Honorable Intentions

By A Stereotypical Gamer

Chapter One: A Thousand Words

When her dad was out in the woods, he tended to leave his Scroll behind in the house so he could be alone with nature and free of distractions. Normally it'd sit idle at a charging station and Yang could forget it was there, while enjoying having the house to herself a few precious hours. Today, however…

Beep.

Someone was texting her dad. Someone was texting him a lot.

Beep.

Yang tried to ignore it at first, thinking it was one of his colleagues at Signal trying frantically to make sense of his rather haphazard lecture notes, but as the day wore on and her dad's Scroll kept informing her of one notification after another, with the volume left to max…

Beep. Beep.

Yang tried to raise the volume on the television, but had to lower it after a few minutes of particularly depressing news reports on Grimm and White Fang activity. And as a result Yang kept hearing her dad's device buzz with one notification after another, and eventually some combination of annoyance and curiosity got the better of her. Yang finally made her way to the Scroll and looked at the surface of the touch screen, just to gain a glimpse of what could possibly be so important as to send a dozen messages.

Yang idly ran her index finger over the surface of the Scroll, and then almost immediately jumped back in astonishment, nearly tripping over her feet. She raised her hand to her mouth, trying in vain to force her surprise back into her body.

Slowly, steadily, Yang stepped back towards the Scroll and reached down again, to look at the latest notification, of a picture she never expected to see, of a person she never expected to see in such a… manner. Certainly the last place Yang would ever look would be her dad's Scroll.

There were a few texts above the pic, and Yang couldn't fight her curiosity as she went back through the timeline of messages, trying desperately to establish some context for it all.

Missing you.

That much was obvious. She went to great lengths to catch his attention.

When are you next in town?

Taiyang was heading back to Vale in a few days… though as far as Yang knew that was just to help with the relief efforts with the other huntsmen working under Professor Goodwitch to try and reclaim parts of Beacon from the Grimm.

Remember what we talked about when we- Yang abruptly stopped reading the rest of her inquiry when the wording started getting a bit too specific and way, way too explicit.

Then, of course, there was the picture. Yang had never seen her without something tasteful and fashionable on. Wearing just a satin sheet may have been a good look for her, but seeing the image on her dad's Scroll really soured the experience for Yang.

Yang was trying to figure out what could lead to this series of events, even though she was trying hard not to dwell on the particulars. She wanted to know why… albeit she really didn't want to know how. Except she did. With as few details as possible. Except if it were anyone but her dad she'd want to know everything. Except it was her dad and thus she didn't want to know. But she had to know.

Yang couldn't stop staring at the picture and the string of texts. Why was she sending this to Taiyang? Were they an item? Her texts implied they'd engaged in… social activities, so it didn't seem this was being sent to her dad unprompted. Which meant she was into Yang's dad…

Had Yang ever brought him up to her before? Ruby might've mentioned him when hanging out with her teammate. Yang remembered meeting her at Signal, a year ahead. Her Dad taught her at some point; at some point in the past she'd been his student. He was twenty years her senior. She was literally half his age.

And they were an item.

Yang tried to run through all the ways this could've happened and how they got to this point. It had been going on a while, but when had it begun? When had this started and what possible set of circumstances could lead them this far?

These weren't questions she wanted to think about, but Yang could think of nothing else. Even when she finally managed to set the Scroll down she hadn't stopped reading the words. Even when she could tear her eyes from the picture and go sit down and watch TV she couldn't stop seeing the beauty in the satin sheet.

And when Taiyang did return, with a bounty of lumber over his shoulder, Yang tried to appear nonchalant. She waited for him to go find the Scroll on his own, hoping that maybe she could be subtle in broaching the subject.

Unfortunately, Yang wasn't good at subtle. When Tai went to collect his device, Yang blurted out: "So, you have a girlfriend?"

It was probably as kind as she could put it. It beat the myriad of other words she'd considered using to describe her.

Tai looked down at his Scroll, then back to his daughter. He gave a grim nod before walking over, sitting on the couch beside Yang. "I wasn't sure when I was going to tell you. I didn't know how you'd take it."

It would've been easier to be upset with him were he not so sincere. But Yang managed to keep her focus and looked down at the Scroll. "Well, there's no time like the present."

