"What're you staring at?" Qrow asked her as he poked her side with his fake sword. Winter gave a small yip as she jumped, covering her sides with her hands, ready for a tickle assault like Weiss used to do.
"Nothing! Just… Do you know who that girl walking with Yang is? The one with the black hair?" Winter questioned after she'd calmed down, nodding her head over to Yang's direction.
Yang was talking to a smiling old woman, holding up her bag and smiling with so much warmth the woman might've gotten burned. The woman gave Yang some candy, but Bella Donna looked a bit shy, standing silently behind Yang. It took a few coaxing words from the blonde before she got the courage to talk and hold out her pillow case for the woman, who happily filled her bag with candy.
"No, but she's probably just another kid from the neighborhood who Yang made friends with" Qrow shrugged, not paying it any mind. Winter watched the two girls walk away from the house, only to have a smiling Ruby run up to them, showing the girls her haul.
At first Winter thought Ruby was only talking to Yang, but Yang's lips weren't moving. Instead, it was Ruby and Bella Donna who were talking, with Yang simply smiling on the sidelines.
"Well have you seen her around the neighborhood before?" Winter wondered, the gears in her mind turning, fueled by curiosity.
"Nah, but there's tons of them running around. Sometimes I swear they just spawn into existence" Qrow sighed, clearly not jazzed about how many kids he lived by. He did have a point though, the streets were filled with kids on both sides of the street. There were dinosaurs, turtles with colorful masks and weapons, a few kids in red shirts and hats with mustaches and overalls, and tons of other fun and scary costumes.
"Maybe… But, the thing is, I saw her while we were at Yang's boxing match awhile back" Winter explained as she and Qrow walked past a few more houses, dodging out of the way as a few kids ran past them like a pack of wild dogs on a sugar high.
"So Yang made a friend, nothing crazy about that" Qrow told her with a smile as they watched Ren, Nora, and Yatsuhashi, who was pushing Zwei's ship, finish at a house and run over to meet with Ruby, Yang, and their black haired friend.
"It's not that she made a friend that's weird… Maybe I'm losing my mind" Winter grumbled as she bowed her head to the ground.
"If you're so curious, let's go talk to them" Qrow said as he silently took her hand and directed her to where the kids were standing in a crowd.
"Wait, Qrow! I don't wanna ruin their fun!"
"You don't have to say anything, Snowflake. But as for me, it's my job as their uncle to embarrass those girls in front of all their friends, and I think I've been slacking on" Qrow chuckled evilly as his course hand, warm in hers, took her right up to the kids.
"Yang, who's your friend?" Qrow probed without so much as a hint of subtlety in his voice. All the kids looked from him to Yang, to Bella Donna, clearly a bit confused. Yang's eyes went to her friend, then went back to Qrow. Her face was red, clear even through her makeup, and she stuttered with her words while looking everywhere but at Qrow.
"She's, um, ya know…" Yang stumbled through the sentence with plenty of hiccups and stumbles. Bella Donna took a step back, her eyes narrowed as her eyes left Qrow and went to Winter, looking at her with distrust, unease, and clear recognition. Winter could see the girl bend her knees and get ready to make a run for it.
"She's Yang's friend, Blake! They met at the center where yang boxes! We just ran into her!" Ruby chimed in with a big smile on her face, her fingers tapping away on the hilt of her fake sword so fast Winter could hardly see them.
Bella, or Blake, looked at Ruby with wide eyes and her jaw actually slightly open for some reason.
"Well Blake, hope these two aren't annoying you too badly, they can do that from time to time. And by that I mean they're like that all the time" Qrow laughed, as Ruby stuck her tongue out at him, but Yang was still looking at Blake.
"They aren't that bad," Blake said quietly, so softly that Winter hardly heard the girl. Blake looked over at Yang and gave her a small smile and nod, which instantly relaxed the blonde.
"Why thank you, Blake! See Uncle Qrow, not everyone's mean like you are!" Yang grinned as she walked over and put her arm around Blake's shoulders. Blake's eyes widened for a sec, but Winter wasn't sure if she minded the contact or not. Yang, probably feeling the girl tense up, instantly removed her arm and coughed into her hand like nothing had happened at all.
"Eh, give her some time, she'll learn" Qrow insisted as he gave Blake a wink, "Anyway, nice to meet you, Blake. Ooh, Peanut nutters, don't mind if I do" Qrow smiled as he reached into Yang's bag and swiped a piece of candy.
"What the heck?" Yang called, while all of the kids around her laughed, everyone but Blake, that is, who kept looking at Winter through the corner of her eyes.
"Come on, Yang, I expected you to have at least half a bag full of candy by now. Is Ruby gonna get more than you this year or something?" Qrow teased as he opened the candy and ate the whole thing in one bite.
Yang's eyes widened as she looked for her sister, who had just beelined it for the nearest house, "Ruby, I thought we had a truce this year! Ruby! Ooh no, come on Blake, we've gotta move!" Yang cried as she ran off after her sister. Blake gave Winter one last look before running off to catch up to Yang.
