Qrow climbed the spiraling wooden staircase up the inside of the tower. Not the main tower, of course; that one had an elevator like any sensible architect would include in this day and age. But no one actually used these old watchtowers for anything, and so they were never given more than the most cursory design. So it was stairs.

A stray thought crossed his mind as he passed the fourth floor, and he grimaced. What if she decided to change things up this time? If she had gone to the northeast tower instead of the southeast, it would be a long walk back down, and then another five flights up the other side. In practice that meant he'd've missed his chance.

But no, the rooftop trapdoor was already open, and Qrow blinked as he poked his head out into the reddening predawn sky. As he expected, the tower was deserted, save for the single young woman sitting sideways on the broad parapet, her white cloak dyed orange in the morning light.

Summer turned her head as he climbed the rest of the way up to the landing, but did nothing but swing her legs around to the roof and jump down. Qrow strode up to stand next to her, and together they watched the sun finally emerge from the valley cutting through the mountains.

Once the disk of the sun was fully visible above the jagged horizon Summer let out a quiet sigh. "This is the best time of year for this," she said, still looking out to the east. "In another month or so it'll be coming up behind the mountains instead."

Qrow let that statement hang comfortably for a moment, then turned to lean against the parapet, facing his team leader. "I thought I'd find you here."

The opening was unnecessary and they both knew it. Summer didn't come here every morning, but the team knew that it was one of her calming rituals, a way to start the day off right. They knew that if they woke up and she wasn't in her bed, they'd still see her in the dining hall for breakfast.

Lately her bed had been empty quite a bit.

And so Qrow dragged himself out of bed at an hour he rarely saw at Beacon, dragged himself up five flights of stairs, so he could say—

"Talk to me, Summer."

She gave a resigned laugh, still facing outward. "Has everyone noticed, then?"

If it had been Tai, Qrow would have thrown it back at him. Of course we noticed. We're your teammates. We care about you.

But this was Summer, and she didn't need that kind of attitude. And besides, she already knew.

She sighed, then pulled her hood back and looked up at him. "I really want to be happy for them."

Qrow couldn't stop from barking a laugh, and Summer's face fell as if he had punched her. "Sorry, sorry," he said quickly, raising his hands. "It's just…most people would be thinking about themselves, in this sort of situation."

Summer looked at him sadly. "Do you really believe that?"

Qrow found himself without an answer. Even after several semesters together as a team, the depths of Summer's goodness still took him by surprise.

His teammate turned back to the rising sun, her left hand now balled into a fist as she rested it on the wall. "It just…hurts," she murmured. "It'd be so much easier for everyone involved if it just went away." Then she seemed to catch herself, looking up at him. "I mean, on a scale of 1 to Lifelong Scarring Trauma, it's like a 5 at most, even if it does spike up to 7 sometimes—"

"Summer," Qrow interrupted, trying to smile gently at her. "I get it. Trust me, I've been there."

He saw her eyes light up with hope, saw the change a second later as she hated herself for it. "How did you make it go away?" she asked flatly, after a pause, and Qrow knew she had been deciding whether to ask it at all.

But this was Summer, who out of the four of them was most in touch with her feelings. The one who actually went to the school therapist on a regular basis, who was so matter-of-fact about it that Tai had started signing up for sessions too. Of course she was going to ask, even if she already had an idea of the answer.

Qrow ran a hand through his hair. "Well, you can't help but see them every day," he acknowledged, "so your best bet's going to be finding someone else who catches your eye."

"While I've got all these feelings for someone else?" Summer responded incredulously.

Qrow gave her a light smirk. "That's pretty much how I reacted when someone told that to me. It's a great trick if it works, but I never saw how you could do it on purpose."

"Well, you're no help at all." Summer turned back to the mountains once more, but Qrow could see a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Hey, that Ashby guy is pretty hot," he teased. "You know, the one from History class? I'm just sayin'…"

"You mean the one you hooked up with last semester?" She punched him lightly in the side, and then they were both laughing.

