It’s that time of year y’all where I got to put emotionally constipated bird man together with overly joyful dragon man.
I ain’t gonna lie, nine prompts was a bit overwhelming - and I know, I know. It’s not required to do all nine... but I am Crazy Taiqrow Fanfic Lady. What would y’all you know me for, if not that LOL.
As a sneak peek, our week is filled with some short entries (some new and some revisiting older stories), one steamy entry not meant for the kids ;) and one longer, currently unfinished story that will span several days. (It would have been finished, but work, as usual, kicked my ass.)
Hope y’all enjoy! Let’s begin!
Prompt for Bonus Sunday: Primordial
Rating: K
Word Count: 3200
Summary: With his new life, came new and terrifying things. Qrow now had a body more gangly than an oak tree and emotions that flooded more than a river in late April. The only thing that was familiar was his wings – and he was determined to learn how to fly once more.
The thing he really didn’t understand was why this strange, blond man made him feel like he already was. [Follows the events of The Judgment of Faunus from Fairy Tales of Remnant]
Ao3 Link: Wings to Carry Us Both
P.S. The Judgment of Faunus story is covered in the mini webseries RWBY Fairy Tales: The Shallow Sea. It's up on youtube, and is about 6 minutes long. I do recommend watching that before reading this story.
~
He looked over the side of the cliff, watching the fierce waves crash into rock. Water sprayed up against the wall, foaming white and smelling of salt, before it curled into itself and fell back into the crags below. Their jagged edges rose from the ocean like the gnarled teeth of a fox, mouth open and ready to devour him.
It would fill lesser birds with fear, but not him as he proudly stretched his wings and leapt off the edge. The updraft that pushed at the rockface caught underneath him, and with a few beats, he found stability. He glided through the air, turning lazy circles and staying close to the air currant. Despite his courage, he wasn’t quite sure he’d manage it on his own yet and he did not particularly fancy a plummet into the sea.
Everything was just… heavier. He was used to hollow bones and feathers, but after the God of Animal’s gift, rather than his sleek and aerodynamic form, he now had the awkwardness of a human body between his wings. The weight was troublesome, leaving him much like a fledging again; but he refused to believe that if he had been allowed to keep his wings, that he could not still use them to fly.
He’d learn how to again, no matter what it cost him.
He’d just about managed his sixth cycle when a piercing whistle caught his ear. Sharp and warbly, like a trill of a melodic canary. He found the comparison to be appropriate as when he turned back for land, he saw the figure of another standing at his spot, with hair as yellow as the songbird.
He pulled himself upright, wings having to beat harder to keep himself steady as, without the traction of his claws, his feet nearly slid out from under him. Just another thing he wasn’t used to.
“Whoa there!” His visitor was quick to reach out and grip him by the elbow, helping to steady him. “You alright?”
He shrugged out of his touch, the lance of warmth it left along his skin leaving a trail of bumps along his skin. Odd. “Yeah. Yeah, M’fine.”
“I can’t believe it – you were really flying!” Canary was still grinning wide as a wingspan, not at all perturbed by his ‘rudeness’ as some had called it. “That must be incredible.”
“It wasn’t. Not really.” He denied, shifting on his heels. “When I can take off without help then it’ll be flying.”
A nod, “Ah, I see! Still, the fact you have a future to is amazing!” He sighed dreamily. “I wish I had gotten wings.”
At that, he could not help himself from scanning over the other’s body. He found what he was looking for quickly, the spade-shaped end of the extra appendage flicking between the other’s ankles. A lizard tail like nothing he’d ever seen. The scales were golden like Canary’s hair, with sharp spines like the thorns of a nettle bush lining one side of it.
“Well, yours is…” He frowned, racking through his limited words. “Uh, terrifying?”
Canary burst into a series of little, happy bursts of air. “Right? I could really bop someone with it! If I wasn’t tripping over it all the time.” His tail end curled around one of his ankles, as if to hold himself steady. “Hard to stay balanced sometimes, you know?”
In reply, he held his arms outwards, rolling his shoulders. “Yeah, I know.”
There was that noise again – laughter, that was it. “So, hey! Have you picked a name yet?” Without waiting for an answer, he lent forward, chittering his secret, “I’m Taiyang now. But I kind of just like Tai.”
It had been required of all of them – out with the old, in with the new, their leaders had said. “I, uh, took the name Qrow.” And, because it was an important distinction, added, “With a Q.”
