"Fucking hell you're a strange one, Oz."

The comment made him smile, as Qrow had hoped it would. Strange, yes, but a vision too. Ozpin was the very embodiment of elegance and he somehow managed to make Beacon's welcoming steps look like a throne. Slightly tipsy and stiff from the cold, Qrow felt positively bumbling in comparison.

Still, he plopped down beside Ozpin, taking a moment to grouse about the freezing granite on his ass. Then he pulled out the note he'd been left, waving it between them.

"'Qrow," he said (for it was already memorized), "I realize it is quite late, but if you're amiable please meet me at Beacon's entrance, as soon as you are able. There is something of importance that I'd like to speak with you about. Regards, Ozpin.' You realize you write like some girl out of an Austen novel, right? How long have you been sitting here?"

Ozpin stared out onto the street, tilting his head. "Not long."

"Bullshit."

"Not long for you," he corrected and Qrow felt a shiver run through him.

"Yeah?" he muttered. "And what if I didn't come, huh? Gonna wait here all night?"

"...Yes."

Oh. Fuck.

A soft chuckle sounded. "My apologies, Qrow. The last two days have indeed been... odd, haven't they? However, would you indulge me just a moment longer? A part of me feels bad for prying, considering my own demand for privacy... but perhaps you'd answer a question for me? Just one?"

Qrow's throat was too dry. His "Yeah, sure," coming out raspy and raw. Ozpin was all cool calmness beside him and Qrow's words were trembling bundles of nerves that shook the quiet of the night.

"Thank you. I... I was wondering if Yang and Ruby's father was still alive."

"Their—?" Qrow blinked, that being the very last thing he'd expected Ozpin to ask. He recovered though, nodding slightly and (unconsciously) sliding closer. "Yeah. He is. Name's Tai."

"I see."

Ozpin needed more than that, for whatever reason, and Qrow knew it. He blew out a breath and turned his gaze to the stars.

"Right. Privacy huh? Guess that's why you never demanded the full story... fuck. Well you know they're only half-sisters right?"

Ozpin's lip twitched. "Their appearances did suggest as much."

"Heh, yeah. Guess they do. Well I'm Yang's uncle by blood. Tai and my sister Raven... shit, Oz. It's not a happy story. Not one of your damn fairy tales, even if it's about as common as one. They were together early, ran long and played hard...Raven got pregnant with Yang and realized she couldn't handle something like that." Qrow shrugged, like it wasn't the single most significant decision that had defined their relationship for years. "She left. Just... gave Tai Yang and left. He took it hard. Who the fuck wouldn't, but then Summer came along and..."

Ozpin hung his head, nearly between his knees. "Ah. I've never seen a 'Summer' in the cafe before," he murmured.

"She died," Qrow said shortly. "She and Tai had a good two years together, she had Ruby, and just a few months later..." he swallowed hard, unwilling to dredge up all those memories even for Ozpin. Not yet anyway. "Tai couldn't handle it. You gotta understand I don't mean that critically or anything. Shit, I've got my vices—" the clink of a bottle in his coat pocket—"but there are people who pull back from stuff like that and there are people who just... fall, you know? Tai fell, but he sure as fuck wasn't willing to take the girls down with him. So he gave them to me." Qrow shrugged again, looser this time. "I raise the squirts. Mostly. Tai will always be their dad and I'll always be the uncle, it's just that in this messed up family the uncle pays the bills. Gets them to school. Gives them advice. They call and text Tai often, see him whenever he's up for it... but fuck, Oz. They both look a hell of a lot like their moms."

Qrow said screw it, pulling out his flask as Ozpin nodded his head, looking heavy with the knowledge he'd been given.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Three chugs and Qrow felt like he could finally come up for air. "Sure. Probably about time you knew. Why—" he cleared his throat. "Why'd you wanna know now though?"

"...I wanted to know what sort of place I'd have in their lives, were you and I together."

And just like that Qrow's world stopped.

Ozpin was still talking. Amazingly. Smiling even, seeming to take perverse amusement in tilting reality right off its axis. Qrow only came back when Ozpin's hand reached out, stopping a hair's breath from actually touching his cheek. The smile was still there, but suddenly it had an undercurrent of despair that Qrow never wanted to see.

