A/N: It's time for another non-main character perspective. Give a round of applause for everyone's favorite drunken Huntsm- I mean, detective, Qrow!
Enjoy!
X
-Qrow, Friday-
Qrow felt a little nostalgia as he wandered through the halls of Beacon towards the headmaster's office. Dressed in an untucked grey button-down with black jeans, he received more than a fair share of curious looks from students wandering the halls; but he ignored them all thanks to A) having anticipated it and B) honestly not giving a damn. Unless they were his niece or the boy he was there to discuss, their opinion was irrelevant.
He made it to his destination after a few minutes, knocking on the closed door and waiting for a response. After a few seconds he heard "Come in," so he did just that and greeted the room's owner. "Hey, Oz. How's it going?"
"I should be asking that of you, Qrow." Ozpin was long used to his mannerisms by now, and so wasn't perturbed by his sloppy appearance. "Shouldn't you be down at the precinct instead of here talking to me?"
"Got hit by a bullet in the chest yesterday, the captain gave me the weekend off. 'Bullet-proof' is a very exaggerated term for those vests."
"So you've noted before. That still doesn't explain why you called me not thirty minutes earlier just to see if I was available." The headmaster stopped to take a sip of his coffee. Coffee was to Ozpin what whiskey was to Qrow; maybe that's why they'd always gotten along. "What's on your mind, old friend?"
Qrow unceremoniously plopped himself into the guest chair. "I met Nick's kid the other day."
Ozpin slowly put his mug down. "I see. Nothing was wrong, I hope."
"Women problems, apparently, but nothing I'd need to take him to the precinct for." He chuckled at his own joke. "According to a certain rose, my niece is pretty attached to him. I wanted to see what you thought of the kid since you see him here all the time."
"Unfortunately, I see Mr. Arc a fair bit less than I'd like." He paused. "While his grades are average, in the last two years Jaune has earned quite the reputation for his musical talents."
"No shit? Takes me back our own school days, Oz. Remember when you got the nickname 'The Wizard?'"
"I always did have a flair for stage dramatics." Ozpin's lips curled into the lightest of smiles before fading away. "I see so much of Nicholas in Jaune that it's a little frightening. Reports indicate that he loves music even more than his father did, but he's making the same decisions as well; the decision to work a relatively stable job for the family instead of pursuing his passion."
Palm met face as Qrow gave a heavy sigh. "If the kid says that he's gonna become a cop, I'll shoot him myself to make sure it doesn't happen."
"Qrow, you know as well as I do that Nicholas would've acted the same way even without his training as an officer. He saw lives that needed to be saved, and acted thusly."
"Fat lot of good that did for his own family." He took a swig from his flask. "I still hate the council, Oz. Every time they have something come up that I need to investigate, I wanna string them up and order them to give Nick's family what they deserve instead. 'Unnecessary Intervention' my ass."
"All we can do is move forward, Qrow. Encourage the next generation to do things better than we did."
"I know, I know. You sound like old man Claus." He scratched his stubble in thought. "How good is the kid, anyways? With music, I mean."
"Allow me to put it this way." Ozpin smiled again, and this time allowed it to stay there. "Jaune was a part of both Chorus and Band for a week until he discovered that the mutually exclusive schedules meant he could only fully dedicate himself to one. Amber Autumn and Cinder Fall, the Band and Chorus directors respectively, fought tooth and nail to win him over to their side. Cinder still holds a grudge against Amber for losing that particular debate."
"Damn! He really is just like Nick if women are fighting over him." They shared a laugh at this, both recalling the fervor of Nick's fans back in the day. Once they settled down, Qrow sighed once more. "We messed up. Oz. I wasn't even at the funeral because I decided to get blackout drunk after losing my friend, and I haven't done a damn thing since to help them out."
"I'm not much better. I tried to gift Juniper some money to help pay for whatever expenses they had, but after she declined I failed to offer any other support." Ozpin was about to take another drink when he realized that his coffee had gone cold. Wearily, he pushed it aside and made a note to get more. "You said that your niece is close to him right now, correct?"
"Yang is, yeah. Why?"
"It goes without saying, but if she discovers that there is something I can do, please don't hesitate to tell me."
