar's little fight. Oz finally getting a breakthrough, and an earlier cameo turns into a full-on guest appearance. Oh, the DRAMA.