Tai nodded and tabbed through his image directory, finding the first picture he could find, of the two of them at the relief center in the Vale Safe Zone, taken at an odd angle by her teammate, the… somewhat uncoordinated photographer. "You remember when you finally convinced me to get out of the house?"

Yang had been careful in presenting her suggestion, and eventually her subtle hints worked. Taiyang finally agreed to give her a bit of alone time. Tai was wary about leaving her after Ruby's abrupt and unannounced departure, but she managed to convince him she wouldn't force him to go through that again. He wouldn't be gone too long; not that he expected Yang to run off, but he couldn't help but worry. A few days to herself might do Yang some good, and Tai had something in mind that might help mitigate his concerns.

Since he was still on a leave of absence from Signal, Tai thought he might head to the mainland and help with the relief efforts in the Vale Safe Zone. The Grimm still overran Beacon, and Glynda and her team could always use an extra hand to keep them from intruding outside their stronghold.

Taiyang helped Glynda and her team recapture a power station outside the Safe Zone and expanded the borders of their protected area, so they could have a larger ration of electricity for the citizens still stranded in Vale. It didn't make for a relaxing detour, but Tai could take pride in helping some old friends and doing good work for downtrodden civilians.

He found Port and Oobleck at the relief center and caught up with them in the makeshift cafeteria, swapping stories about school days at Beacon, with Oobleck surpassing all kinds of old records for marksmanship and confirmed kill counts, and Port's ascendancy from an assistant professorship to a tenure track after supervising Team STRQ in their first year. Port was regaling them with a tale about a Faunus girl who'd had eyes for Qrow before being scared off by his female teammates, only to abruptly stop when the students stuck in the Safe Zone with them came to collect their post-mission meal.

Team CFVY, who would've been wrapping up their second year were it not for the semester's abrupt end, remained behind in Vale to help try and retake Beacon from the Grimm. They were the only students left still able to fight; everyone else had either fled the kingdom or taken to guarding some small part of it, far away from the front lines. They alone -four second year students- tried to fight back against the smothering dark.

It was easy for Coco Adel- as Tai recalled, she lived in Vale. She was near the top of her class at Signal Academy. As for the other three, Tai didn't want to speculate, but he theorized they probably didn't have anywhere else to go.

The teammates sat together and talked. Tai would've been content to leave them to it and stick to chatting with his old friends, until his former student found her way over to greet them, making her presence felt with a pat on Tai's shoulder. "Wow, Mr. Xiao Long… long time no see! How've you been?"

"Please, call me Tai," Taiyang requested. "Mr. Xiao Long makes me sound old."

"And what –may I ask- is wrong with being a little seasoned?" Port inquired.

Coco smirked, tugging on Tai's arm. "Care to sit with the cool kids instead?"

"Nah, I haven't been cool since I graduated," Tai assured her.

"Maybe I'll rub off on you," Coco suggested. "Besides, I'd love to catch up."

Tai glanced at Port and Oobleck, doing his best to look apologetic. "Guys, duty calls."

"Of course, of course," Oobleck waved him off, while Port seamlessly transitioned into an entirely different story, focusing on Oobleck's mishap with the coffee maker before the Vytal Festival sound test…

Coco found an unoccupied table to take Tai to. Tai glanced back at her other three teammates still dining on their own. Coco followed his glance and smirked. "Giving the lovebirds some privacy."

"Lovebirds?" Tai repeated. He tried to glance past to see which two of the three Coco was referring to –or if maybe there was a less traditional relationship going on- but Coco leaned up to obscure his field of vision.

"Privacy, remember?" Coco asked him.

"Sorry," Tai acknowledged, pulling back a bit. Coco seemed to want his attention for herself, and he figured he should indulge her.

She started talking about Tai's daughters, taking a moment to emphasize how grateful she was for Ruby in particular, who'd become close to Coco's teammate Velvet. She also asked about Yang and inquired to her condition. Coco admitted they weren't close, but felt enough sense of camaraderie to at least ask.