"So you're okay with this?" Qrow asked, once the moment had passed.

His teammate gave a sigh, but her face was light as she took a step away from the wall. "I am. Raven and Tai are two of the most important people to me, and seeing them happy makes me happy. That's still true even…" She waved a hand. "You know."

Qrow shook his head. "You're an amazing person, Summer."

Summer's smile turned into a knowing grin. "You say that, Qrow, but on this one I know you'd feel the same in my place."

Again she had managed to catch Qrow off-guard. He considered it for a moment, and was surprised to realize she was right.

Summer was turning, as if to leave the roof, but suddenly stopped. "And Raven?" she asked, looking back. "She's my best friend. I'm not going to lose her over this, am I?"

Qrow snorted. "She wouldn't have cared if you slept with him."

Summer turned red, and Qrow quickly tried to fix the hilarious image in his mind so he'd remember it forever. "W-what?" she stammered.

He deliberately gave her a dismissive look. "Everyone from Vale gets so possessive. Raven understands that Tai's his own person and can do what he wants."

Summer blinked, not having fully recovered yet. "Does Tai understand that about Raven?"

Qrow frowned. "It's nice of you to worry, but we do know things are different here," he replied, his tone serious. "And yes, they've talked about it. Didn't you already talk about this with Raven?"

Summer groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. "I screwed up again. I shouldn't have assumed—"

"No, you shouldn't have," Qrow agreed, relaxing a bit. "But like you always say, we are allowed mistakes. And you're not wrong to worry about it in some form. At least, I was too." He smirked. "Too bad for you Tai's not like that."

It took a moment, but then she blushed again, giving the lining of his cloak some competition. Qrow's smile widened and he leaned back against the wall, wishing he could whistle to complete the image. He had a huge amount of respect for Summer, respect she'd earned over the team's time together. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy teasing her every now and then too.

"Qrow?" Summer said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. "Can I ask you something?"

Qrow raised his eyebrows slightly. "Sure, Sum."

She took a few steps back towards him. "Why haven't you ever asked me out?"

Her tone had a hint of genuine curiosity, and was casual enough that Qrow was only put a little off-balance. Still, he raised a hand to scratch behind his head. "That's an astute question, I suppose," he said, trying to put his thoughts in order.

Summer gave him her own version of his smirk. "When a boy's slept with maybe half the school, a girl starts to wonder," she drawled, imitating Raven's swaggering way of talking.

Qrow couldn't help but grin at that, then dropped the smile to answer seriously. "Summer, you're talented, smart, and beautiful. You'd be quite a partner. But you and everybody else know I'm not looking for something serious, and I could tell from the beginning you're not really into the casual thing." He frowned. "And besides, we're on a team together. If we weren't both 100% sure about it, things could get messy later on—and I'm not just talking about our friendship. We're training to be Hunters. We need to be sure we have each others' backs."

Summer nodded, accepting his explanation. "And you're not worried about this with Tai and Raven?" she asked.

Qrow let the frown fade and gave a broad shrug. "I am. But it's their choice to make." A thought struck him and he looked back at Summer. "You don't sound worried about that at all."

"Well…" Summer smiled hesitantly. "All else being equal, I've heard that you know when to go for a relationship when your feelings start to override your logical arguments against. And I think Tai and Raven are around that point."

Qrow raised his eyebrows again. "Huh. Maybe they are."

"Anyway." She took a few more steps back in his direction. "Thanks for coming up to talk to me. It means a lot."

"Of course," said Qrow, trying to make it sound as reassuring as possible.

Summer sighed and shook her head. "I'm the leader. Shouldn't I be the one talking to others about their feelings?"

"Hey, whoa." Qrow pushed himself away from the wall with his hands. "First of all, you do do that. Second, just because you're the leader doesn't mean you stop being a person." He hesitated, then reached out and gripped her shoulder.

"Thanks, Qrow," she said again, dipping her head. She stepped over next to him and reached up to give him a quick side hug, and together they started walking back to the stairs. Overhead, the morning sky continued to brighten into day.