"Will do, Oz. I'll check in with her every now and then to see if there are any changes. Well, I guess I'll see you later." Pushing himself to his feet, he began slowly ambling to the door.
"Qrow, wait." He paused and waited for Ozpin to continue. "I noticed the flask you drank from. You didn't actually drive here under the influence, did you?"
"Of course not; it's water. I've seen way too much to be driving drunk." He stumbled even as he laughed some more. "And anyways, like I said, I got shot. Do you know how much my ribs hurt right now?"
-Jaune, Thursday night-
Let it be known that while Jaune had yet to have a girlfriend in his life, he now had an idea of what it felt like when you goofed with one.
After Weiss left his room, he checked his phone and felt his blood chill at Pyrrha's question and subsequent dismissal of it. He quickly realized that she must've thought he didn't want to answer the question, and as soon as he processed that he dialed her number and prayed that she'd pick up.
Riiiiiing. Riiiiiing. Riiiiiing.
"I'm sorry to say you've reached my voicemail. I'm either at practice or otherwise unavailable, so please leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
He couldn't tell if she was actually busy or just avoiding answering, but a part of him was betting that it was the latter. Rather than leave a voice message, he cut the call and nailed out a text message; if she was mad at him, she'd be more likely to read a message than to listen to one.
Jaune: I'm sorry! Please don't think I was being silent on purpose or anything like that. To answer your question: yes, Weiss and I are riding to school together.
The wait for a response was only a few minutes, but it felt a bit like eternity.
Bzzt Bzzt.
Pyrrha: I understand, and it's okay. With a family as large as yours, I'm sure you must be busy. Why are you and Weiss riding together?
"Because her dad's an asshole." Not that he could say that without giving out way more personal information than he should share without Weiss's permission. He couldn't lie about the situation, though, lest he screw himself over with trying to explain it away.
Jaune: She had a bit of trouble and I happened to help her out on Wednesday. She's staying with my family for a bit.
Pyrrha: I'm sorry to hear that! I hope everything is okay.
Jaune smiled to himself and was about to respond when he received another text from her.
Pyrrha: If I may ask, how long is she going to be a guest?
Suddenly, memories of dealing with his seven sisters flooded through Jaune's mind all at once. Recollections of Apricot and Vermilion asking their boyfriends or would-be suitors leading questions to trap them and have them reveal truths they'd tried to bury. Jaune didn't have anything to hide in this scenario...
...but even he knew a dangerous question when he saw one. How was he supposed to answer this one?
'Oum grant me wisdom.' Hesitantly, he replied.
Jaune: We don't know for sure yet. It all depends on what Weiss feels she needs to do.
A minute passed.
And then five. A sense of dread was beginning to build, and while the source of it was easy to locate, he wasn't quite sure why.
Bzzt Bzzt.
Pyrrha: Well, I certainly wish her the best.
You know, I don't think I've met any of your sisters besides Apricot and Vermilion. Do you think it would be okay for me to come meet your family tomorrow afternoon? I don't have practice and you mentioned having some free time between school and work. It seems like a wonderful opportunity, especially right before the dance.
With a sigh, he realized that he was a mouse that had just been backed into a corner by a cat. Why the cat was chasing the mouse remained to be seen, but his choices basically boiled down to say yes and hope that the cat doesn't try to eat him, or say no and hope the cat doesn't maul him in anger.
He decided that he'd rather not make Pyrrha angry, no matter what reason she had for this.
Jaune: That sounds like a good idea to me. Since you drive, do you want to just follow me home after school?
Pyrrha: Sounds perfect :) I'll see you at lunch tomorrow.
Tossing his phone on the bed, Jaune decided to finish out the night with some studying since he'd already gotten his music kick for the day. He only hoped that this bizarre feeling of fear was for nothing.
-Friday-
Before heading off to school, he made sure to give his family (plus Weiss) a heads up that Pyrrha would be over that afternoon. He received a number of comments (that he ignored) suggesting that he was "bringing his girlfriend home to meet the family," but the girls otherwise agreed to act like they would around any guest. He also told Weiss exactly what he told Pyrrha regarding her situation. Thankfully, she wasn't upset in the slightest, and actually agreed with it saying that they should avoid any misconceptions about what was going on surrounding her stay.