The conversation shifted to adjusting to life after the fall of Beacon. Coco had taken her teammates into one of the apartments her family owned in the city, but they'd spent most of their nights in one of the abandoned Atlas barracks so they could be close to the front of the Safe Zone and be ready to push back the Grimm. Coco may not have realized it, but she was already living like a huntress, foregoing ease and luxury so she could go out and fight every day. Tai tried to gently remind her to take some time away from the battlefield, especially while she had her friends around, but Coco seemed determined to stay at the front and keep running headlong into battle.

Summer had been the same way.

Of all the thoughts he might've had, that was probably the one that led to his undoing. That was probably the moment he got into trouble.

If not then, shortly after when Coco asked: "So, how long are you sticking around?"

Tai had been planning on returning to Patch before the end of the day, but thought he should humor her. "Don't know. Why?"

"We're going on a supply run tomorrow outside the Safe Zone," Coco explained, before playfully needling him. "Do you still remember how to fight Grimm, or did you forget how to do that after you graduated too?"

Tai worried about Yang, even though he was sure she could manage without him. He rationalized he'd always be worried about his girls, and he'd been a bit overbearing to Yang already, and could use a distraction, even if it kept him away from her a while longer. "Sounds to me like I should teach you a thing or two."

Tai hadn't had a particularly comfortable sleep in the barracks. He kept waking up and realizing he wasn't at home and Yang wasn't a few doors away. He was still drowsy when he climbed into the Bullhead with Team CFVY and Oobleck, but when they finally landed back in the ruins of Beacon, he found himself wide awake. It hurt to see his old school crumbling and broken, and it was impossible for him not to be alert with dozens of Grimm wandering through his field of vision.

He had people who needed his help and a daughter to get home to. He couldn't afford to be sloppy just because he'd lost a few hours sleep. He wasn't a young man anymore, but Taiyang had never forgotten how to throw a punch. He cracked his knuckles and stretched out his legs before moving in to show a Beowolf the business end of his fist… only for Coco to disintegrate the beast with a hailstorm from her minigun.

She was trying to show him up. How quaint.

Tai smirked at her before punching the next Beowolf he saw, destroying the soulless beast with a single blow. Coco could certainly rack up a quantity of kills, but Tai knew he could surpass her in the quality of his strikes. He may not have been able to go shot for shot against a minigun, but he could certainly make his shots count.

When Coco needed to reload, a Griffon bounded down to attack her. Tai jumped in and gave it a punch, casting her a cocky smirk. Saving girls from the Grimm… it was just like the good old days.

Coco stepped past him, collapsing her minigun into a more compact handbag, swinging its heavy mass with ease to clonk a Beowolf on Tai's flank. She'd returned the favor, and he hadn't even had a good excuse for being distracted.

Not that she seemed to mind. She only cast him a smirk of her own while Tai covered her so she could finish reloading. They continued to put down the Grimm swarming through the ruined courtyard, Coco's teammates running back and forth from the crumbling wreckage of the cafeteria, securing foodstuffs and loading them into the Bullhead, Oobleck and Fox keeping the ship intact.

Her confident smile energized him. The long fight should've been agony, but there was no way Tai would let Coco see his age. He just pushed himself harder, focusing more of his Aura into each swing, taking out multiple targets at once, showing off just a little bit more with each hit. Coco seemed to interpret his increased efforts as a challenge, and she started aiming at bigger targets, taking out a Deathstalker and a Giant Nevermore to match all the Beowolves Tai dealt with.

They were both charged with adrenaline. What should've been a terrifying battle against overwhelming numbers of monsters had turned into a sport, each of them trying to outdo each other, protecting one another so fiercely it seemed they'd been partners for years.

By the time Yatsuhashi and Velvet loaded the last of the stockpile into the Bullhead, Tai and Coco had all but recaptured the courtyard. He cast a glance at his impromptu partner, still wearing that cocky smirk. When she tipped down her shades to wink at him, he started having some distinctly uncomfortable thoughts.

Well, uncomfortable in hindsight. Not right then. Right then, the thoughts were very… pleasant.

When they exfiltrated in the Bullhead, Tai pulled Coco aboard. He held her hand a few moments too long once she was inside the ship. She didn't seem to mind. She squeezed his fingers tight in the few moments he'd taken her hand in his own. It could've simply been exhilaration, or his own awkward motion that kept her in his grasp for so long, but the result was the same. He may have pulled Coco aboard, but she was the one with the hold on him.

