Chapter 3: The Gay One

"Go, boys, go, they'll time your every breath. Cuz every day you're in this place, you're two days nearer death."

— 6 —

Waking up early was the easy part. The hard part was having no idea where you were. This happened to me even back in the Army. If ever I awoke from a good sleep, I came to disoriented, briefly convinced I was back home until reality reasserted itself.

My first clue that I wasn't back at Beacon was when I sat up and didn't see Blake sprawled across her bed unladylike. Then I remembered I was at Ruby's house, sleeping in her mother's old bed, on the morning of Christmas or whatever the hell it was called in this world.

Not being able to bother my partner and accidentally wake her up during my morning ritual felt like a downer. I had to wonder what she was doing, how she was handling on her own. But knowing her, she and the rest of the team were getting on fine without me, probably even better. There really wasn't any reason to worry about them. They had been fine before I came along, and then not fine when I was there, and then finally approaching a semblance of okay when I had left.

According to my scroll, it was too damn early. The sun wasn't even showing, not that it would be showing for very long today, winter solstice and all. I stumbled around in the dark, eventually figured out where the bathroom was, and then returned to find it was still way too early to do anything. Eventually, I realized that just pacing back and forth wouldn't get rid of my energy to see my family. So why not resolve myself to killing that with intermittent reps of push-ups and sit-ups? Work until one muscle group was sore, and then do the other, using Summer's bed to anchor my toes down. A hundred here, a hundred there, what was it to me? Recovery was a lot easier when you could pump Aura into yourself. It could make you feel fresh even when you know you should be exhausted. Morning calisthenics had been my ritual even before I was Jaune, dating back to just before I was Greg. This might not be my original body, but that didn't mean I couldn't put it through the rigors just for funsies.

I only gave up when the sweat started seeping into my eyes. I don't think it helped too much with my anxiety, even though I had tired myself out something awful. Maybe a shower would be the trick.

As I got the hot water running, I used my trimmers to ensure my little beard was neat and tidy. I wasn't going for a wild mountain-man look. More a kind of professional, I suppose. Looking at my face always felt odd. I remembered one day coming back from a fifteen kilometer run, when I was trying to lose a lot of weight after our quarantines during the plague. Lots of running, lots of time in the gym. I remember just staring at my sweaty self in the mirror, looking at my face, and realizing I didn't recognize myself. I looked too lean for the face I'd gotten used to.

I could count five separate occasions when that happened to me. And only two of them were related to Jaune and Greg. The rest were all home-grown fitness or fits of alcohol.

Not six minutes into locking the bathroom door behind me and someone was already knocking.

"Hey, asshole, it's too early to do this," Yang shouted in the kind of whisper yell you did when you wanted to be loud but didn't want to wake somebody else up. Very good for dramatic effect. "Stop taking so long in there; I have to piss!"

With effort, I washed the last bit of soap from my hair and half heartedly put on a towel before opening the door.

Yang was scowling at me, wearing sweatpants and what I was going to charitably call a small crop top. Dripping wet, I looked down at her, and she just looked up at me, her eyes roving across my chest as if sizing me up. The awkward moment of silence lasted forever.

Until she rallied herself into an unhappy expression. "Oh, hey, you're actually capable of being half naked around someone who isn't a child. Bravo."

"I'm a free spirit like that," I said evenly, running my hand across my wet forehead. "Now are you just going to ogle me or are you going to say something."

"You take loud showers and you woke me up," she said, not even missing a beat to be flustered or anything. She was way too collected, even though she was angry. "Now get out. There's only one bathroom in this hall."

I closed the door on her.

"Get out of there!" Yang said, forcing the door open before I could lock it.

"Yeah, if you don't leave me alone to dry off, I'm going to seduce your father so you have no choice but to call me Daddy."

Yang gagged. "You stay away from him."

"What are you gonna do, Yang? He knows I'm hot stuff. Go ahead and call the police. They can't un-intercourse your dad." I waggled my brow.

The gag intensified. "Fucking creep." She shook her messy bed head. "Whatever! We're the only ones up for like half an hour anyways. So stop being a creep and trying to ruin the morning, Jaune."

"I tried having a heart-to-heart with you. Get off my dick."

"Yeah, no. No touching my heart. Or your dick. The only part of us that's going to touch is my fist and your balls."

"Well, I've had worse hand jobs than that."

She scoffed angrily, stepping back. "Just be quick, man. I really have to go."

