#young yang

Qrow sighed, the pliers coming out of his kit next.  He pulled the broken metal from the lock before trying again. The second attempt got the door open so Qrow could slip inside. There’s a lot he’s got to do and it’s already taken him twenty minutes just to get into the house. Of course, he can’t blame Taiyang for not giving him a key. He’d just lose it.

Dumping out his bag onto the table, he had to scramble for the ingredients that tried to escape. A few bounced off the floor, but nothing he couldn’t grab and put back. He’d saved the ones that would have broken and made a mess.

Qrow can make a few things well… if his semblance cooperated. Some foods were easier than others. If there was one thing he couldn’t mess up, it was stew. A staple in the camp. Just toss a bunch of things together, put it onto heat, voila. Sustenance. 

Taiyang and Summer had been both impressed and annoyed during that one mission they ended up camping in the woods. Glad they wouldn’t starve, but feeling jipped that the twins had insisted that they didn’t know how to cook. A lesson about the stove later and Qrow learned that his semblance made it dangerous. So most of the cooking was left to Tai and Summer anyway.

Not today! He was determined to surprise Tai and have dinner made before he got home. It was going to be worth standing in the store for twenty minutes figuring out what the spices they’d used in camp were called when packed for sale. Then the traipsing through the aisles for everything else he needed. Now he just had to peel and chop it all without cutting himself. A job that would have gone much worse without an aura. He dumped everything that was sliced into Tai’s large stock pot and set on the back to boil. 

Ok, easy bit done. Now onto the actual surprise—cake. 

If it was from a box how bad could he mess up?

—

Qrow stared at the mess of crispy and dark disk that was supposed to be a cake. What happened? The oven had been at the correct temperature. He double checked the recipe. 

Bake at 350 for… oh. He’d misread the stupid chart on the box and left it in the oven for an extra 20 minutes.

Now what. 

He thunked his forehead on the table. At the store, he’d considered getting a second box for backup, but how hard was a box cake? Tilting his head slightly, he glared at his disappointment. As if his burning gaze could somehow make it less dry. Pouting in a manner that if Tai saw he would be cooing over how ‘cute’ Qrow was.

The lock clicked, interrupting his brooding. Sounded like the girls are home from school. He should probably make himself known so they don’t freak out and attack him again—Tai had taught them well. 

“Is that my two favorite nieces I hear?” he calls. 

“Uncle Qrow?” They peek in the kitchen before he’s met with the stampede of hugs.

“What are you doing here?” Ruby asks.

“Dad said you weren’t coming back till next week!” Yang follows up.

“Well, I wanted to surprise him for his birthday. And the best way is to do it two days early.” He gave them a playful wink. They giggled.

“Is that cake!?” Ruby notices.

“Err, sorta…” Qrow rubbed the back of his head as the girls inspected the disaster. “I kinda burnt it a little, and now it’s all dry.”

“Why don’t you just do what Dad does with dry cake?” Ruby questioned.

“What does he do?”

“He crumbles it up and mixes it with icing,” Yang explained.

“Then he lets us make shapes so we can put them on sticks.” Ruby looked excited with the prospect. 

Well, if they wanted to help...

—

Qrow hid in the kitchen. It was the girls' idea. They were excited to surprise their dad, so he went along with it. Waiting as he listened to Tai’s footsteps on the porch and the creak of the door opening.

“I’m home!” he calls. The girls jumped him in a hug. 

“Dad! Dad! We have a surprise for you,” Ruby exclaims. 

“Oh really? What is it?”

“Nuh uh. That’s not how surprises work,” Yang scolded. “Close your eyes!” 

“Oh all right.” Tai played along. The girls giggle as they pull Tai into the kitchen. Qrow had to suppress his own laughter. 

“Ok you can look!” Yang declared. Tai gaspsed.

“You guys made dinner? All by yourselves.”

“We had help.” Ruby pointed behind her dad. Tai turned around. Qrow smirked at the surprise on Tai’s face. 