Tai had been out of the game a long time, but it seemed some of the signs hadn't changed. When he released her hand and their eyes met again, the look she cast his way conveyed her intent.

Tai's responsibilities seemed very distant then. Those beautiful brown eyes seemed very close. And very inviting.

Tai didn't lie to Oobleck when he said he had to leave. He just didn't bother correcting him when Oobleck concluded Tai was returning home to his daughter. While the rest of Team CFVY helped unload the food and found a new place to store it at the relief center, their leader excused herself to get a few hours rest at her apartment in town.

They left separately but met up along the way, Coco leading him by the hand. They could scarcely manage to stay apart, and had no need to be discreet on the largely empty streets. Their hands wandered, exploring one another, though they managed to exercise a degree of restraint before they made it to Coco's place.

Once inside, however…

Tai couldn't recall ever seeing Coco without her beret. She'd worn it –or one like it- every day at Signal. It was her style, and she wore it well. Without it, however, her dark hair framed her face well, with long brown locks and a long stripe of caramel. Her eyes were even darker than her sunglasses, but somehow those pools of dark brown were astonishingly bright from Tai's perspective.

She was far more aggressive than Tai. She initiated almost all of it, kissing him fiercely, pulling off his clothing. Somewhere in the back of his mind Tai recalled when she'd been his student, and how two years earlier, this thought would never have crossed his mind.

Then he looked into those eyes again, and she cast him a mischievous smile. And then the only thought on his mind was the beautiful girl in front of him. He had no more reason to be timid. He had no more doubts.

Tai hoisted Coco up by her waist and carried her to her bed, pressing her down into the soft sheets and kissing her with the strength of a much younger man. She'd brought the fire out of him again; the least he could do was let her experience its warmth.

Coco seemed pleased that he'd finally taken the initiative. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him close.

They rested together a few hours, just lying in bed and talking, explaining their respective scars and tattoos, then talking a bit about what happened and what it meant. It was a pretty big step they'd just taken, and they had to decide where it was all going, if they should slow down, or stop, or whether there was something more to it than what they'd already done.

"I'm not expecting anything of you," Coco assured him. "I just wanted to do this, so I did. If this is where we stop, at least I had a good night. If not… maybe I can have more like it."

Tai thought about it. He'd definitely be open to doing this more often, but then his thoughts turned back to Yang. She needed him right now. He couldn't just leave her and Patch so he could spend his time playing around with a nineteen year old. But whenever he looked at Coco's eyes, whenever she smiled at him… staying with her was the only thing he wanted.

He tried not to let that thought bother him. It was good to feel so passionate, but he couldn't let this girl consume him completely. Not when there was another girl whose love mattered more… and would always matter more.

"I do want to talk more about this," Tai told her. "But right now I have to get home. I need to see my daughter."

Coco seemed to accept that, reaching over to find Tai's Scroll. She typed in her number, then handed it to him. "Call me, okay?"

Tai nodded, mumbling that he would. Coco kissed his cheek then slid out of bed, draping herself in the fine satin sheets as she wandered away. Tai couldn't help but watch her go, entranced, only able to look down at his Scroll again once she'd left the room.

Yang hadn't messaged him. Apparently it hadn't bothered her that he was overdue. He could linger here a while longer, with Coco…

Tai shook his head and put the thought from his mind. He had to get back to his daughter. She came first. Always.

Tai was relieved to find Yang out collecting the mail when he returned to the island. It was the first time he'd seen her leave the house since she'd been home, and it was good to see her up and about. He rushed over to give Yang a big hug. She pushed him away as best she could with her left hand, but that only encouraged her Dad to hug her tighter.

Once he settled back in, once he was sure Yang was okay, even if she was slow in her recovery, his thoughts turned to across the bay back to Vale, and the girl he'd left on the other side of the waves. He wondered where she was and what she was up to.

He hadn't expected to ever feel like this again… to long for someone else, and miss sharing their bed. It was a scary thought, because the last time he'd had to give that up, Tai had shut down, because the pain had been unbearable.