"Ooh Ren, Yatsuhashi, we can't lose! Come on, let's race too!" Nora cheered as she grabbed the two boys' hands and actually dragged them, and Zwei whose ship was still in Yatsuhashi's grasp, off to who knows where in search of candy.
"So, let me guess. The two of them have some bet going where whoever gets the most candy gets the others candy? I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?" Winter asked excitedly as the two adults watched the zombie pirates run around the neighborhood.
"Close. They always share their candy actually, but whoever gets the most gets to call the other one a loser for a day" Qrow explained as they started to walk down the sidewalk, trying their best to keep pace with the pirates.
"Isn't that what they do normally?"
"Yeah, but this makes it a competition, and they love competing. Plus. those two always go above and beyond when they compete, and that means more candy for me" Qrow grinned as he held up a second piece of candy she hadn't seen him take.
"I swear, sometimes you're pure evil" Winter laughed as he handed her the candy.
"Only sometimes? Dang, I was going for pure villain" Qrow sighed as he scratched the back of his head.
"Villain? Not a chance. Ruby with her fake sword is way more threatening than you any day" Winter quipped as she opened the candy and took a small bite, trying to keep some grace as well as her makeup.
Winter thought about telling him about meeting her at the boxing match and the fake name Blake had given her, or the fake name Ruby had told her. But she remembered her talk with Yang, and how she seemed to want to keep her friend a secret for some reason. Winter wasn't sure why Yang was keeping Blake a secret, but it must be a pretty good reason.
"Does Yang ever… lie to you? Or Ruby? I mean, I know most kids do, but they don't exactly seem like most kids. Not in a bad way or anything, but- You know what I mean, right?" Winter wondered with her mouth full of her foot and the candy.
"I know what you mean, don't worry. And no, not really. Neither of them likes lying, especially not Yang. the only reason I could think of them lying would be to protect each other or something like that. But I hope if it was serious enough, they'd come to you or me"
"I mean I'm their therapist and all, but I feel like they'd come to you with most of the big stuff" Winter diflected with a small laugh, but Qrow didn't look like he was joking.
"Winter, they trust you. A lot. The only people they trust as much as you are me or Maria. Even then, I think they still trust you more sometimes" claimed Qrow, without so much as a hint of humor in his voice.
"I think you're sugar coating it, Qrow. They like me, but I don't think they like me that much" Winter said seriously, but her voice was shaky and full of doubt.
"I'm not gonna spend that much time trying to convince you of something you already know is true. But I don't think anyone other than Ruby or I has ever gotten Yang to calm down after she snaps. Then with Ruby, not many people understand her like you do, and she loves that you do. I mean who on earth would have a sword fight with a kid like that out of the blue? Did you see her smile?" Qrow looked at her with pure admiration and joy at the memory. Winter blushed, she knew Ruby had liked it, but didn't really think about it until now.
"I mean, I guess that's true…" Winter admitted quietly, looking away before meeting his eyes again.
"Just… Don't sell yourself short, OK? Because you're a member of the family, you mean a lot to all of us. Even Zwei" Qrow chuckled lightly, but it died the longer the two of them made eye contact. Neither of them wanted to look away, neither of them cared about the makeup, only the eyes really mattered to them…
"Uncle Qrow, catch!" Ruby yelled as she tossed a full sized Peanut Nutter at Qrows head, nailing him right on the cheek, smearing his makeup.
"Ruby!" Qrow growled, but the girl was already running away with a laugh. Qrow stared daggers at his niece before he let out a deep breath.
"Here, let me help" Winter told him, putting her hands on the side of his face and turning his head gently towards her. It wasn't a big smear, but it left a patch of his skin without makeup, sort of messing up his whole 'zombie pirate' look. So she licked her thumb lightly and smeared his makeup around, trying to even out the coloring.
Qrow closed his eyes and looked relaxed as she tried to fix his makeup. Winter slowed her touch, forgetting about what she was doing for a second as she simply enjoyed the moment. Soon enough she had to finish her work though, and too bad Winter didn't have any extra makeup, or it might've ended up looking half decent. Instead his face turned into a blotchy mess of human and zombie, making the side of his face look more dumb than scary.
"Uh, perfect!" Winter smiled, taking her hands away slowly, walking away quickly to follow the kids who had traveled a good way down the neighborhood.
"You sure? Winter? Does it actually look good? Why are you running if it looks good!" Qrow called as she ran away from him in a fit of giggles. Qrow ran after her with a smile on his face, but she only turned back once to look.
Winter ran down the street, side stepping out of the way of kids and parents alike with a goofy smile on her face. Some of them gave her looks, but she couldn't care less. She made a sharp left, hoping that Qrow wouldn't see her, but in a weird way also kind of hoping he would.
The sidewalk was packed at this point, so Winter decided to cut through someone's yard, something she wasn't exactly sure was legal, giggling all the way.
"Winter, come on, I'm not gonna mess with your makeup… That badly!" Qrow called out over the crowd. Winter bit her knuckled to keep from laughing hysterically as she dove behind a fence, trying her best to keep quiet.