“Qrow?” 

“Happy Birthday Dragon.” Qrow wrapped his arms around Tai’s waist. 

“You know my birthday is in two days.”

“Yeah, but you were surprised, weren’t you?” Qrow gave him a quick peck. Ruby giggled as Yang made a fake gagging sound.

“All right you two, go wash up.” Tai told the girls.  They giggled as they left. He turned his attention back to Qrow, pulling them together to touch foreheads.

“I missed you.” Tai whispered.

“Missed you too.” Qrow purred. His nose wrinkles. “You smell like sweat.”

“Helping out with practicals.” 

“You’re a mess,” Qrow shoved him toward the door, “Go shower.”

“Only cause you’ve asked so nicely.”

—

Dinner was actually a success. And the ‘cake’ that the girls had reshaped into the words ‘Happy Birthday’ gave Tai the biggest smile. Qrow loved that smile. The girls volunteered to do dishes so they could relax in the living room. Tai settled next to Qrow, head resting on the taller’s shoulder. It had been a long day.  

“Thank you for the surprise.” Tai whispered, kissing Qrows cheek. Qrow tilted his head for a more proper kiss. He would love to progress into more passionate kissing but the girls would burst in any minute after finishing the dishes. He still pouted when Tai pulled away. “None of that.” Tai rested his head back on Qrow’s shoulder. “How long are you here for?”

“Only a week.” Qrow curled his arm around Tai, “Next mission should be short though.” 

“Any chance you could stay longer? Birthday present for me?”

“I was gonna give you a massage as a gift.” He reached up to dig into the spot between Tai’s shoulders. It was always tense. Tai groaned and slumped into Qrow’s lap. Qrow smirked and moved to put pressure in the next trouble spot. Tai groaned again.

“What are you doing to Dad?” Ruby had come out of the kitchen.

“He’s helping me with the soreness from practicals.” Tai sat up. “Did you two finish the dishes?”

“Yep, all done!” Yang grinned. 

“Well, I know it’s not exactly your bedtime,” Qrow rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “But I’m gonna need some help early tomorrow if you two want to go gift shopping with me.”

“Yes!” the girls both agreed at the top of their lungs. 

“Alright, off to bed then.” Qrow shooed them towards the stairs.

“Can you both come tuck us in?” Ruby pleaded.

“Of course Petal, just shout when you guys are ready.” The girls scampered up the stairs.

“You still tuck them in?” 

“I am going to tuck our girls in every night until they think they are too old, and probably then some,” Tai rested his head back on Qrow’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you convinced them to go to bed early.”

“Well, I’m sure you’d appreciate going to bed early too.”

“You’re not getting out of giving me that massage.”

Finally he set the last of the dishes into the drying rack. He dried his hands and grabbed his jacket to go outside where the girls had escaped to. They had wanted to play in the leaves, and maybe he could rake them into a huge pile for them to jump into. He did not expect to see them crouched down, playing with something he couldn’t see.

“Hey girls, what’cha doing?” They lean back and he can see they’re holding food out to a bird that’s standing in front of them.

“Dad, look how close we got him.” Yang declares. Ruby holds more out to the bird.

“Here birdie.” Ruby coaxes. The crow pecks at the food. 

“I see.” He kneels down next to his girls. “What are you feeding him?”

“Some of our Halloween candy.” Yang shows him the wrapper. 

“Ruby you shouldn’t feed animals candy.” He tries to grab the candy, the crow is quicker. The rest of the piece is in his beak and he flies into the trees to gulp it down. 

“See he likes it.” Ruby points are the crow.

“Chocolate still isn’t good for birds.” He tries.

“But it has peanut butter. And that is good for birds.” Yang justifies.

“That’s… sigh. Chocolate can make a lot of animals sick. Next time you want to feed an animal, come check with me first ok? You don’t want to make anything sick, right?” Ruby looked upset. 