He could stop right there, and consign his trip to memory. He could tell Coco to forget about him, and find her happiness elsewhere, because he'd never be around enough to be a good… whatever she considered him to be. A single dad would have hangups, and Coco shouldn't waste her youth waiting for a middle-aged man to find time to fit her in.

Instead all he could think of was how soon he could get back to Vale and see her again. The sight of her leaving the bedroom, draped in satin… that image burned into his brain in a way a thousand words never could. It may well have been best for Coco if he put a stop to this, but that wasn't what sounded best to him at the moment.

Her presence infused so much life in him that Tai couldn't bear to give it up. More than even his own daughter's health and safety, he coveted those eyes and that smile. What had once been a priority second to his daughter was now a desire that tasted too sweet for him to dwell on any other flavor of thought. What had once been a certainty to him now felt like a distant obligation, something he could forget for a while and get lost in those beautiful brown eyes.

It was a damning thought. But it wasn't one he could help.

Tai made several trips back to Vale in the passing weeks, always leaving the island for a day or two, going on a mission and helping to broaden the Safe Zone or secure supplies from a Grimm-infested area. And immediately after completing them, instead of catching up with his old friends, he'd make his excuses to leave and find his way back to Coco's apartment, where they found increasingly inventive ways to enjoy each other's company.

During the days in Patch with Yang, Tai longed to be away, back with his lover and happy. Spending time with his daughter became more burden than joy, and when he was away from Coco he started to feel incomplete. It reminded him of how he'd felt in his youth, with Raven, then with Summer, when he fell so hard he became dependent on his love to provide him his happiness.

It was a scary thought. It wasn't just fun he was having now. His feelings –at the least- were starting to get serious. He didn't know how Coco felt, or exactly what she wanted from him, but Tai was thinking about where it was all going.

She was young. He didn't want to pressure her with any serious talk. And he didn't really want to do much talking when he was with her anyway.

He wondered what his girls would think. Tai wasn't any good at keeping secrets from them, but he hadn't told Yang the real reason he'd made so many trips to Vale. He hoped she simply thought he was trying to help people in need, and not… this.

Tai wondered how long it'd be before he told Yang. Or what he'd tell Ruby when he finally got to see her again. But he spent less time thinking about them than about those eyes and that smile. He didn't enjoy feeling that way, but he did.

Tai stepped out to get firewood for the night, leaving his Scroll to charge, casting a smile at the latest text Coco sent him before heading out the door.

That brought Yang to the end of the tale. Her dad just looked ahead, waiting to see how she'd taken it all.

It was a strange thought that Yang hadn't become truly uncomfortable until her dad mentioned the wives he'd had before. In some ways, Yang wished he'd just been playing around and the relationship wasn't serious. It'd be easier for her to understand. She'd have preferred her dad was stringing Coco along, having fun and never intending to commit to anything more. She'd rather he just be on the prowl than think someone she loved was trying to find happiness and companionship.

Yang had never thought her dad would date again; it just never seemed to be on his mind. Yang vaguely recalled Summer telling her how her dad had caught girl's eyes in his youth, but he'd always been such a dork in the time Yang knew him that it seemed a very distant time. And now it had proven to be true.

Did she disapprove? Did she want to tell him to stop?

And Coco… what was Yang to make of her? She'd always been cool and popular, but Yang had no idea her tastes skewed older. If things between Coco and Tai ever got serious, she might become involved not just in her dad's life, but Yang's and Ruby's too. What would that make them? Where would it all lead?

"I… I need to think about this," Yang managed to say.

"Yeah," was the only reply Tai could muster.

Yang headed up to her room, casting a glance back down at Tai as he picked up his Scroll, rereading the messages from Coco.

She was angry. Angry at a friend because that friend was making her father happy.

She hated that feeling. But apparently not enough to stop feeling that way.

Yang didn't want to tell her dad to stop. She didn't want to be the one responsible for putting a damper on his happiness. But she suddenly felt very possessive of him, and the thought of this woman –this girl- stealing him away infused in her a deep and potent anger.

Yang wouldn't tell him to stop. She'd have to convey the message some other way.

But he would stop. He'd realize this wasn't the way his life would go.

And Coco would turn her eye elsewhere, if she knew where else to look.