Winter's heart was pounding like crazy and her smile was huge, flashes of playing hide and go seek with Weiss and her mother popped into her head and filled her with warmth. It occurred to her then how often she had this feeling around Qrow and the girls, this levity and joy that she'd only ever experienced with two or three people in her life.
Hiding from Qrow wasn't like hiding from her father or her tutors. Hiding from there was scary, because she knew they would be mad when they found her, or at the very least make her do something she hated. But now, with Qrow, she was excited for him to find her, because that meant she would get to see him again… Was that weird?
Winter sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the kids and parents talk about this or that while she calmed down. She had a smile on her face that she couldn't seem to force away, and didn't really want to.
"I'm sorry Blake, I didn't know you used a different name with her!" Winter heard Ruby whine from the other side of the fence. Winter's ears perked up hearing the voice.
"It's fine, Ruby. Really" Blake's clear and soft voice told her, trying to soothe the birthday girl's worry.
"I just… Why do we have to lie to them anyway? Winter's nice! She won't-" Ruby started, but was interrupted by something Winter couldn't see.
"It's not that she isn't nice, it's because it's her job. If she finds out about my parents, she'll have to tell. That's the law" Blake explained, and for once Ruby seemed at a loss for words.
"She could help though…" Ruby whispered, more to herself than to Blake.
"Ruby, stop it. Blake knows how to take care of herself. If she doesn't want Winter or Uncle Qrow to know, we have to respect that. Plus, she has us to help her!" Yang chimed in, obviously trying to help her sister feel better. Winter could hear the cheer in Yang's voice, but also the hints of something else in it… Fear? She wasn't sure.
"Come on, let's go to some more houses. After all, I'm still ahead of you, Ruby!" Yang joked, then Winter heard the girl run away quickly.
"No fair, Yang, no head starts!" Ruby yelled as she frantically chased after her sister. "You two are good friends" Winter heard Blake say softly, like she was trying to hide she'd said anything at all. Then she chuckled as she walked slowly after the sisters at a much more leisurely pace.
"Ring… Ring… Ring" Winter jumped at the sudden noise, hoping that Blake was far enough away not to hear her ringtone. Winter fished the phone out of her pocket before switching off the ringer and setting it to silent before answering it.
"Hello?" Winter whispered as she peaked over the fence, looking for the girls. Luckily she found them already a few houses away, and paying attention to a young couple handing out extra large candy bars.
"I give up, I can't find you anywhere. Can you come out, please? I promise I won't mess up your makeup" Qrow chuckled through the phone.
"What? Oh, yeah. Of course, where are you?" Winter asked as she crawled a ways down the fence, away from the girls.
"I'm over by 124 Evans street" He told her as she made her way over to where he was. Winter hopped the fence farther down the road, hopefully far away from where the girls were.
She was confused, and a little scared why they wouldn't want her finding out about her parents. Was something wrong with Blake's home life? Winter asked herself questions like that over and over as she made her way to Qrow, who was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. She was pretty sure it wasn't his, but wasn't gonna check.
"Here, catch" Qrow told her, tossing her a random piece of candy from a small stack he had next to him. Winter fumbled, dropping it on the ground despite her best efforts.
"Shoot. Long time no see sailor" Winter smiled after picking up the disgraced candy. Winter jumped up, taking a seat beside him, their legs swinging slowly next to each other in the wind as she opened her candy.
"No kidding. Where were you hiding by the way? I couldn't find you anywhere" Qrow wondered as he leaned to the side, knocking into her and making her laugh.
"Up a tree, under a car, switched costumes… You'll never know" Winter teased as she popped the candy into her mouth with a grin. She was never overly fond of peanut butter, but these Peanut Nutters were actually quite good. She leaned back into him, the two of them in a small fight before they stopped pushing, relaxing into each other instead.
"Wherever you were, I hope you could see the stars. They're beautiful tonight" Qrow told her as he leaned back in the bed of the truck, looking up at the night sky. Winter looked down at him curiously for a second, before smiling as she leaned back, surprised to find his arm waiting for her to use as a pillow.
Winter figured he would move it when she put weight on it, but instead he simply pulled her a little closer, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. His skin was warm and comforting, so she moved closer to him, getting even warmer.
He wasn't kidding either, the stars were brightly dotting the sky in random patterns where you could see anything and everything. The moon was full and bright, illuminating everything, popping out in the night sky. The sky reminded her of the city, or maybe it was the city that reminded her of the sky, she had no idea anymore. All Winter knew was that she was looking at something truly beautiful when she looked at either.
The two of them sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's warmth and company. Winter eventually brought her eyes down to earth, looking at Qrows eyes. They were colorful, but dark, reflecting the shimmering stars in them. She watched as his eyes moved and found her own. They looked into the stars through the others eyes, and were even more captivated.
Winter didn't feel butterflies anymore, but simply felt his warmth in her arm, in her side, in his look, in her soul. Deep down the only thing that she could think, was… could she really keep herself from him?
-Authors Notes-
So a quick shout out to Combine117, for always commenting on almost every chapter. It really makes my week seeing you comment, as well
as anyone else commenting. But thank you very much. Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you guys next week!