“Is the birdie gonna be ok?” She was tearing up. Taiyang looked at the crow. The bird looked smug. 

“It looks like he’ll be fine. He must not have eaten that much.” He pats both of his girls heads. “How’s about we play for a little bit. How big of a pile do you think we can make with all these leaves?”

—

Tai was cooking dinner while the girls were coloring at the table. The leaf pile in the backyard slowly being blown back over the exposed grass. There’s a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it.” Yang says, dropping her crayon and jumping out of her seat. Tai turns off the stove and moves to follow her. He can hear the door open as he leaves the kitchen. “UNCLE QROW!” Yang yells. Ruby squeals and jumps from her chair. 

“Hey Firecrack- oof!” Qrow grunts as Yang jumps on him. Ruby zooms past Tai and jumps on Qrow as well. Qrow grimaces. “I love you too, but you’re hurting me.” The girls jump off and hover, concerned. 

“Did you get hurt on your mission?” Yang asks.

“I’m gonna be fine, just a stomach ache.” Qrow is leaning on the doorframe, an arm wrapped around his stomach. He’s trying to smile, but it looked more strained. He jumps as Ruby places her hand on his stomach.

“Are you hungry? Dad just finished dinner.” Ruby asks.

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“Come on girls, let’s let him in.” Tai picked Ruby up and whispers to her. “I bet he ate something he shouldn’t.” 

Ruby gasps. “Uncle Qrow. Did you spoil your dinner with cookies?” she accuses. Tai snickers. Yang pouts. 

“How come you didn’t share?” Tai actually laughs out loud at that. Qrow pouts as he slinks in. 

After closing the door, Tai gives Qrow a one armed hug, careful while holding Ruby and of how Qrow is feeling. Tai keeps his arm along Qrows shoulders and presses their foreheads together. Qrow’s a little clammy.

“Go lie down, I’ll bring you some tea in a minute.” Tai tells him. 

—

Tai convinces the girls to sit and eat dinner while he goes and checks on Qrow. The mug of tea held carefully as he goes up the stairs. He’s honestly not that surprised when he finds the guest bedroom empty, so he moves to the next room. Qrow is nestled in Tai’s bed, curled around the pillows, but still on top of the covers. 

“You know you’d be more comfortable under the blankets.” Tai places the mug on his nightstand.

“Too much work…” Qrow groans. 

“I’ll grab an extra blanket. Can you at least sit up and drink your tea?” 

“In a min…” Qrow curls tighter around the pillows. 

“Alright.” He pulls an extra blanket out of his closet and tucks it around Qrow. “Just rest ok, I’ll check on you after the girls are in bed.”  

—

After the afternoon outside, the girls fell asleep rather quickly. Tai sighed in relief as he goes to tend to his childish team mate. Qrow is still curled up in a ball, the mug of tea, cold and untouched. Tai sits on the edge of the bed and strokes Qrow’s hair out of his face.

“How are you feeling?”

“I think I’m dying.” Qrow whimpers.

“You’re gonna be fine. I’d thought you’d learned to not eat things you shouldn’t as a crow.”

“Are you gonna say no to Ruby?” 

“They’ll have better snacks next time.” Tai promises. “But for now, you need to actually drink the tea I bring you.” 

“It hurts too much to move.” 

“Do you want the heating pad?” 

“Please.”

“Back in a minute.” 

It takes a few more minutes to prepare another mug of tea, but the heating pad is right where he left it, so that goes in the microwave while the tea steeps. Tai is quick to pull it out before the timer can wake the girls. He brings both back to the bedroom.

“Ok, time to sit up.” 

“No.” 

Qrow doesn’t move so Tai takes it upon himself to help. Qrow whines as Tai forces him to sit. But relents when Tai presses the heating pad against him and rearranges the pillows to help keep him propped up. 

“I swear, you’re worse then Raven or Summer on their periods,” Tai complains.

“Take that back,” Qrow mutters. “Raven would punch you, not whine.”

