Chapter Text
-/-
It had not been intended, but somewhere along the way, discussion of Boyd having a welcome second home at the Labs had turned into discussion of him staying at the lab for a few days, just to get away from his complicated personal life, and somewhere along the way to that James had expressed concern about a small child staying on his own- even at Amity, where there were people around- with no one to be responsible for him, and that had led to an invitation to have Boyd come stay at the manor for a few days.
Which Qrow had been surprisingly okay with. James had expected to have to go back to Boyd after talking to Qrow about the possibility and explain that, actually, he had vetoed the idea, but Qrow had gone silent and thoughtful for a long time before nodding slowly and saying that, actually, that sounded like a great idea.
So now Boyd was coming to stay at Ironwoof Manor for a few days.
James was ecstatic. If Qrow hadn’t already long-since learned not to stand behind James or risk heavy leg bruising, he would have to now: just discussing the small logistics of looking after a small child for a few days was enough to set his tail wagging.
“So what time does the kid get here?” Qrow asked, rolling over to lay on top of his husband while they lazed in bed early that Saturday morning.
“Around lunchtime. I wanted time to get any last minute prep done before he got here.”
“Oh? What kind of last minute prep?”
James ticked off an invisible list. “I want to double check his room to make sure everything’s set up right… shoot off an e-mail to the cleaning staff reminding them that there’s an extra person living here for a bit…” He smiled softly, and nuzzled Qrow’s neck. “…pay attention to my husband before we have our privacy interrupted for a few days…”
“Ooh, I can get behind that last one.”
James grinned- “I thought you would.”
Today was the day, then. Boyd was coming to visit, Qrow was okay with this , and all was right with the world.
-/-
Boyd couldn’t believe that this was really happening.
A second home at the lab was one thing, but being allowed to stay with Dr. Ironwoof and Mr. Qrow for a few days?
Of course he’d been over the moon at the idea!
While he hadn’t been present for Dr. Ironwoof’s discussions with his parents or Dr. Gearloose, all of them seemed to have agreed with the idea. His parents, despite some understandable concerns especially after Boyd’s little disappearing act, were eventually reassured that it was something Boyd really wanted to do and gave their blessing to Dr. Ironwoof.
Gyro’s conversation hadn’t been long. In fact, even before Dr. Ironwoof could bring the idea up to him, he seemed to have conveniently organized all of Boyd’s charts, data, and other relevant data into an easy-to-understand digital file for Dr. Ironwoof to use as reference, in case Boyd needed any checkups during his stay. Or even afterwards, should Gyro be unable to see him for one reason or another.
In any case, Boyd hadn’t been this excited about something since before his first visit with Dr. Polendina!
While he was perfectly capable of flying to Dr. Ironwoof’s home on his own, his parents insisted on at least dropping him off so they had a clear idea of where he would be staying for the time being, and where they could find him if there was any trouble.
Doofus was ignoring him again, arms folded and silent as the family headed towards the Ironwoof manor. Boyd wasn’t sure if he was ignoring him again because his claims of being kicked out of the lab had been proven wrong or if it was due to the argument they’d had a week ago.
And while Boyd still felt…a tiny bit bad about it (just a tiny bit), his brother’s sour attitude wasn’t enough to stop him from bouncing in his seat as Dr. Ironwoof’s home came into view.
“Would you like me to walk him to the door?” his father asked once the car had been parked.
“My side is closer, I can do it.”
Boyd’s door was already open, his little backpack full of the things he’d need for the next few days (the entire collection of Wizard of Oz books from their library included) and slung over his shoulder as he waited for his mother to exit the car. After a goodbye from his father (and an annoyed grumble from Doofus that might’ve been a goodbye), he hurried up to the front door alongside his mother with an excited spring in his step.
“Now, I know I don’t have to remind you of this, Boyd,” his mother said with a fond smile down at him while she rang the doorbell. “But be sure to be good for Dr. Ironwoof during your stay here. You are a guest in his home, after all.”
“Of course, Mother!” he said sweetly. “I will be sure to follow all his rules, and be on my best behavior!”
His response only made her smile widen and she reached down to gently fluff his hair while they waited for the door to open. “I know you will, sweetheart. You always are.”
It was Qrow, not James, who opened the door when Mrs. Drake rang the bell. He gave Boyd a tiny, crooked half-smile and wave, then turned to holler up the stairs, “Kid’s here!”
After a muffled response from somewhere deeper in the manor, Qrow turned back and said, “Jimmy’ll be down in a second. I’m Qrow,” he added, holding out his hand to Mrs. Drake. “I’m the roguishly handsome guy Boyd’s no doubt told you all about. And you’re Boyd’s mom, I assume? He clearly takes after your side of the family.”