“Well Qrow with a Q, it’s very nice to meet you.”
“Same to you, Tai with a Yang.”
More laughter. He was a joyful sort, wasn’t he?
“I like you, you’re funny.” Tai decided firmly, straightening up. “Were you human or animal?”
That got his feathers ruffling and he looked away, out towards the horizon where the ocean and sky became one. “Does it matter anymore?”
“Hmm, ‘suppose not.” He conceded easily enough, so Qrow allowed himself to relax enough to ask a question of his own.
“You hear what they’re thinking of calling us now?”
“Faunus, right?” Tai cocked his head to the side. “I like it. It’s worlds better than Halflings.”
He winced. “Or Mottlins.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me!”
Beyond his control, Qrow felt his face contort with his feelings as a smile turned up on his own lips. He was still getting used to that, too.
It fell, pulled down by a sudden weight in his chest. “We shoulda stuck with No-Belongs. ‘Cause that’s what we are. No human nor animal will take us now.”
“That’s okay.”
The light words finally pulled Qrow’s gaze away from the united distance, instead to the one before him.
Tai seemed as bright as the colors he bore as he proudly declared, “We have each other now.”
It was… strange, how those words made him feel buoyant enough to fly, perhaps even if he hadn’t had wings.
“I suppose we do.” Qrow said and this time when his face took upon the smile, he found he didn’t mind it as much.
~
Years later…
Spring was the most beautiful time of year on Unitas. Though the island the God of Animals had granted them was generally favorable all year round, the vernal season was the one to bring sweet-themed harvests and succulent smelling wildflowers. Thus, it remained his preferred time of year; especially on days when the picking was ripe.
Plump, red cherries fell with ease from their branches, Qrow having to do little more than tug at the base of their stems to have them tumbling into his handwoven basket. He fluttered around the tree, gathering big bunches of them as quickly as he dared. It wouldn’t be long before the tree was found and plucked clean by the rest. Despite how he had learned to portion together most things their community found, he still allowed himself to be greedy over his favorite fruit.
So, he did not quit until his basket was nearly overflowing and with a careful scan of the area, dived quickly into the surrounding trees. Between his dark clothing and wings, he was easily camouflaged. Which meant, he could enjoy his pilfers in peace.
Popping a pair of the red globes into his mouth, he started the trek home. It was certain to take longer this way as he’d have to veer off the main pathway, but it also guaranteed he would not be waylaid by anyone else. He occupied himself between eating and, perhaps out of habit, crooning to no one.
After all, nothing would flock to a phony bird, no matter how desperate the hen.
No sooner had he thought that, did a shadowy form drop like a stone from the trees above –he had but a moment to take in its large and hulking shape before the sound of its furious snarls sent his instincts alight.
Jaguar!!
With a squawking cry, he took to the air.
It wasn’t until he was nearly above the treetops that reason returned.
There were no jaguars on Unitas.
And if there were, they certainly wouldn’t laugh.
He turned, already knowing who he’d see, and his name burst from him like a roar, “Tai!”
Tai just continued to cackle worse than Abayomi – and she’d been a Hyena before! The other Faunus was hanging upside down from the tree by his spiny tail like a youngling opossum. “Gods above, you should of seen your face!”
Bristling, Qrow tried to rein in some of his dignity as he tempered his expression into something more neutral. He landed with as much grace as possible, holding his head up high as he walked past. “If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open tonight.”
“Aah don’t be like that!” Tai swung himself into a neat flip, landing on the forest floor noisily before he jogged to catch up. “Where’s your sense of humor?”
“About the same place the snake is gonna be crawling into after I put it in your bed.” Qrow quipped, munching on another cherry. At least he hadn’t lost any of his treats.
A scaly tail wound around his waist, pulling him in closer. “You’re a real riot, you know that?”
He was about two seconds away from forgiving the other entirely. That is until he saw a hand creeping forward towards – oh absolutely not!
Without a beak to peck with, he resorted to licking the other, leaving a wet stripe from Tai’s index finger all the way to his wrist.
“Oh gross!” The blond jerked back.
“That’s what you get, thief.” He told him.
“Oh yeah?” Tai lifted his soiled hand, and proceeded to dry it off in Qrow’s hair. “Then how’s this?!”
He bat at him. “Bah! Get off!”
“Never cherry hogger!”