Tai just shrugs and gives Qrow the fresh mug. There are a few careful sips before qrow actually drinks the tea. Tai uses the time to change and get ready for bed, bringing an extra set of his old sweats for Qrow to use. With Tai’s help Qrow is relaxing in sweat pants instead of his usual hunter’s gear. The heating pad pressed directly onto his bare skin. Tai doesn’t have the heart to tell him off, especially after the sigh of relief Qrow made at the contact. 

Tai does make Qrow shift over so he can get into his own bed, even if he is sitting up. Qrow lays down, resting his head in Taiyang’s lap. 

“Sleep, you idiot.” Tai pets Qrows hair to soothe him.

“But I’m your idiot.”

He paused and took a few steps back. Something was off. It took him a second to realize that it was the mailbox, still full of mail. Tai always got the mail at lunch time. Qrow wasted no more time on a leisurely stroll to the door. His knocking is a little more frantic than it needed to be, but so many things were just ever so slightly out of place and it set off alarms in his brain. It took a moment to long for the door to open, so he tried to open it. Gods, the door wasn’t even locked. 

Fearing the worst, he threw it open. Yang and Ruby were in the living room, looking at him. Obviously shocked, but they were unharmed. Yang was closest so she jumped at him first.

“Uncle Qrow!” Yang threw her arms around his waist. Ruby was a second behind to join in the waist clinging. “We’re so glad you’re here.” Yang chokes out. Both of the girls have tears silently rolling down their faces. 

“Woah, woah what’s wrong?” He rests a hand on each of their heads. Looking around for some sort of danger. Nothing seemed out of place, just a little messy.

“It’s Dad. He’s sick and we don’t know what to do.” Yang sobs. 

“He’s been in bed since yesterday, he only gets up to throw up.” Ruby elaborates, also crying.

“Hey, hey, its ok. Let me see him.” Qrow tries to console. The girls detach and each take a hand to pull. Qrow can barely kick the door closed behind them before they pull him up the stairs to Taiyang’s bedroom.

Qrow wasn’t sure what he was expecting. What he found was Tai cocooned is his covers, and a small collection of cups and plates holding juice and toast respectively. 

“I’ve brought him toast and juice like he does when I’m sick, but he’s not getting better.” Yang explains. 

“Ok, can you two take some of these downstairs,” Qrow picked up one of the plates and handed it to Yang, “then bring me a glass of water.” They nodded and went to work, so Qrow sat on the edge of the bed to check on Tai. 

A hand brushing back Tai’s hair revealed hot skin and hair that was stiff with dried sweat. Qrow was worried about the temperature, even though Tai was normally warm—and it made for great hugs—this was definitely fever territory.

Yang has come back with the requested water, so Qrow goes about waking his teammate. 

“Rise and shine Tai.” Qrow shakes his shoulder. Tai stirs and opens his eyes. The haze over the blue and lack of response as Qrow sits him up makes Qrow guess he’s not entirely awake. Qrow has to hold Taiyang up and coax the water down his throat. Half the glass is all the risk he’s willing to take. Tai seems to have fallen asleep again and Qrow doesn’t want him to choke. He tucks Tai back under the blankets.

“Is he gonna be ok?” Yang whispers. 

“He should be just fine. Do you know where your dad keeps the medicine.” 

“In his bathroom.”

“Thanks, you keep an eye on him while I get it.”  Yang nods and sits in the chair she must have dragged in. 

The bathroom was where Tai kept the many medicine bottles. The problem was, it was all for Ruby and Yang. The only ‘adult’ medication was a bottle of painkillers that Qrow was sure Tai kept around for after particularly rough missions. Qrow recognized them from after that one mission where he came back feeling like one huge bruise. 

“Looks like I need to run to the store,” he tells Yang. She looks frightened. “I’m gonna take your dad’s scroll, call me if something happens ok. It should only take me an hou—“ he had to go into town. “Less than two hours. Can you hold down the fort until then?” Yang nods. “You got this, Firecracker,” he tells her, swiping Tai’s scroll from where it was charging on his nightstand.

