Yang spent her whole life living vicariously. It was the lifestyle she knew the best, and filling that idle role was second nature for her. It was a comfortable position to be in, because there wasn't a while lot of responsibility forced on her. She could take as much or as little as she pleased. She could be the fun older sister or the troublesome prankster one moment. The next she could be a protector, and disciplinarian.
She never had to be the parent though, and even the phrase guardian seemed ill-fitting.
From giving Ruby piggyback rides as a girl, to hauling around any number of crabby toddlers on her hip, Yang was always quick to adapt, but her duties were strictly impulsive. The children were never her own, and she eventually handed them back off to their parents. In Ruby's case, there was never a time an adult wasn't too far away, even when they didn't realize it. Qrow shadowed them a lot growing up, though he did so with his flask at his hip and his sensibilities impaired. Yang didn't realize it at the time, but, she had always been only an older sister.
She didn't need to be the one in change, because frankly. They were too close in age to make any real difference.
Reflecting all of those little truths the way Yang did, it became alarming to find herself acting as a guardian around the clock. Ruby had warned her that some Faunus raised children communally, and that Velvet would need her. It was just that Yang never assumed that she would be entrusted with the task of acting as a surrogate caregiver for prolonged stretches of time. Yang and Yatsuhashi were the only adults looking after a very large group of kids, filling in the direly needed parental role while the mated triad were locked away in the nesting room.
"I was wondering why you were calling so late." Ruby laughed, watching as Yang pointedly tied her hair up into a bun to keep it away from grabby little hands. "You look exhausted."
"I am." Yang told her honestly. "But as you can see, sleep has turned into a whole lot of nope…"
"It's just the way they are." Ruby said over the scroll, chuckling to herself as she watched Yang struggle. The huddled pile of young Faunus invaded her sleeping space, and Yang was losing the battle.
"I'm all for cuddling, but this is ridiculous!" Yang said tiredly. "I thought Yastu was kidding when he suggested rolling out all the sleeping bags onto the floor, but we seriously cannot all fit in this bed. He went to go get the camping gear, but in the meantime, I'm trying to keep them from killing each other."
"Why aren't the older ones in their own room?" Ruby asked.
"He said something about Sienna and Bruno not being completely weaned off co-sleeping with their parents yet…and the others being jealous of the new litter." Yang yawned and dodged a sleepy little arm that belonged to Bruno. It flailed wildly as he batted his sister away from Yang's attention. It wasn't easy keeping two warring toddler Faunus at bay. "I don't really know this happened. It started off with just Bruno and Sienna, then, the others got wise."
"Yep, looks like it."
"It doesn't help that Yatsu's one big softy who can't say no. Fox and Coco come out of the room for mealtimes, but Velvet refuses to leave the nesting room. Part of me wonders if she can yet, she looks exhausted. Thing is, the moment I even say the word b-e-d-t-i-m-e these little guys all have a conniption fit."
Ruby laughed through Yang's sleepy tirade. "Kind of makes you want one of your own, doesn't it?"
Yang sent Ruby a glare that was promptly covered with a pillow landing squarely on her face, a round of young giggling following soon after. "This is the single best method of birth control ever to be invented." She muttered in reply as Jade stepped in, taking away her petulant younger sister. "They're a handful…and they all keep fighting…Sienna! Let go of Buttercup's ears!"
"Which is why rabbit Faunus normally keep multiple mates. It's just the way they think, and their personal social structure encourages it." Sun said, coming into view from Ruby's scroll.
Yang deadpanned. "To make a baby Faunus apocalypse?"
"Eh, more like to keep it from happening. Rabbit Faunus might technically be a prey Faunus, but they're aggressive and territorial fighters among other prey faunus like themselves. You're sitting in a room full of young kids who still haven't fully grasped the concept of people skills, and don't like sharing yet." He laughed when he heard another round of fighting, and Yang shouting to get them to stop. "Of course they're all arguing with each other."
"Well, then what would you suggest?" Yang asked before averting her gaze. "Jade, don't hit your sister!"
"She bit me first!" Jade shouted back, causing Yang to sigh.
"I don't care. I said no."
"Mom lets me do it."
"Do I look like your mom?"
"Let her." Sun interjected.
"What?" Yang asked, as her eyes tinged red ever so slightly when the miniature war continued.
Sun rolled his eyes. "Let Jade knock her siblings around a little bit."
"A little?" Yang asked. "It's like some sort of deranged preschool fight club in here..."
"Why do you think I kept my mating habits strictly to those whose social structures are like to my own?" Sun asked with a small smile. "I know better than to deal with huge litter sizes, Zhu's a handful as it is."
Yang rolled her eyes. "You just keep that in mind before you let Ruby talk you out of using condoms."
"Yang…" Ruby warned.
"Sorry, but this puts a whole new spin on auntie Yang, and I remember what you were like when you were little." Yang said, cringing as she followed Sun's advice, which only seemed to make the fighting louder. "Multiples versions of you two would be an unholy terror that the world isn't ready for."
