Never trust a Branwen. They only bring misery. The contractor Qrow had gotten him worked cheap and fast, no doubt, but of course that meant that the resulting shingling job had to be ripped out two years after. And of course Mr. "Don't Worry Tai, I Know a Guy" had ran back into the woodwork he had crawled from as soon as it became apparent that the entire roof had to be redone. By Tai, of course, and to top it all off, of course the head of his only hammer had flown off somewhere into the woods some fifteen minutes into the job. The handle had followed soon after, though that intentionally so. Fucking Branwens. At least he wasn't as bad as Raven and the stunt she had—

Tai grunted and pulled his finger out of the roof, having shoved it clean through the polymer shingle. He bit back an expletive and looked at his hand where his Semblance had heightened in response to his anger, the thin film of metallic Aura having at some point thickened to a quarter of a spiked gauntlet. He leaned back and closed his eyes, willing the construct to dissipate away and taking a few calming breaths. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Much as he wanted to punch a tree into kindling, that wasn't an option. He wasn't nineteen and stupid anymore. Or, well, nineteen and as stupid. Managing his anger was a constant struggle, but he thought he was getting better at it. He started the process the shrink had given him and forced himself to look at the creeping rage objectively. "Logic is the death of anger," the doctor had said, and while that did sound like a meaningless platitude, it did have some merit.

He was angry at Qrow. But rationally he knew that Qrow wasn't intentionally trying to get to him, even if that mess of a Semblance made it look like so. Qrow was an adult with things to do, so expecting him to help out on household chores wasn't exactly fair. The shingling job was shoddy, that was a fact, but Tai should have seen that himself back then. Or realized that the price was far too low for him to expect good results. And it's not like it was a massive burden. Summer was cooking dinner for a change so he could just walk to a prepared table and flex his machismo a bit. She had always liked the rugged craftsman look he put on once in a while when he felt like getting things done.

Bit by bit, the cold logic started to do its work and distanced him from the rage, making him aware of just how pointless it was. He let out a long breath and lay down on the roof, looking at the wispy clouds on the sky. Life was good, he told himself, and him getting raving mad at every setback was the worst that could happen. He had a wonderful wife, two adorable kids and little else to worry about. Really, today's biggest setback had been the hammer breaking down on him, and that had barely even slowed him down. With a final huff, he felt the insidiously accumulating tension start leaving his body.

And Raven...

Yeah, there was no way he was going to think himself out of that clusterfuck. He pushed that thought to the side with practiced ease, focusing on the present. Right, the shingling. The forecast was good so he didn't have to rush it through today. He probably could, if he wanted to, but it would be annoying if the kids' bedtime came up just before he could finish it. Maybe he could—

"Dad?" came a piping voice from somewhere down below, shaking Tai from his thoughts. He rolled over and peeked over the edge of the roof, finding Yang staring up at him two storeys below. Even without the big lilac eyes, the golden blonde mop of hair was unmistakable.

"You called?" he replied, waving at her and getting a small wave in return.

"Um, mom told me to tell you that the food is almost ready," she said, craning her neck to meet his eyes.

Well, that settled it for now, at least. He'd look into finishing the job after the food coma, which probably meant he wasn't finishing it today, though Summer hadn't mentioned what she was making. Maybe it was tonkatsu. He could already imagine the taste of the tender pork. Oh man, it had been too long since the last time. He hoped it was tonkatsu.

He shook himself out of the daydream. "Oh, thank you. Just what I needed. Hold on," he said and rolled off the roof, tumbling down in the air and hitting the ground next to Yang without as much as a stumble. Yang squealed and clapped her hands in response, looking up to him.

"Wow, you're like a bird!" She then made exaggerated sound effects and mimed with her tiny closed fist how he had fallen down.

Tai laughed, ruffling Yang's hair which resulted in an annoyed noise. "A bird, huh?" He was trying to figure out how to best make a self-deprecating joke about how Summer thought he was a birdbrain, but he trailed off. Right, the parenting class he'd been forced to attend had mentioned Semblance use. Kids were way too eager to mimic damn near everything, and the mental image of Yang plummeting down from a roof drained the humor out of the moment. "That's a pretty thing to say, thank you," he said instead, "but remember to not try that yourself. Daddy is a huntsman, and only huntsmen don't get hurt when they jump off roofs."

Yang pouted. "I wanna fly too. Can I be a huntsman?"

Ah hell. This wasn't a topic he had wanted to tackle. The mental image of Yang's broken body on the ground flashed in his mind again. "Uh, well, not really, you see..."