I dried myself off at my leisure, relishing the fact that she was getting closer and closer to pissing herself the longer I purposely kept the sink on, though eventually I had to leave. She rushed in the moment I opened the door, barely giving me enough time to flip her off. Bitch.

But now I found myself too worked up to go back to bed or anything. And if she was right, everybody was going to be getting up in about half an hour or so. Gave me one of those evil little ideas of mine. Which eventually led me down the stairs into the kitchen, to raid the fridge and the pantries.

Eggs, vegetables, potatoes, garlic, and bacon. Plus some flapjack batter. There really was a lot here, but that was to be expected for a family Christmas. I started buttering up the skillet and chopping shallots and parsley.

Ruby's father, Taiyang, eventually walked in, his eyes sleepy. Man was wearing cargo shorts, an undershirt, and an apron. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"It's called breakfast," I said. "The most forgotten meal of the day."

He sniffed, looking pleasantly surprised by the scent. "Huh. Well, damn. Here you go stealing my thunder. I'm the one who usually makes Short Morning's breakfast. I got my apron on and everything."

"Do you know what Ruby or Yang like to eat? I'm kind of just going with the generic full American here."

"You actually know how to cook?"

I scoffed. "Please. I went through this whole phase when I was younger where when I got stressed out, I took to cooking to fix it. Wasn't very good for my stomach, but was good for everything else."

Taiyang whistled. "Damn. You really are a catch. I'm almost kind of impressed."

"I can also sing and play guitar. I can't expect cute girls to call me daddy for nothing, man," I said, gesturing my whisk at him.

He laughed, a snorting noise despite himself, like he didn't expect that. "Holy crap, you really are me but younger. I hate it. I hate you. No wonder Yang does too." He came over to me, taking off his apron. "But, screw it. I'm all for being lazy and letting the woman of the house make my breakfast."

I considered the apron. It was girly as shit. It looked like a younger Ruby had tried drawing on it and embossing it with various designs and unicorns and roses and it just looked atrocious. I loved it.

"Mind tying that around the back for me?" I asked, thumbing over my shoulder.

"I guess. Here, hold still." He put the apron over my shoulders, and I shrugged my arms through it. He reached his arms around me to bring the little cords around, making sure they were snug and tight, before getting them tied. They tied around the side, instead of the back, reminding me more like some kind of sexy maid apron or whatever. The kind that half naked girls in movies like to wear.

Someone gasped like their life depended on it. Yang was standing there at the entrance of the kitchen, her eyes wide. She dropped the plastic cup of water she'd been carrying, and it splashed all over the floor. Tai paused, his arms around me as I flipped over the omelet I was making.

"Dad, what the fuck!" she shouted.

Taiyang finished tying the knot by my hip, and looked up at her. "What's wrong, little dragon?"

Yang ran up to her father and pulled him away. Before shouting at me, "I didn't think I'd really need to tell you stop trying to sleep with my dad."

Oh. I suppose from a certain point of view, that kind of would look like it was happening. She just walked in on two men looking like they're hugging each other from behind over breakfast.

Fuck it.

I reached under the apron and managed to take off my shirt. Until all I was wearing were my jeans and the apron. "What's wrong, Yang?" I said, tossing my shirt to her father, who caught it. "You've never seen two strong, muscly men perfectly secure in their heterosexuality before, in close proximity making breakfast?"

"I wouldn't really say that," Taiyang said, looking at the shirt he was holding. "I mean, the muscle part. I haven't been at the gym in a while. But the heterosexual part is totally true."

"Dad!" Yang shouted.

"Don't let her get to you, babe," I said chastisingly.

Taiyang squinted at me before he seemed to understand what was going on here, and nodded slowly. "Yeah, babe. That's what the kids call their friends these days, right?"

Yang stomped her foot. "No we don't, Dad!" She went over to grab me, causing me to drop my knife. The edge poked my finger.

"Be careful what you grab with that arm," I said evenly. "Never know when you might lose it. Like to a kitchen accident." I held up the pinprick of blood on my finger to show her.

Tai came over to me, shouldering his daughter out of the way just slightly. "Hold on, you're bleeding."

"It's nothing. My heart gushes worse everyday," I said.

He took my hand and made as if to bring my finger to his mouth. He wasn't hiding his shit-eating grin very well. "Here, let me."

Yang grabbed her father by the collar and practically threw him into the dining table. "No! I can't handle this much homosexual energy in one house!"

"I think when you use the full word like that instead of gay, you make the term disparaging," I told her, clicking my tongue.