After he left Weiss and Yang to have their not-so-secret secret meeting, his morning classes seemed to fly by. Maybe it was the energy in the air as people got hyped for the dance, but he felt a bounce in his own steps and even managed to happily focus in his classes. It was a shame that Port's class was in the evening for him, since he'd still probably fall asleep there. He supposed that nothing could be perfect.
Lunch was when things got weird.
It started off normally enough. The crew of eight sat where they had the day before. When he went to go take the first bites of his food, however, he felt something weighing on his left side. A glance revealed that Pyrrha had scooched closer to him and was leaning her shoulder against his. She'd been acting a little friendlier all week, but this seemed to be the next step on the scale.
Pyrrha caught him looking at her and smiled as she looked back. "Is something the matter, Jaune?"
"Uh, no, I guess not." Deciding to just deal with it, he took his bite as Yang started to talk.
"So, Ladies and gents, how are we doing the rides to the dance? I only have Bumblebee, so I don't think that'll work out well for my dress."
Ren raised his hand to answer. "I drive a seven-seat van, so theoretically I could pick everyone up comfortably."
"That sounds nice," the blonde responded with a coy looking smile, "but what if somebody decides to leave early? We should at least have a second vehicle ready to go at the prom instead of having to arrange for other people to pick us up."
Jaune finished chewing and spoke up. "My truck fits two comfortably, with another two able to sit in the small pull-down seats behind me."
From his left came Pyrrha's voice. "Since you and I are going together, will Weiss be in one of the small seats?"
He looked across the table at Weiss, who nodded in response to Pyrrha's question. "I hope that you don't mind me intruding on the ride."
The redhead shook her head and flashed that ever-brilliant smile. "Not at all, Weiss. We're all going to have a swell time together."
'Why do I feel like I'm missing some context here?'
Yang nodded sagely. "That about settles that, since Ruby's still the only hold out."
The accused just rolled her eyes. "Again, no reason to go."
"Not even if your favorite uncle said that you should?" The group turned to see that one Qrow Branwen had approached the table. "Hey, kids."
Ruby jumped up and dove at him for a hug; the height difference made it particularly comical. "Uncle Qrow! What brings you here?!"
"I was just here to talk to ol' Ozpin and see how my favorite nieces are doing." He rubbed her head before gently pushing her away and peering over at Jaune. "Nice to see you while I'm not hungover, kid. And wow, you really are just like your old man with that girl all over you."
Qrow mumbled the last part, which meant it went unheard by Jaune. "What was that?"
"Don't worry about it. So, why doesn't little Ruby want to go?"
"Number one, no dress; number two, no date; and C) no motivation. So, do you wanna come by and play video games, uncle Qrow?"
"I'll think about it. You kids be good now." With a short wave he turned and walked out of the cafeteria. Everybody returned to eating their food-
Except Nora, who spun towards Jaune with a glare that was almost accusatory. "Wait a minute, why does Weiss have to interrupt your alone time with Pyrrha?"
He wanted to sigh, but Weiss spoke up and said, "Don't worry, I'll explain it so that everyone understands. But I request that you all refrain from spreading it around campus."
She then told the table the same version of her story that she told him, though in a low voice to avoid telling the entire student body. The reactions were varied a little, but by-and-large everyone offered her their support should she need it. When she looked at Jaune, he offered her a thumbs up for being brave enough to talk about it publically. Now if only there was some way he could help, that'd make him feel much better.
The rest of the school day passed at a slower pace than the first half, but before too long it was time for dismissal. He met up with Weiss and Pyrrha in the parking lot, giving the latter the directions to his house via text in case they got separated. Fortunately, he was able to spot Pyrrha's mustang behind him the entire ride to his house.
He pulled into the driveway while Pyrrha parked along the street, and together they walked to his front door. He put his keys into the front door...
...and prayed that his sisters would behave themselves.
X
Short one, I know, but I really, really need to focus on Charismatic Gamer.
I need (or at least, would like) your vote! Which POV should the "Pyrrha meets family" be written from? Pyrrha, Weiss, or Olive? Cast your vote in the reviews or in a PM.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Have a nice day/night!