He found Ruby sitting in the living room, pretending to watch tv.

“Is Dad gonna be ok?”

“Yeah, he is. I just need to run into town real quick and get him some medicine. Do you know where the keys for the car are?” 

“On the hook in the kitchen.” She trails after him as he goes and finds them exactly where she had said. 

Since he was there, he also checked over the kitchen for essentials. It left him silently cursing Tai’s ambition to make most things from scratch. Which Qrow didn’t have the time for. 

“Have you two been eating?” Qrow asks.

“We had leftovers for dinner last night, Yang made eggs for breakfast and we had sandwiches for lunch.” Ruby told him. That, and the surplus of toast, explained the lack of bread. 

“Has Yang been in charge while your dad’s been sick?” 

“She’s been making me stay away so I won’t get sick. I just want to help.” 

“I know you do. Yang’s just trying to be a good sister.” He gets an idea. “How about you help by doing the dishes for me?”

“You are bad at dishes.” Ruby agreed. He always, always, dropped things while trying to help with dishes. On good days it was just silverware. 

“Alright, I’ll be right back.”

—

He was trying to be quick, he really was. There was just no order to the list in his brain so he ended up walking down some aisles twice to get everything. Then there was the standing and reading all the medicine labels to figure out which he needed. These were way more complicated than just pain killers. He ended up with two different bottles in his basket as he finally headed for checkout. Which was down to one person, as the rest had been called away to clean up after a shelf had collapsed. 

So an hour and forty minutes later, he was finally almost back. It was just up this road and turn right. Tai’s scroll lit up and started ringing, a picture of the house on the screen.

“Hello.” Qrow answers, carefully balancing the scroll so he could still drive.

“Dad threw up again.” Yang was definitely holding back tears.

“I’m pulling up the driveway. Be there soon.” 

“Ok. *sniff.” 

“I’m gonna need you to open the door for me ok?”

“Ok.”

“I’ll see you in a second.”

“Ok.” 

He hangs up and lets the scroll flop into his lap. He felt bad having to hang up, but he could see the house and he had to park and grab the groceries. 

Yang opened the door before he got to it, so he carried everything to the table. Ruby was putting dishes in the drying rack, using a stool to reach the sink. He leaves the bag on the table and takes the medicine out. 

“Good job, can you two put the groceries while I check on your dad.” Nod. “Thank you.”  He takes the stairs two at a time as he rushes to check on Tai.

Tai was still in the bathroom, panting until he had to lean forward to retch. Qrow winced. It sounded horrible and the fact that nothing was coming up meant it had to hurt. No wonder Yang was so freaked out. Qrow kneels down behind Tai so that when the other was done trying to throw up he could guide him to relax against Qrow’s chest.

“Hey, Dragon.” 

“Qrow?” Gods, he sounded terrible. And judging from the wince it hurt for him to talk. 

“Who else?” Qrow strokes the hair from Taiyang’s forehead. Fever was still present. “You’re not looking so great, let’s get you back to bed. I got some medicine for you.” 

Tai frantically shakes his head. Qrow can feel the muscles contract sharply as Tai coughs and gags. Again the sounds were terrible and nothing came up. 

“I’ve got ya.” Qrow comforts, wrapping his arms around Tai, massaging the muscles that were clenching. Just like a Tai would do when Qrow was the one spilling his guts into the toilet. It seemed to work, as he went limp. 

“Just end me now…” Tai groaned. 

“And how would I explain that to Ruby and Yang?” 

“The girls! I need to—“ Tai’s frantic attempt at standing is stopped by Qrow’s arms.

“They’re fine, I’ve got it covered.” Tai snorted. “Fine, Yang has Ruby covered.” 

“That I believe.” 