"I thought I raised you better than to judge people for things like that," Tai said, rubbing his shoulder as he stood up. It looked like it had been a surprisingly nasty throw. It dampened his façade of looking cool enough to screw with Yang.

"She just doesn't know the life of a real Huntsman, us soldiers against the darkness," I said, shaking my head at her sadly. "Some people have never played gay chicken with your fellow dudebros just to prove how straight you are before going out heterosexually cruising for bitches, and it shows."

Yang put her hands over her mouth and screamed.

Taiyang looked around awkwardly. "Little less comfortable with calling women bitches around my daughter, otherwise, yeah, I've been there. Ask Qrow."

"Mmm, someone say my name?" Qrow said, stumbling into the room. Practically sliding along his feet. "Because I smell breakfast and I'm hungry. Me want."

Taiyang and I exchanged looks, and then exchanged a pair of finger guns. .45 caliber finger gun, the manliest caliber. Yang just sort of collapsed against the wall, and slid down until she was in the fetal position.

It wasn't long before Ruby followed after her uncle. Pretty much floating in the air. But given that her body looked like it was half rose petals, I suppose that made sense. She just kind of hovered in the air, following her nose all the way to the dinner table. "Food! Dad, what'd you make? And why is Yang curled up in the corner crying?"

Using all of my most heterosexual energy, I whisked the last of the eggs I was preparing, shaking my hips side to side to an invisible beat. "Breakfast today in casa de la Xiao Long is courtesy of ya boy. Bacon, eggs, ham, home fries, toast, and flapjacks. Scrambled and omelette options available, for her pleasure."

"Ooh, so no beans this time?" Ruby asked.

I playfully bopped her on the head with my spatula, before sitting down a generously full plate in front of her. "This is an American household. We don't do the full English here unless you want to go straight to hell."

"Oh my gosh, strawberry pancakes!" she said, giddily clapping her hands. She didn't even wait for me to grab anyone else a plate before digging in. And then tried talking around a mouthful of food and a full face smile. "Duuude, shoo good! How are you this awesome at cooking when you unironically like eating broccoli? You know what, screw that, I forgive you for broccoli and the brussel sprouts. I'm kidnapping you next year for breakfast now!"

"And that's how you wind up with three dads," I said.

"Deal! The more dads, the more breakfast!"

I gave Ruby's father a sly smile. "You hear that, Taiyang? Your daughter calls me Daddy too."

Yang whimpered, a sound halfway towards a sob. Suck a dick, bitch.

Taiyang grabbed his ball of a daughter from the corner and dragged her over to the table. In no time flat, everyone had breakfast before them, and it was more than they could handle. And for good measure, mostly for the karma, I gave the dog a very meaty omelet right into his food bowl.

The corgi looked up at me and nodded appreciatively. He and I could get along, he must have decided.

I myself made do with a modest omelet and some bacon. Someone had gotten the terribly un-American idea into my head that pancakes were a dessert, and I could never look at them the same way for breakfast. It was the same way I had a vague moral objection to eating cereal full stop. Not that I typically ate a breakfast in any case. I was always too worried about the caloric and other dietary impact it would have on me. Which made it kind of amazing to watch people like Ruby just shovel food down and be able to maintain her figure. But maybe that made a lot more sense than I had originally realized.

After I got my Aura, I had gone to the Beacon infirmary to sort of get an estimation of my physical health, one of the many options available for students looking to live better or whatever. Those kinds of services were free of charge. They had told me I needed a frankly astounding amount of calories to maintain my current weight, and I wasn't that heavy. I couldn't tell if human bodies were just able to process more calories without putting on the pounds in this world, or if it had something to do with Aura and being a Huntsman. It could have been a mixture of both, explaining why I'd only seen so much as one pudgy Huntsman. Or how a man like Qrow could literally drink alcohol for all three of his meals and still have a relatively flat stomach.

Speaking of which.

"Hey, kid, when do you want to head out to your folks' place?" Qrow asked, drinking piping hot coffee.

I put a fork full of omelet in my mouth, really wishing that this household had some hot sauce. Apparently Tabasco sauce was a rare luxury, but not mushroom ketchup, which they actually had, and that freaked me out. "No need, old man. I was texting my sister and she's going to come get me. I figured it was probably the option least likely to get me killed. I've done enough drunk driving to not want to risk it anymore."