"Don't look at me…you're not going to find multiples in my bloodline." Sun cringed.
"Nope, me either…I don't think. That's more Yang's thing." Ruby laughed. "Uncle Qrow and her mom are twins."
"Yeah, well unlike the rest of you crazy people, I'm not at risk for getting baby rabies any time soon. You're doing all the hard work for me, thank you very much." Yang replied as Yatsuhashi entered in, arms full of sleeping bags to pad the floor. "Oh thank god, the cavalry's arrived…we need to try to get these guys to go to sleep, I'll call you tomorrow."
"Same time?"
"Only if whatever omnipotent being out there has a twisted sense of humor." Yang half groused. "Probably around lunch, actually. Coco and Fox are going to take the kids out to eat, so we can actually talk without screeching interrupting us."
"Yeah, sounds good."
"Be safe you two." Yang said, giving Ruby a look. "Not even frickin' kidding."
Weiss was working from home until the litter was born, and she didn't care who dared to oppose her. She had made that decision after one too many sleepless nights, and her wife's constant worrying over small and trivial matters. They spent most of their time in the nesting room, sometimes even taking their meals there. Weiss also carried in several stacks of work to keep by her side. It wasn't the most relaxing environment with documentation around the bedding, but Blake was calmer when Weiss was around, and frankly, Weiss was able to focus more on smaller tasks when her mind wasn't wandering to what might or might not be going on at home.
The fragmentation of team RWBY was noticeable though, and Yang's presence was sorely missed when Weiss needed something and hesitated to leave Blake's side. She trusted Ruby unquestionably, but Yang was the fast on her feet problem solver that could keep Blake calm when many others couldn't. If Blake went into labor early, she wanted Yang there, needed her to be around, if only for her own peace of mind, if not Blake's too.
Yang hadn't fallen off of the face of Remnant though, she was making her presence known constantly with the way she abused the messaging system. Weiss rolled her eyes, suppressing a smile as Blake's scroll buzzed incessantly.
"Here we go again." Blake said, as if reading her wife's thoughts. "How much do you want to bet that's Yang?"
Setting aside another folder to be dealt with later, Weiss turned her attention to the woman at her side. "She's still hyped up about Velvet's litter, isn't she?"
News of Velvet's newest litter was a running theme, and one bandied about by close friends and relatives. No one had been let inside the room to see the litter, and no pictures had been taken. Or, so she thought, until Yang decided to prove otherwise. Blake had to suppress a laugh at the whole ordeal once Yang started texting the details with a renewed sense of vigor.
"Mm, it seems so." Blake nodded. "Velvet's starting to try to bond the newborns with the older kids a little at a time. Yang was allowed to go into the nesting room to help supervise…I guess she got to hold them too, because she won't shut up about it."
"Pictures?"
"Yeah, just now actually." Blake said, turning her scroll so that her wife could see as well.
"What happened to her?"
"Yang's probably just a little freaked out. I get the feeling she's never actually seen a newborn up close." Blake said, looking at a few more of the messages that had come through her scroll. "She's probably intimidated by the baby."
"Well, they're only a few days old. The only other baby that that young she could have possibly encountered was Ruby…and come to think of it, probably not. Yang was a small child back then, I'd be willing to bet she had to wait for Ruby to be brought home from the hospital." Weiss leaned over to get a look at the small infant Yang was holding. "I doubt she would remember the experience very well."
"You're probably right." Blake murmured.
"Let me see that picture again…" Weiss took a closer look, confusion evident on her face, clear as day. Where on the face of Remnant were his ears? "Huh, that's strange…"
"Looks like Velvet had a cottontail." Blake supplied in the face of the question Weiss hadn't asked.
"Is it rare for a rabbit Faunus to have a tail instead of ears?" Weiss asked, seeing that the child Yatsuhashi held didn't have ears like his sibling or his mother.
"I'm not sure." Blake said. "Faunus with short tails like that normally wear baggier clothes so that it doesn't get smooshed. Outside of scent, there wouldn't be any way to tell if he was a Faunus or not. I'd assume it runs in the family, someplace."
"He'll be the odd one out of that bunch." Weiss said thoughtfully.
"I thought that was Jade…"
"That would be true, if Jade cared about being a Faunus instead of a human." Weiss considered then, knowing full well that the eldest of the group was as disinterested in any such family politics, or bloodline. "Thankfully, she'll be the only human child in that family. No one wants to deal with Coco while she's pregnant ever again."
"She wasn't quite that bad."
"Yes she was…speaking of, how long was Velvet's labor?"
Blake hesitated, thoughtful. "I think Coco said about twelve hours from start to finish…Velvet's fastest…the pictures are a surprise though. I didn't think Velvet would let Yang in the nesting room during the bonding phase. It's a delicate time."
"I've been told that you only think that because this is your first litter."
Blake grinned. "Let me guess, Coco?"
"And Velvet, apparently." Weiss admitted.