He wasn't entirely sure where he was getting with that, but thankfully Summer's voice cut in from the doorway. "That would make you a huntress, and it takes a lot of training. Now come on you two, Ruby is all ready already." At once, he and Yang looked at her, finding her leaning against the door frame with her signature white cloak hanging off her shoulders. God, she was beautiful.

"Well, you heard the lady," he said, gently pushing Yang towards the house. "Go make sure that Ruby hasn't eaten everything already." Yang giggled and ran off, making Summer's cape flutter on the way in.

"How's the roof?" Summer asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Tai couldn't help himself, and he just took a few steps to steal a kiss from her, running his knuckle briefly down her cheek. Summer hummed quietly into the kiss, dragging it on for a few seconds before she put her finger on Tai's chin and gently pushed him away. There had been a faint taste of chocolate in her mouth. Perhaps there was a chance for a dessert?

"Hmm, what was that for?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling at him.

"Oh, you know," Tai said and ran his hand down to her waist. "For being you."

"How gallant," Summer murmured and went to her tiptoes to peck a kiss on his cheek. "But the kids are getting antsy. I'll look forward to seeing the full extent of your appreciation later tonight," she continued in low voice and winked at him.

Tai chuckled and gave her hip a squeeze before letting go. "Ma'am," he said and with a grin gestured into the house. Summer gave him a sly smile and turned with a flourish, leading the way towards the kitchen.

Night had fallen and they were in the bedroom, Tai leaning on the windowsill and looking at the treeline in the distance. Their corner of Patch had a nonexistent Grimm presence, but there was always the minuscule chance that a lone Beowolf could get past the sensor perimeter. He drummed his fingers on the wood, feeling Summer's eyes on his bare back.

"I don't like it," he eventually said. "I don't like pushing a horrible vocation on kids like that."

"That's a tad hypocritical, isn't it?" Summer said, her tone neutral. He had expected this conversation, and especially that argument.

He didn't want his kids to become hunters. He had been in the business long enough to see firsthand just how grisly it was. He had had a few close calls himself. Incompetence, stupidity, bad luck both mundane and supernatural, you name it. He had stared death down before, and he resisted the urge to scratch the patch of grafted scar tissue on his side where Aura alone hadn't been enough to cover up the claw marks. And then there was that one time when a goddamn Chirich had caught Summer in the neck. He dwelt in the memory for a moment, the fight itself just red haze in his mind, but the mental image of Summer's cloak slowly turning red was crystal-clear in his mind and going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

There was a reason why hunter schools didn't do class reunions, and that was that the single highest mortality rate of all professions was the first year of Grimm hunting right out of the academy. Granted, it did go down after the first few years, but that didn't make it any more easier to stomach. Out of curiosity, he had checked the roster last week, and that had another two of his year group listed in the obituaries. Just... gone, like that. He hadn't really known Branson and couldn't remember what his Semblance was, but it was harrowing to think that he and his silly hat just didn't exist anymore. And now Yang was already talking about what sort of weapon she'd get. Ruby would certainly follow suit because to her, the only thing cooler than Summer was Yang.

His throat constricted. He loved them. He loved them to bits, and the absolute last thing he wanted to do was to push his own life choices down their throats when they still looked up to him as someone who could do no wrong.

He socialized with hunters. Her wife – and ex-wife – were hunters. His brother-in-law was a hunter. His mentors were hunters. He made acquaintances in hunter circles. His work involved teaching hunters. He could count with one hand the number of civilians in his circle of friends. That, naturally, affected the kids. All they ever saw was hunters. Having your parents share a vocation like that was bad enough in and of itself, but everyone else too? The odds were against him already even if he couldn't talk sense into Summer.

Not that he succeeded in that often. It was almost always Summer talking sense into him, and he was not ready to back down here.

"I know it's contradictory," he said after gathering his thoughts. "But you know they're just kids. I knew full well what I was getting into when I chose to enroll."

"Tai. You were, what, thirteen? Barely into your teens. They're kids, but you can't play thought police on what they are allowed to consider until they are ready to move out."

"I'm not pretending to be a thought police, I'm saying that we shouldn't..." Do what? Not encourage it by pretending that their parents needed something as mundane as a hammer to pound nails into the roof? "...we shouldn't push them. We're putting them on a path without them even realizing it." He paused for a moment. "Remember Branson?" He didn't need to look to know the slight tilt of her head she always did when trying to recall something.

"Jones? The one with the hat?" Jones, yes, that had been the name.