"Oh. Guess I don't have to drink in moderation anymore." He drank his coffee all in one pull, before taking out a carton of eggnog and filling the coffee cup all the way to the rim. Then he shrugged, and just decided to start chugging the eggnog.

Taiyang looked at me, from where before he had been opening Yang's mouth and just kind of spooning food in for her as she just kind of laid there face down on the table. "Damn. I figured I could put you to work on dinner as well."

"No dice, hombre," I said with a laugh. "I got my own personal demons to deal with today. I can go play house when I'm forty years old and married."

Still chewing an uncomfortable mixture of food that she kept shoveling into her mouth, Ruby said, "Ish cool. I'll make him cook for me back at Beacon."

"Yeah, you and what army?" I scoffed. "As soon as I'm back home, it's back to lean meat and broccoli."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You help me make good food, and I'll help you, uh… ooh, I know! We can work in the Fishery together and make your sword even cooler. Or make you better clothes. I'm a total genius at this kind of stuff." She patted her breast proudly.

"Stop offering to spend time around him," Yang groaned, mouth full of the unchewed food her dad was trying to make her eat.

Well, that settled it. "You know what, Ruby? It's a deal. We get us back from winter break, and we's finna make us some stupid weapons together and cause massive collateral damage."

Ruby poked her sister. "You hear that, Yang? Collateral damage! That's the best kind of damage."

My scroll buzzed twice in quick succession. After setting my food aside, I went for the text. I could never find the UI for scrolls to be comfortable. It always just looks somehow designed to be inconvenient and hard to manage, compared to my old Google Pixel. Although I had to wonder if my scroll spied on me like my phone did. That was why I used a mobile VPN in any case. I poked around until I got to the last text, which was a single one from Indigo.

Indigo: almost they're

You: You literally had to use the apostrophe there in the wrong way on purpose.

Indigo: dont text me im driving

Indigo: saffron says hi 2 shes with me

Saffron? I believed Indigo had mentioned as a sister who ran away from home or something. Indigo had promised she would be here for the holiday, and lo, she was. Another face who knew me though I couldn't place anything about her.

I forgot the business of breakfast and whatever the other text was. Outside the window, into the snowy wonderland beyond, the light somehow seemed sluggish. Made it feel like it was the afternoon. The thick clouds pouring down white hell were probably part of that. It wasn't quite a blizzard, but then again, if it was a blizzard, I probably wouldn't be able to recognize it.

I needed to get my bags and probably get dressed before Indigo showed up. It'd be weird to meet her at the door wearing a shirtless apron. I asked Taiyang for my shirt back, and briefly changed there in the kitchen. It only got a couple of looks, before I went back up to the bedroom. As was my habit, the place was clean, the bed made. I just got my bag and took it to the front door. By the time I got there, someone was knocking.

I took one last sprint to the kitchen to grab something before opening the door.

Looking like some puffy species of bird in her jacket, Indigo stared up at me. Frowning and looking angry like she typically did. "Yo, what's up, dipshit? C'mere." She tried stepping towards me with a hug, but I held up a heaping plate in front of her to stop.

"Nuh-uh," I said, smiling. "No hugs or you'll ruin the breakfast I made for you."

She looked at the plate skeptically. "Since when could you cook?"

"I'm a boy of many talents, some of them even appropriate in public," I said smoothly, looking past her to the car, already starting to get buried under the snowfall. There was a blonde woman in the passenger seat, who waved at me. I waved back, gesturing for her to get out and come join us. "Hey, I made enough for Saffron too. Get her set up with some wholesome fixin's while I put this in your trunk."

For a moment, I waited for her to correct me. For me to have somehow gotten the name wrong, and this not to be Saffron Arc. It's not like I knew what any of my supposed sisters look like besides Indigo here.

"Ooh, Jaune's got sisters!" Ruby called out from the kitchen.

I pushed past Indigo to get to the car. Saffron was already getting out by the time I was loading up the trunk.

"Jaune!" she cried out, wrapping her arms around from behind. I nearly elbowed her in the face with a flinch. "God, you feel so firm. What are they feeding you at Beacon?"

"He's been cooking for himself!" Indigo yelled back. "Come try some."

I just kind of awkwardly smiled at Saffron. Another blonde girl with blue eyes. Looking a lot like Indigo but, just, I don't know, somehow different. "Sup, little sister?"

Saffron pouted. "I'm still way older than you, kid." But then, smiling and reaching up to tousle my hair, she said, "Happy Long Night, Jaune."