A chuckle as she shook his hand in return. “You must be where he got that joke from,” she said. “He thought it was the funniest thing in the world when he told it to us!”
“Oh no, I got it from Miss Winter,” Boyd corrected with a smile. “And it is!”
“Winter got it from Jimmy, though,” Qrow pointed out. “Our family’s kind of a mixed bag, between my sister’s spouses and Jimmy’s brother, so…” He shrugged.
She gave him a nod of agreement before looking back at Qrow. “As for roguishly handsome…” Well, he certainly wasn’t bad-looking, she couldn’t deny that. But on the other hand, a roguish face had never really caught much of her interest. “…well, he mentioned someone who reminded him of the Scarecrow from his stories.”
Qrow adopted a look of mock horror as she went on. “Kid, come on, you can’t go spreading that kind of thing around!”
This was accompanied by a hair ruffle, while James appeared coming down the stairs. Qrow jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “You already know my dashingly handsome husband, right?”
“We’ve met, yes,” James said, taking Mrs. Drake’s hand and giving her a polite bow.
He was dressed down today, for probably the first time either of them would have seen: his greatcoat was gone, replaced by a t-shirt and jeans, which together almost made him look like a wholly different person. A more relaxed, less perpetually exhausted person, certainly.
Now that was enough to get a faint blush across her cheeks. While she had in fact met James before, there was just something about him that couldn’t help but get her a bit flustered.
…The something being that while she was a happily married woman, that didn’t change the fact that he was far too handsome for his own good. Even Joshua couldn’t help but agree with her on that after their meeting to discuss Boyd’s visit.
But of course she kept herself collected and, after shaking his hand, knelt down to give Boyd a hug goodbye. “Have a wonderful time, dear.”
“I will!”
Boyd hugged her in return, and she returned to the car with a final wave, leaving Boyd alone with Dr. Ironwoof and Mr. Qrow.
While Boyd hugged his mother, Qrow smirked at James and elbowed him, which got an exasperated eyeroll in return. This wordless exchange was concluded before the hug even ended, so that when Boyd turned back to them, all he got was a smiling couple ready to welcome him into their home.
“How about I go toss your bag in your room while Jimmy shows you around, huh?” Qrow asked, holding out his hands for Boyd’s bag.
“Okay!” he said cheerfully, as he removed the straps of his bag from his shoulder and handed it to Mr. Qrow, before hurrying over to take Dr. Ironwoof’s hand so he could lead the way.
James was about to lead Boyd off on what Ruby usually declared The Grand Tour when a yelp and a crash behind them brought them to a halt. He turned to find Qrow had crashed to the floor with Boyd’s bag, which had dropped out from under him when Qrow, assuming it was a regular backpack, had tried to heft it as he would with his nieces’ backpacks when they visited.
“On second thought,” James said, reaching down to pick the bag up himself, “Why don’t we show you your room first?”
Qrow shook his head and climbed to his feet. “What’d’ya got in there, kid? Rocks? Bricks? Two thirds of the DSS Endeavor?”
Boyd's expression turned into a look of worry. “I’m sorry, I forgot that just because I can carry something, it doesn’t mean everyone that else can! But if you really want to know, I brought my Wizard of Oz books!” he explained. “I know I probably won’t be able to read ALL of them while I’m here, but it never hurts to be prepared!”
Qrow pushed his bangs up out of his eyes and shook his head. “You know we got a library here, right?”
“It’s fine,” James said, tossing the bag effortlessly over his shoulder and not failing to notice the looks this got from Qrow when he did. This in itself was enough to get his tail wagging, and as he was at home- not at the lab, where it would be both undignified and a hazard- he didn’t stop it, instead turning back to Boyd and gesturing at the stairs, indicating that Boyd should go ahead of him.
“Oh, I knew that,” he said, as he headed for the stairs. “Or at least, I assumed when Dr. Ironwoof said you two lived in a manor. But I know you two said you haven’t read the books in a while, and I didn’t know if you’d have them in your library. Like I said, it never hurts to be prepared!”
He stopped for a moment when he noticed Dr. Ironwoof’s tail wagging. While he knew that it was a sign of happiness (he may or may not have learned this from Clover), he had never seen Dr. Ironwoof do that before!
Dr. Ironwoof must’ve been really, really happy!
And his happiness was contagious, for Boyd’s own smile brightened as he hurried up a few steps, pausing as he waited for them to catch up.