"Dead," he said and snapped his fingers. "Just like that. What if Yang or Ruby is going to be the next Jones? We're encouraging them to put themselves in mortal danger. It doesn't have to be like that. Not in this day and age."

Summer sighed and shifted on the bed, silently getting up and hugging him from behind. He felt the comforting warmth of her body pressed against his as she snaked her hands around his stomach. "You're not asking me to quit."

Tai pursed his lips at the low blow. "You're... I wouldn't. I won't say it doesn't scare me to think that one day you could just..." He let the sentence hang in the air, snapping his fingers to drive the point home. "But you're a grown woman. It's your choice."

"You're not quitting yourself," Summer murmured against his back.

Tai opened his mouth and closed it. "I'm a teacher, I don't—"

"We both know how many emergency missions you accept. Don't you guys have a leaderboard at Signal?"

"That's necessary," he breathed out, careful to keep the old, festering anger from rising. Not here. Not with Summer. Never. "There are civilians at stake. I'm making the informed decision to keep them safe."

Summer hummed and nodded against his back. "There are going to be civilians at stake ten years from now, too. And there's going to be a need for hunters who can make that informed decision."

Tai balled his hands into fists and relaxed them, repeating the motion every once in a while. "That is then. Here is now."

"...what, then, do you think we should do with the kids? Tell them to not play Grimm and hunters? Stop reading them bedtime stories like Viridian Man?"

Tai huffed in amusement. "You know, Viridian Man is pretty fucked up," he murmured and took Summer's hand into his own. She squeezed it gently.

"It kind of is, but it's also a story about persistence, selflessness and the value of friendship. But that's not my point. What do you think we should be doing differently?"

Tai took a deep breath, feeling the frustration rise. Inhale, exhale. Think through it. He was angry because... He didn't know what to do. He didn't want Yang and Ruby to die in a nameless ditch, but he also didn't know what to do about it. Summer gave him time, gently running her thumb over his knuckle.

"I don't know," he eventually admitted. "It's just... I want them safe."

"And I love you for that," Summer said and planted a kiss on his shoulder blade. "Have you thought about being upfront about it?"

Tai blinked once. "Upfront?"

Summer shrugged behind him. "Just tell them the facts? It's a dangerous profession, I'm not denying that, but that hasn't stopped people before. Didn't stop us. If they truly do want to become hunters despite that, do you think we should tell them otherwise?"

Tai sighed. "My point is that they're young and, well, stupid. For Heavens' sake, just last week Yang managed to superglue her hands together!" Summer snorted behind him, and he smiled briefly at the memory. It had taken ages to figure out how to fix that particular fiasco, but it had been even harder to keep a straight face as Yang had come awkwardly knocking on his door to ask for help.

"Just don't say that out loud to them," Summer said with a giggle. "But there's not a whole lot we can do, is there? We can't try to keep them sheltered, so the way I see it, the best we can do is to be open about the danger and possibilities of it. And they're still kids, mind you. Last week Yang said that she wanted to become a mountaineer, and the week before that it was a, what was it, a wolf hunter?"

Tai huffed with a smile. "Lion hunter, Sum."

"Of course. But I'm not wrong, am I? You talk as if it's set in stone that both of them are going to become frontliners. It's going to be a long while until they even have to start seriously considering what they want to become. There's a good chance that neither of them wants to be the boots on the ground."

Tai sighed deeply. Maybe he was overthinking it. They weren't going to just run into the woods right away. Even if either of them did choose to enroll to Beacon, it would be decade from now at the earliest when they'd even start the real training. And it's not like they were lacking in skilled tutors, should that come to pass. Tai himself was a teacher, Summer could level half a battlefield with little more than an angry glance, and even Qrow, despite his misgivings, was as skilled as they came.

"Am I overthinking this?" he ended up asking. Honesty had always worked the best for him, especially with Summer.

"No, I don't think so," she replied, patting his hand. "You can't overthink their safety. I think it's a discussion worth having. But I do think that you're tunnel-visioning on the worst that could possibly happen to them and then reacting accordingly."

"Alright. Alright." He hadn't realized how tired he was.

Summer hugged him a bit tighter. "Bed now?"

Tai looked into the treeline again, imagining movement there. He remembered the hint Summer had dropped earlier today about him showing his appreciation, but the musings on the imminent mortality of everyone he cared about put a damper on his libido.

"Yeah. We should get some sleep. The roof still needs fixing tomorrow."

Summer nodded and started pulling away, Tai following her after a last glance into the calm night.