I stood out there in the snow, feeling the cold in my lungs as I watched her go into the house. I didn't know what to say to her. Indigo I had developed a kind of rapport with. I broadly knew our jokes and how to handle her. But if I was right, I had like six other sisters to deal with. None of whose names I knew for sure. From the contacts in my phone, I can only guess Hazel and Twin #1 and Twin A. I began regretting more and more my decision to let Indigo talk me into coming home for the Holiday.

But when I had a fresh layer of snow on my shoulders, I decided I had done enough standing.

"Yeah, well, I've never seen so many Huntsmen in one place," Indigo was saying to Qrow. "Just my father, but he never really talked about it. And now Jaune."

He smiled at her in a way that felt somehow sleazy. "Well, if you stuck around, you could see a lot more from a real Huntsman. I'm sure I've got a trick or two to impress you."

Indigo sucked on her lips, looking at her feet. "Yeah. I could see myself doing that. Qrow, was it?"

"Qrow Branwen. Professional Huntsman. I teach classes at Signal."

"Huntsman and a teacher? That's got to be really hard!"

"I deal with hard things all the time. Stick around and you'll find out."

Indigo was gripping her fork tightly. "Maybe next time in Five Wives you could show me around. But, for now, y'know," She looked up at him, smiling back. "I've got this idiot brother to take care of. He'd pretty much forget how to breathe without me around."

Qrow brought his plate to the sink, and slicked back his black hair. "I can respect that. Responsibility and all."

Saffron flicked Indigo on the butt, and she screamed. "Stop flirting with the teacher!"

"I'm not!" Indigo protested loudly, as Saffron laughed around her breakfast. "I'm—Jaune!"

"That's my name," I said mildly, meeting the tired, pained eyes of Yang. She looked like she wanted to kill herself.

Indigo grabbed my jacket collar and pulled me over. "What's this I hear about you having tattoos now! How long has this been going on in secret?"

I blinked. "Ugh, about a month. Full sleeves are expensive and take a lot of time. I don't have it completed yet. My friend Coco and I—"

She didn't let me finish, instead grabbing my arm and pulling it up into the air for her to inspect. Her eyes went wide and she gasped in sisterly horror.

The sleeve tattoo wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. I only had the middle section up around the bicep completed. Coco had suggested the tattoos would complete my look, and after some back and forth, we found her favorite artist in the city and she hooked me up with a deal. The tattoo artist was an artiste in every single word. A brief kind of interview and a lot of sketching to make sure I had the entire thing I wanted down. Something I felt would be appropriately symbolic, curve with the contours of my new muscles, and mean something to me. It was still mostly just outlines right now.

The one part that worked was the expressionless, six-winged angel on the bicep. The Simurgh, floating there and wearing Void Cowboy's bandana around her neck. Her wings covered her almost coyly, for she was naked. Her right hand was held up, the fingers making the gesture for the sign of the cross, spelling out and symbolizing Jesus Christ in the old Greek fashion. Her left hand hung down, holding the wooden cross and strings of a marionette, which was meant to go across the rest of the tattoo. Behind her head was a halo, at the center of which stood the Dog Star and Polaris, the brightest star in the night sky of Earth and the star used by navigators to find their way home.

And naturally, words. G.O.M.D. by one side of the Simurgh. The other, Jeremiah 51:20, a reference to my favorite verse in the Bible, and a perfect metaphor for what I was to Simone. Besides, no good tattoo was complete without a Bible quote. As if I didn't simp hard enough on my knees for another dude, even if He was God.

"Oh, Mom is going to lose her shit over this!" Saffron said as she finished eating.

Indigo shook her head in despair. "Dad's going to laugh his ass off."

"No, Dad's gonna beat Jaune's ass for it," Saffron said, looking at the floor. She swallowed uncomfortably.

"Why is there a naked angel on your arm?"

I shrugged my arm out of Indigo's grip. "It's a totally cool and badass Huntsman symbol."

Qrow elbowed Taiyang and snerked.

Ruby was busy going for the last of the pancakes. "Tattoos are cool and adult-like."

I nodded towards her thankfully. "Yeah, what my friend Ruby said."

"Stop surrounding yourself with cute girls who tell you exactly what you want to hear," Indigo hissed.

I held up my hands, compressing a breath in my throat. "Look, it's whatever. The rest of the family can gawk and point and laugh or do whatever when we get home."