There were… a lot of bedrooms in the manor; the second floor, where James and Qrow’s bedroom was, as well as James’ study, Qrow’s den, Winter’s old room, and the rooms where Qrow’s family stayed when they visited, didn’t have any bedrooms free, so they’d put Boyd in one of the third floor bedrooms instead. James had chosen this one specifically because the walls had a green and gold texture that looked a bit like sunlight pouring in through a tower of green crystal, and the furnishings were all green- he had a feeling Boyd would appreciate the ‘Emerald City’ feel of the decor.
“Our room is right down the stairs and two doors to the left,” James said, setting Boyd’s bag down on the cheery yellow bedspread. “We’re not far away if you need us at any point in the night.”
“You gonna sleep okay on your own up here?” Qrow asked, idly switching the lamp on the nightstand low high off, low high off while they gave Boyd a chance to look around the room.
Ohhhh!
Oh, the big smile on Boyd’s face, one so bright it could’ve given the sun a run for its money, said all it needed to as he looked around at the bedroom that he would be staying in during his visit.
His little mind had absolutely jumped straight to ‘Emerald City’ with the room’s color scheme, and it was a miracle that he didn’t get whiplash as he darted his little head every which way, trying to take in as much of the room at once as he possibly could. Heck, it was a miracle he didn’t activate his rockets and send himself crashing straight up into the ceiling out of sheer delight!
What he did do, however, was practically throw himself into Dr. Ironwoof’s arms for a hug. “I love it! Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Not necessarily an answer to Qrow’s question, but it was obvious Boyd had no qualms about sleeping that far away from them if it meant he’d be sleeping in this room!
Now that was more like it- James caught Boyd and swung him around, nearly knocking Qrow over with first Boyd and then his tail- fortunately, Qrow definitely had plenty of experience dodging an excited James throwing small children around.
Unfortunately he barked his shin on the poofy, child-sized armchair sitting under the window, and managed to bite his tongue while trying to bite back the very not-child-friendly language that tried to kick out of him.
James stopped, transferring Boyd to one arm while he turned to check on his husband, who had collapsed onto the bed to rub at his injured shins.
“Qrow? Are you okay?”
“I hurt my leg,” he pouted. He pointed at the spot, which was definitely going to have a nasty bruise later. “Seriously, you can’t even begin to imagine how much agony I’m in right now.”
“No,” James deadpanned. “I have no idea.”
Boyd’s smile was gone in an instant when Mr. Qrow mentioned an injury and quickly replaced with fear at the mention of him being in agonizing pain. “Are you okay, Mr. Qrow?” he asked quickly. “I’m sorry if I made you hurt your leg, I was just so excited! I-I can go get a first aid kit, if you tell me where it is…”
“No no, Jimmy’s the one who injured me, he’s the one who should get the first aid kit.”
He looked expectantly at James, who bit back his amusement to sigh dramatically before setting Boyd down. “All right, you big whiner, I’ll go get you an ice pack. I’ll be right back.”
He headed out with a mock salute, and once he was gone, Qrow immediately dropped his performance and leaned back a bit on the bed, looking around at the decor.
“I can see why he picked this room for you,” he said. “It’s relevant to your interests. You lucked out- when Winter moved in he didn’t want her far from him so she ended up getting saddled with the pinkest room in the house. Which, pink’s nice and all, but that’s just a lot of pink.”
Boyd raised an eyebrow curiously. “You’re not in agonizing pain anymore?” he asked, approaching the bed. “Wow, you must be a very fast healer!”
Qrow snorted. “Sure. I got a real fast recovery rate.”
They heard James coming back; Qrow winked at Boyd before going back to holding his leg and pouting, by all appearances back in agony as James rejoined them.
“I brought you an ice pack,” he said, holding up said ice pack and a towel for application. “Do you want to join us for the rest of the tour or go downstairs to put your leg up?”
“I’ll muddle through,” Qrow said, heaving a long-suffering sigh. “Just don’t throw anymore kids at me.”
“No promises,” James said, holding out a hand for Boyd.
Boyd seemed very confused by the return of Mr. Qrow’s previous behavior when Dr. Ironwoof returned. “But didn’t you just—”
He looked from Mr. Qrow to Dr. Ironwoof, before eventually settling on a smile and taking his hand in return. Well, perhaps it didn’t matter! He was excited to see the rest of the house, and if Mr. Qrow said he had a fast recovery rate, then he was probably fine. Maybe it just took a little while to take effect?
But then it wouldn’t be fast, would it?
…Well, regardless, Boyd wanted to see the rest of the house!
“There’s not much up on this floor,” James said, leading Boyd out into the hallway and back down the stairs, Qrow loping behind them just out of range of James’ tail.