“They’re mine, get your own!”
“Learn to share!”
“As soon as you learn to be less of a bother!”
A scandalized gasp, “Why I never!”
“Oh no, you always.” Qrow countered.
Tai’s mouth dropped open, before it spread into one of those wingspan smiles. “Alright, you got me there!” Without warning, he hooked an arm around Qrow’s neck and drew him even closer, dropping an ugly kiss onto his cheek, noisy lip smack and all.
He just sighed and accepted it, because there was no fighting the other’s sunny moods.
And, if, perhaps, he pretended to be distracted by the kiss enough to not notice a hand sneaking away a cherry pair, well, that was his prerogative.
~
Their hut was on the eastern side of the island, where the ground started to rise in elevation, tucked away on the top of a hillside. While roosting with the other Faunus hadn’t exactly been planned, in those early days when he no longer knew anyone and everything was more unknown and scary, he’d welcomed the easy comradery when it had been offered to him. Together, they’d built the structure out of surrounding material – wood from the palms for the walls and ground, bamboo as support beams, and a rooftop made of palm leaves and branches that had been weaved together by Qrow himself. He was used to making nests after all - they just weren’t usually upside down.
“It isn’t much, but we’ll get by,” Tai had said when they’d first completed it.
“I used to fit in a box the size of your head, I think we’ll be fine.” Qrow had snarked right back.
Inside, they had a modest amount of furniture – a long table, benches flanking opposite ends for them to take meals or craft; a fire pit for roasting; beds with animal hide mattresses to lay upon and pillows stuffed full with his own feathers; and other various this and thats scattered about. Items they’d use to pail freshwater, cut wood, shear hair... or were just shiny things that Qrow liked to look at.
Today, Qrow was using two halves of a carved-out coconut shell to separate the cherries. One bowl for the good and ripe ones, one for the rotted and pest-eaten ones. When he’d been nothing more than a carrion bird, such things wouldn’t have bothered him. But he discovered rather quickly that his new body demanded… sensitivity.
So, now he sorted.
Across the table, Tai was working on his own project, using a spade to carve out a handle for the small shovelhead he’d constructed earlier that week. He had some silly idea about digging little holes around the exterior of their home so he could put flower seeds in them.
(“We could use more color ‘round here, don’t you think?”)
He didn’t really get it, but when his companion was this excited about something, there was no talking him out of it anyways. Seemed ironic, seeing as Tai loved to talk.
It was a fact more timely than a rooster’s crowing, but gratefully more pleasant as well.
“So!” Tai’s sudden chirp was underlaid by sound of stone sliding against wood, “What were you singing? You know, before I scared the pants off of you.”
“You did not scare the- you know what, forget it.” He inspected a fused pair of cherries thoughtfully, wondering at its strangeness. Maybe they had just been too weak to grow apart. “It was nothing anyways.”
Tai was watching him now, a folded line to his brow that meant he was worried. “You sure?”
“Yeah?” He tried to ignore the way his feathers ruffled up. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“It’s just, it was so… sad.”
Qrow chucked the double cherry at him. It bounced harmlessly off Tai’s forehead. “Don’t make me sound so ridiculous.”
The other Faunus opened his mouth, ready to argue, “But-”
“It’s just the time of year.” He spoke over him. “It’ll pass like it did the ones before.”
“The ones before?” Qrow grimaced at his own mistake. Now Tai’s brow looked like a wrinkled-up pear. Peak worry mode. “Qrow, are you alright?”
“It- it’s nothing!” He sputtered out, “Stop making this a big deal. It’s not a big deal!”
“Then, what is it?”
“Nothing!”
“Clearly, it’s something!” Frown becoming more pronounced as time went on, Tai shoved his project to the side, leaning forward. “Come on, you know I’m not going to laugh.”
If anything, the other’s open compassion made him further agitated. He threw a leg over the bench, not leaving, just turning his body away so he didn’t have to look at the other anymore. “It’s nothing you can do anything about, so just drop it.”
“How do you know I can’t?” Still pressing, still too nice.
His wings hitched up and he fought against the urge to stretch them around himself to hide. “Because I just do, okay?!”
“Qrow…” Wood creaked as Tai shifted his weight to stand. His touch skimmed his shoulder, a sign of support but like the very first time, it left a lance of warmth along his skin that was just too much. “Look, if something’s bothering you, just-”
It burst out of him then as he whirled to face him, voice a squawking shout, “Crows mate this time of year you moron!”