My sisters looked at me skeptically. Saffron just shrugged, and Indigo threw up her hands. The two of them did some customary greetings and goodbyes to Ruby's family. I joined in with them, more for appearances than anything else. Yang was still glaring. Ruby made sure I didn't forget that I'd help cook her something back at Beacon. Nothing particularly interesting.

Until my sisters were out the door and I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned to face Ruby. "You're Jaune," she said.

"That's my name," I said dumbly

"So don't worry about it, alright?" She smiled. "Your family's gonna love you for who you are. Just because you changed doesn't mean you're not you. You act all distant and mean, but deep down, I think you do really care. You just suck at it."

I half-sighed, half-laughed. "You got a way with words, girl."

Ruby rolled her eyes, before giving me a quick hug. I just held my arms up, too surprised to hug back. "Hug back," she urged quietly, teeth grit. "Don't make this weird. If you make this weird, I'm gonna tell Yang you were weird with me when we were alone."

"I hate you," I breathed, allowing myself to hug the girl back. It was a small thing. Something quick and oddly warm. Meaningful. A physical gesture from someone who, for whatever reason, actually liked me. I could name the people who thought that on one hand.

Ruby broke the hug and pushed me outside. "Now scram and have a happy Long Night. Next time you better not beat me at the depression fight, Jaune! I will be the saddest and edgiest Huntress around!"

She stuck her tongue out and closed the door.

And just like that, me and my sisters were off on the road. And I just sat in the back of a car like I had on the ride here with Yang, not really sure what to say. Letting my sisters do most of the talking.

"So, how's the rest of the family doing?" I asked awkwardly, and got a curious look from Sarron. "I don't really talk to anyone besides Indigo these days. I don't wanna be surprised."

"Dad's still mad you left, and I guess so's Mom," Saffron said. "But when is Dad ever happy about anything? He's still pissed I brought my girlfriend with me." She blew air through her lips, leaning against the window.

Oh, so Saffron was gay and brought her partner? That was something I could probably pretend to know about. Unless Jaune was supposed to know her girlfriend's name. Which I didn't. And it was just another name and face I had to act like I knew this whole time.

Indigo seemed to sense a vague mood shift and picked up, setting the windshield wipers to what I could only describe as panic mode. She herself acted casual as ever. "Oh, I'm not sure. I only call them occasionally, which is more than you. I think the twins are trying to dress in opposite colors and keep swapping outfits to mess with people. Hazel, according to her, and you know how bad she is with the truth, says…"

The list of names just started to slip me. I stared ahead, nodding appropriately at the right times to act like this was all well and good. But I couldn't keep track of the names or what they were doing. It made me feel stupid, like when someone explains something complex to you that you feel you should understand, but don't, and feel retarded.

Saffron and Indigo started laughing about one girl. But apparently Saffron hadn't seen the family in a hot minute herself. Indigo, well. I don't know. The two of them were just talking about a bunch of random strangers, for all it felt to me.

I shrunk back in my seat, feeling way smaller than I was. The hell were you supposed to do in a situation like this? Part of me hoped I could just avoid any names and act like Jaune well enough to pass muster, but I doubted that. My heart sank into my stomach as I imagined trying to pretend to know and love a group of complete strangers and hope none of them figured me out for the bodyjacking basketcase fraud I was.

Fuck you, Indigo. How the hell did I let you guilt trip me into agreeing to this?

I checked my phone, mostly for the time, before noticing I had an alert. Blake had texted me maybe half an hour ago and I had forgotten it with a whole Indigo situation.

Blake: Hey, what are you supposed to do when you screw up? Like, really screw up?

I sighed, somewhat glad that Blake was in trouble and I could do something besides focus on just how fucked I was. It was going to be a really long car ride, but I knew it was going to end way too quickly.

— 7 —

"I'm going to miss breakfast from now on," Ruby said, sulking at her empty plate where once the riches of strawberry pancakes had flowed.

"I got to admit," Dad said, "you do have good choice in friends. Still not sure how a kid that age has a beard."

Yang looked over at them. They were distracting her from watching Jaune and his sisters leave, pulling up the driveway. It had been bad enough with Jaune and her father. But then that Indigo girl had showed up, and had started talking to her uncle.

It made Yang seethe.

Ruby elbowed. "Hey, Yang, What's wrong with you? You've been dead all morning."

She kept staring out the window to make sure the Arcs were gone, well and truly and for real gone. All she could do was shake her head at her sister. The girl was too young to understand, probably. Too oblivious to what was going on minutes ago.

"It's like an entire family of homewreckers."