"She might say that, but I'll bet you anything they've closed off the room to outsiders, and they're bonding right now…Yang's probably a special case."
"Is Yatsuhashi a special case to you now since he's dating Yang?"
"The key word is dating. He would never harm our cubs, but, I still consider him an outsider. I've no doubt he'd conduct himself properly. it's just…" Blake struggled, rolling the complicated emotion around in her head. "Hmm, well, it's just that he's not married, or even engaged to Yang. If he were, I wouldn't even think twice about it. I'd let him in the room, same as everyone else…but he's not…he belongs to Velvet's circle, plain and simple."
"I'm still shocked you don't mind Sun being in the room."
"Well, I'm okay with that for two reasons. Firstly, he's not a dominant male in this house. Secondly, he's following strict courtship practices with Ruby. As the alpha of this house, anything I say goes. I've already said I want immediate family there…and to me, Ruby and Yang are part of that. If I accepted Ruby in the room, but I turn Sun away, it would be like saying I don't accept him as part of that important inner circle. It would ultimately mean I don't welcome him as Ruby's mate."
"And what about Winter?"
"What about Winter?" Blake shot back.
"She told me that you want her to be in the room too." Weiss explained. "I have to admit, I'm a little bit surprised."
"Family means family, she's their aunt by blood. She has every right to be here if she wants to be."
Weiss nodded, lips thinning into a tight line. She didn't want to admit that her own inadequacies were weighing on her again, but they were, terribly so. As time drew near she felt as though she would never be able to get all the things in order that she wanted to. Coco had told her not to try so hard, that no matter what, Weiss would always feel that way.
"You're right...and, I do want her there..." Shoving away the concern once more, she drew her legs up, and rested her arms on her knees, not minding how high the nightgown rode up her thigh in the process. "So, I've been thinking."
"About?"
"A whole lot of things really." Weiss began slowly, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "Some things you'd nag me over, and some things you wouldn't. There's something I feel like we should talk about though. I keep coming back to what you said about names. How, that's normally the father's job. His first act of being a parent. I know you said it wasn't your choice, and I keep trying to rationalize that in my head, but I just can't do that."
Blake could see it wasn't just stubbornness bothering Weiss, it was something else. "Why not?" She asked, laying one hand on her mate's shoulder, and the other on her knee. Coaxing her wife to face her.
"Is this even something we can talk about? I've been putting off saying any of this, because I don't want to upset you…and…I don't know how deep this really runs for you. This is definitely one of those, I'm acting like a human moments, and I don't want you thinking I don't care about your feelings in all of this, because I do."
"We obviously need to talk about it. It's bothering you, Weiss."
The woman in white sighed. "It's complicated, and I'm not even sure I can explain it well. For the sake of example, pretend we're a human couple. The fact that only the father would be allowed to choose the names just seems outdated. Like an old unspoken law from when women didn't have a say in anything. Atlas used to be like that, and in some respects it still is. Some part of that mindset grates on me…I know it shouldn't, but it does…and we're both female. Following male dominated practices, intentionally sexist or not, is kind of strange to me."
Blake squinted. "It honestly never occurred to me to think of the matter like that…sexist I mean. I suppose for me, seeing it that way seems inherently wrong. Probably because for a Faunus, gender isn't how dominance is decided."
"Welcome to why it's complicated." Weiss shot back with only a hint of amusement in her voice. "Anyway, I know it's important to you that I decide their names, but they're just as much yours as they are mine…so it really is equally important to me that you have some say in the matter."
"Well, what would you suggest?"
"I tried to come up with some form of compromise, but, I know you want me to decide. The best I could do was gather huge list of names I liked, and write them down. I thought, maybe you wouldn't be opposed to circling all the ones you liked. Then I could make the final decision based on the ones you circled…at least that way, it would still be my choice, but it's one I know you approve of…if that makes any sense."
"It does." Blake said evenly. Unsure about it, but willing to give it a try. "Do you have the list with you?"
Weiss nodded, grabbing a folder and the red pen that rested nearby, handing them both over to Blake. "Everything's in alphabetical order. I… Um…" Weiss took a breath. "The ones in bold are names from our family registries…I hope you don't mind, but I dug around, and pulled up your family tree."
"I don't mind, but, what about the ones with the asterisks?"
"Comrades." Weiss blurted far too fast for her own liking.
"Weiss?"
If Weiss could have crumpled into herself any more than she already had, she would have. "They're your comrades from the White Fang. That's a tradition for Faunus too right? Naming them after strong comrades who've fallen in battle so that their spirit lives on? Maybe I messed that part up and misunderstood, or something...Velvet wasn't exactly clear when I asked. Some of the names I knew, but then I was drudging up the obituaries and got even more confused. I started taking wild guesses…I…I…." She trailed off when she heard a sniffle. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"
The kiss that silenced her was salty. Golden eyes still shimmering with tears as she pulled away. "Thankyou." She purred through her sob, burying her face into the crook of her mate's neck as the tears kept falling, plopping loudly on the fabric between them. "Thank you so much…"