"You must think me so presumptuous," Ozpin whispered, voice trembling. "I admit there's a good chance I have severely miscalculated in this. But you must understand that I... I am not good with people, Qrow. Oh, I can teach them. Analyze or manipulate them. I certainly love them. But my peers have always found me wanting when it comes to relationships. Of any sort, really. I am too aloof or cold, studious and unreachable..." Ozpin trailed off, dropping his hand. "I have known you a long time now and I've cared for you more than I can say. I never thought... well. I never entertained the possibility of an 'us.' I only acknowledged my own feelings, and when Yang mentioned your appreciation of my visits I... I suppose I decided to take a chance, improbable a chance as it was. I only hope it hasn't harmed what relationship we do have. Qrow, I—" his whole expression wavered for a moment, for the first time nearly crumpling. "Qrow please—"

He surged forward. Qrow had never mastered words, though perhaps silences could work for them as they did for him and Tai. And there was no better silence in this world than that created from a kiss.

And Oz... good god he actually met him half way, his hands floundering for a moment before sinking into Qrow's hair. He could feel his fingers trembling there. Ozpin's lips were positively frigid, soft though, and tasting like some sort of cheap chapstick that nearly made Qrow laugh. He did actually, ending up with their foreheads pressed together and Ozpin halfway into his lap.

Qrow laughed louder, delighted when it tugged a grin out of Ozpin. An actual grin.

"Oh man, oh fuck. The hell do you even see in me?" he asked breathlessly, pressing close and cupping Ozpin's cheek. Qrow bent to nip at the side of his neck, punctuating each word with a kiss or a lick. "Fucking—alcoholic—deadbeat—"

Ozpin whimpered and it was obscene. Qrow pulled back in awe, just so he could memorize the image of Ozpin with his glasses askew and his head tilted back, neck laid bare. His eyes fluttered as he looked back at Qrow.

"I wondered what you'd want with a boring old prude," he whispered. "Someone who is, as you say… strange."

Qrow stared. "We're fucking idiots. Oh my god."

"Mmm. Perhaps that's our one thing in common."

"You realize you'd basically be adopting two kids, right? Like you realize—"

"—I already love those girls as my own, I don't know how you can doubt—"

"—should probably take shit slow—"

"—we've known each other a decade—"

They both stopped, falling silent and simultaneously deciding to work everything out later. For now, there were possibilities and a whole night ahead of them.

Ozpin rose, graceful as ever. He offered Qrow his hand.

"Perhaps then, if it's not too forward... you'd like to come back to mine?"

Honestly? Qrow couldn't imagine anything better.

Another freezing day. Ruby was a ball of manic energy beside him, swinging Qrow's arm with every skipping step. He supposed he should be thankful that was the response he got when he crawled back home at the crack of dawn, trailing an equally disheveled Ozpin behind him.

He caught Yang's eye across the way and she gave him a look. Qrow knew without a doubt that he would never live this down.

"Sure," he sniffed. "You'll hold Ozpin's hand, but not mine, huh?"

Yang just shrugged innocently, raising their linked fingers for a look. "It's totally different with him, Uncle Qrow."

"Uh huh. How?"

"It just is."

Ozpin chuckled between them. It was reserved compared to Ruby's furious giggles, but Qrow felt how tightly Oz squeezed his own hand in turn.

He wondered what kind of an image they made: two pairs of polar opposites, all of them linked in a happy little line. There were others too. Ruby wore a single earring and a marble around her neck, chatting about how she and Weiss were going to the movies later that weekend. Yang's phone could be heard by them all, buzzing with a million texts from Blake. Qrow wondered how James and Glynda would react—though he honestly couldn't imagine anything other than cheer from them. Hell, two simple days and suddenly he was wondering what any of their futures held, the immediate and the extended. Always the planner, Ozpin had casually mentioned shared salaries earlier that morning, a place for Ruby and Yang at Beacon when the time came, should they want it... subtle promises that lit up Qrow's heart nearly as much as his kiss.

He stood now, expression soft as Qrow fumbled to get the cafe door open. Ozpin wasn't a customer now though, was he? God, even this was different.

Qrow fucking loved it.

"Shit," Ruby muttered, tripping over the threshold and stubbing her toe. It was Ozpin who leveled her with an exaggerated glare, pointing sternly to the jar. The other two chuckled as Ruby stuck out her tongue and fished for a quarter.

Yang shook her head. "We gotta figure out what to do with all mon—is that a HUNDRED?"

As the girls pulled Ozpin towards the sight Qrow stood back, watching the three of them together. He'd have to talk it over with them of course, but he'd already had an idea last night...

Qrow was thinking of buying a ring.

~fin.