Tai’s jaw dropped and stayed like that.
Unable to keep up eye contact, Qrow swung his other leg over, turning his back to the other to instead stare at the wall, fingers tightly gripping the edge of the bench as if he was afraid it would fall out from under him. It was also the only thing keeping him from leaping up and bolting – but, well, where was he going to go anyways?
“Oh.” Tai finally managed to breathe out.
“Yeah so… yeah.” He mumbled lamely. “Told you it was nothing. Just a bit of the old me doing pointless things.”
“Why, um… why have I never heard it before?”
Qrow’s cheeks warmed so hot, he wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t grown ill with something. He didn’t have a word for the feeling, just that he hated it. “Because when we’re together, I don’t feel like I’m looking for anything.”
“…Oh.” He echoed, then nothing more.
As the silence stretched and the air felt almost electric in its unease, he was half convinced he’d managed to tie the other’s tongue. Before he could even get a handle on how that was making him feel, he was overwhelmed by sudden panic when he heard the screech of the other’s chair being shoved back, feet moving across the floor.
He was leaving?
Qrow couldn’t have ruined things that badly, right?!
His brain felt like it was simultaneously moving too fast and too slow, two sides of him at war. It left a body devastated by feeling too many extreme emotions within quick succession, and heart a patter of anxiety that screamed at him to fix it, fix it now. Torn as he tried to figure what to do… to the point he froze entirely.
Never had to figure out anything, as within half a dozen steps, Tai was on his side, and settled down beside him.
He couldn’t prevent the way his body tensed, as if readying for an attack.
“Are you okay?” Tai asked gingerly, perhaps frightened something might break.
Unable to verbalize it, Qrow resorted to shrugging because really, he had no idea.
“Okay.” He accepted easily, mulling a moment before stilting out, “Qrow, before, when you were – before. Did you have a…a-?”
“No.” He cut in. Surprised, when words came to him, bitter and stinging like sea salt, “Maybe that’s why I’m here now. Never had a flock. Never had a mate.” He dropped his chin low to mirror the sinking in his chest. “No one wanted me.”
He saw the movement before he felt the touch, a hand sliding along the back of his neck while another crossed over his chest, both synchronized with the spiny tail curling around his waist. Then with little more warning than that, he was being pulled against Tai’s chest, the bright Faunus saying adamantly, “I’ll always want you Qrow.”
The relief that flooded in was almost as impossible to handle as the rest.
So was it any surprise it decided to escape from his eyes?
He wasn’t unused to the physical response; had done it quite frequently in the early days, when the forest felt too empty and the ache in his chest grew too much. Knew it came more often with bad feelings – which was why he wasn’t surprised when his companion panicked a little.
“Whoa, whoa, are you okay?”
Qrow sniffed, nodding as best he could from where his face was smashed against the other’s sternum. “It’s not bad. Actually, I feel like floating.”
All too familiar with his inability to vocalize his emotions properly, Tai just smiled brilliantly, “Got it.” Then pulled him back to give him one of his big, ugly kisses, this time on his forehead.
Paused, then placed a tinier one on the tip of his nose.
Overshot, and got the point of his chin next.
“You gonna keep doing that?” Qrow asked.
Blue eyes, deep like the ocean and pretty as the sky in one, shined hopefully. “Can I?”
“I’d… like it.” He decided, hesitant yet firm. “Feels good when you do.”
So, Tai did. Again and again, to every inch he could reach.
Kisses left along the curve of his jaw and across the slope of his brow.
Kisses following the line of his nose and erasing the tracks of tears down his cheeks.
Kisses that trailed long, languid, unhurried paths all along the contours of his face that led to one destination.
And when his lips finally, finally met Qrow’s, the floaty feeling from before was overcome by another.
Qrow’s eyes slid shut and he kissed back, becoming engulfed in it and hoped the other could feel it too.
Because it was one that he’d known since they’d met; one that only Tai could create. One that would fulfill the wish Tai had divulged the day they met.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Words: 530
Fandom: RWBY
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long
Characters: Qrow Branwen, Taiyang Xiao Long
Additional Tags: TaiQrow Week 2020, Established Relationship, Fluff
Series: Part 1 of TaiQrow Week 2020
Summary: There is something so unexpectedly gratifying about being addressed as a professor after all these years.
