Work Text:
The sound of creeking mahogany stairs filled the quiet house as Taiyang scaled them with a limp. Taking his time climbing the carpeted case, not wanting to rush into the conflict that was waiting for him in his room.
Grabbing the door handle to his and Qrow’s bedroom, Taiyang announced, “I’m coming in,” before stepping inside. Qrow was under the blankets on his side of the bed, the room was dark with moon light illuminating parts of it.
“You’re not ganna answer?” Tai said, closing the door behind him.
The lump under the blankets moved, with a melancholic sigh. “sorry-”
With a slight limp, Taiyang walked to his side of the bed holding his sore side. “Well, a late response is better than none.”
“n-no...no. I meant for...y'know, downstairs.”
Taiyang's core tensed at the reminder of earlier. “Yeah-” he sighed, followed by silence.
The room was filled with quiet breathes. Neither man knew how to start this kind of dialog, so instead they sat on their shared bed facing apart. The quiet was pressure inducing and got stronger by the second. Someone had to break it, and Qrow knew it would be better if it was him.
“What can I say to fix this? Qrow said, bending forward, with his fingers intertwined and elbows on his knees.
“You can’t,”Taiyang muttered.”but you can explain what's going on with you.”
Qrow sunk forward. “Fuck, Tai, I don't even know how.”
“You open your mouth and sounds come out, It's pretty easy actually.” Tai said, turning on the bed just enough to see Qrow still hunched over.
“What?”
“Just start saying what feels right, even if it doesn't make any sense. And if your being honest, everything should just fall in place by the end.”
“It's not that simple,” Qrow murmured, straightening himself back up .
“It is though, and that's what I wanna hear from you; honesty.” Tai replied.
Qrow sighed.
“Alright-” Qrow took a few seconds to get his thoughts together. “ Tai, ever since we lost summer, I've been trying to be the person you need, someone you could rely on, but I never am. I always fall short I don’t know how to make things better. And it's frustrating to try and fail on a daily basis, while watching you sink into yourself. And when Ruby and Yang passed-”
Taiyang lost his breath as if the reminder of his children was a punch to his stomach.
“Then- it was like you were gone. You sunk so deep inside yourself that you left me, and I still don’t have a way to reach you no matter what I do. its like I just can’t be what you need and it’s frustrating.”Qrow covered his eyes with one hand and exhaled, rubbing his temples.
Taiyang was taking his time to take in everything, he had a lot to say and he needed it to worded right.
“I'm- really sorry for being so distant, The last thing I want to do is make you feel like your letting me down, because I still need time to move on.” Taiyang said, before rubbing his (probably) bruised side. “But when you hurt me like this, it’s more than letting me down. I have to second guess everything. Who I think you are, our relationship, but I still love you. I just don't get why you do it.”
Qrow looked at his lap staying silent besides letting out a sigh. only a few moments went past, but the quiet felt like bricks pushing down on both men.
“I-”
“I’ don’t know…”