“Now will you let me take care of you?” Qrow helps Tai stand and shuffle back to bed. Tai insists on reading the bottles Qrow had bought. Opting to start with the anti nausea one first, and leave the one for fever till later. Qrow did insist on Tai drinking the rest of the glass of water from earlier. 

“I’ll check on you in a bit. Don’t throw up the medicine. Got it?” 

“Got it.” Tai had already snuggled back into his bed. Qrow gave Tai’s hair a final stroke before going back downstairs.

—

Keeping the girls distracted was a harder challenge. Both of them were really worried. It took Qrow promising that with the medicine and the soup he was making, their Dad would be fine. 

“Soup has magical healing powers,” he insisted.

“Even if it comes from a can?” Yang asks, holding it up.

“Well, probably not as good as homemade, but it’ll get the job done,” he stirs it to keep it from burning. If he lost focus it would. His semblance didn’t make for easy cooking, which is why the dishes from dinner were covered in the remnants of boxed Mac and cheese. “Now who wants to get a tray for me?”

“I got it!” Ruby ducks into one of the cupboards.

“Yang can you put a glass of water on it for me?”

“On it.”

Qrow is extra careful balancing the tray up the stairs, last thing he needs is his semblance dumping hot soup on himself. Of course Tai is a little sceptical as the tray is placed in his lap. Qrow had to argue that the medicine and water had stayed down, so he had to at least try. Taiyang is thankfully less stubborn as a patient than Qrow is. And Qrow promises himself to try and give Tai a break next time the situation is reversed. 

After the soup is gone and the next dose of meds were taken, Tai rolls over to go back to sleep. This was probably the most rest Tai had gotten in months. Being a single parent had to be rough. Qrow sighs and runs his fingers through Taiyang’s hair. Coaxing him into a deeper sleep. 

—

Qrow carries the tray of dishes back down into the kitchen. Yang is at the sink washing dishes this time. 

“Where’s Ruby?”

“I put her to bed.” Qrow glanced at the clock. It was later than he thought.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed too?”

“I’m almost done,” she insisted.

“The dishes can wait.”

“No they can’t!” Yang gives him an angry glare, the effect somewhat lost with the tears threatening to leave the corners of her eyes. “Dad never leaves dishes in the sink.”

“Come on Yang, you’re tired. It’s time for bed.”

“No! I’m fine I can do it.”

“Yang, you’ve been doing ‘it’ all day. You-“

“But I didn’t! You had to come in and fix everything!” she shouts. Qrow doesn’t know how to respond to that. Yang sniffles a few times before angrily wiping the tears away. “I—I thought I could do—do it. But it was so-so hard. I—I—I didn’t know what to do. Dad was so sick and—and I didn’t want Ruby to panic—“ 

Qrow pulls Yang in for the tightest hug he can muster. Letting all the fear and worry she was feeling melt. She hugs him back just as hard.

“Yang, you’re twelve. I don’t expect you to know how to handle everything. You took really good care of Ruby. I can’t ask for more than that.” Qrow pets the hair she refuses to cut.“You did good Firecracker. I’m so proud of you.” He let Yang sob and sniffle, just holding her as the weight of the past day or so finally left her shoulders. Once calmed down he carried her to her bed, tucking her in so she could rest.

He quietly slips out and closes the door. He sighs and lets his forehead rest on the door.

“Qrow?” Taiyang is using the door frame of his own door to stay standing. “I heard crying, is everything ok?”

“Your daughter is stronger than I am.” Qrow sighs.

“Yeah. Kinda wish they didn’t have to be.” Tai shivers.

“Come on, it’s time to go back to bed.” 

Tai is still wobbly when he walks, but he’s leaning less on Qrow than he did earlier. Again, Qrow tucks him in and then just sits on the edge of the bed, stroking Tai’s hair. This time he’s more lost in thought.

“What’s up?” Tai asks.

“I was thinking… maybe… maybe… I would stick around  for a little bit. Apply for that job at Signal like you keep suggesting.” 

“I’d like that.”

“Maybe you could put in a good word.”