James stopped in front of the three doors to the left of the staircase. “My and Qrow’s bedroom is the one in the middle, and my study is this one here on the right- the one on the left is Qrow’s den.” He gestured at the three rooms. “These rooms are off-limits unless Qrow or I invite you in, okay? The same goes for the other rooms on this floor-” He gestured down the hall, “-because those are also private bedrooms, but the rest of the house is free for you to explore.”
He nodded, knowing that it was very rude to intrude on other people’s private spaces. “Off-limits, I understand.”
Besides, it wasn’t like he had any desire to go snooping anyway. The rest of the house was so large, there were plenty of other spaces to explore!
Honestly the bedrooms weren’t that exciting, though if the girls came around while Boyd was here they might enjoy showing him- he knew they kept some of their things here and might like to show those things off, if nothing else. (Ruby and Yang had adapted very well to having a rich uncle who delighted in spoiling them.)
Since it was clear Boyd understood that the rooms were off-limits simply for privacy reasons and didn’t seem inclined to ignore those boundaries (or boundaries in general), James carried on down the stairs to the ground floor. There were several doors off the entry hall; James gestured vaguely at the doors that would lead to the kitchen and dining rooms and parlor and drawing room, and then took Boyd to the big double-doors in between the double staircase. It was his favorite room in the house, and he suspected it would be Boyd’s too, or he hoped.
“And this door leads to the library. Again, you’re welcome to explore it as much as you like.”
And if Boyd was anything like James- and James suspected he was, at least in this area- he would spend a lot of time exploring the library. For one thing, it was huge, so that alone would take a lot of time. At the back, the back wall curved around, a set of window seats with their high arched windows every few feet, met in the middle with a set of glass doors that led out into a glass half-domed room, filled with beautiful greenery and plenty of places to sit and read or just sit and do anything, really.
It was a beautiful room; restoring it from the dusty trophy his father had used it for had been one of James’ first projects when he inherited the manor. It had been his father’s pride and it was James’ too, though James flattered himself that he took pride in it for the right reasons, and not simply because of the status symbol.
When Boyd had been shown his room, he’d been so excited that he’d nearly rocketed himself into the ceiling.
When he saw the library, he was rendered absolutely speechless at such a magnificent sight, mouth agape and eyes wide as he looked around in awe.
While the Drakes had a library of their own, it was still in the process of recovering from a long period of neglect and dust-collecting that it faced when Doofus ran the household. Of course Boyd had done his best to help brighten up the place when he claimed it as his reading spot, and even a layer of dust and period of neglect couldn’t mask the overall cozy feel to the room.
But it was nothing compared to this library.
He took a few slow steps forward into the room, then a few quick ones, then he broke into a (careful) sprint as he hurried deeper into the room to explore. He knew there was probably more to the tour of the house, but he just wanted to stay and look at everything !
“This place is amazing!”
Qrow chuckled while Boyd ran off to explore the library. “Looks like we’re gonna be here a bit.” He sat down on one of the comfy armchairs around the room and propped his leg up so he could put his ice pack on it. James pulled one of the ottomans over and sat on it.
“How hurt are you really?”
“Eh, just some bruising, honestly, but it’s throbbing like a bitch.”
“Sorry.”
“Heh.” Qrow smirked. “Give me a kiss and then go pay attention to the kid.”
James smiled fondly at him; he stood and leaned down to press a kiss to the tuft of feathers on the bridge of Qrow’s beak before loping off into the stacks to find where Boyd had gotten to.
“Boyd?”
“Right here!” Boyd said, peering out from the side of one of the nearest bookcases with a wave. “Sorry, I know we have to finish the tour of the house, but this place is so much fancier than our library!”
James chuckled. “Honestly that’s on me for bringing you here first. But it’s my favorite room in the house and I really wanted you to see it.”
(Over in his chair, Qrow grabbed a book from the nearest table and began thumbing through it, not paying attention to the book itself so much as being very fidgety.)
“I think it might be my favorite, too! Well, besides my bedroom of course! I really like that room too!”
Oh, he wanted to stay in here forever! Or at least for a few hours! But…
He looked back towards the entrance of the room. They did have the rest of the house to see, and if he stayed here instead of finishing the tour, he might end up wandering somewhere he wasn’t allowed to without even realizing it was off limits! And he didn’t want to be rude!
“I…can really come in here whenever I want?”
“Of course. Apart from the bedrooms, you can go anywhere in the manor you like- though if you go into a room that’s being cleaned while the staff are here, they might ask you to go out until they’re done.“
He looked around as if checking for secret lurkers, and dropped his voice to a conspiratory tone to add, “They’ve even been known to run me out of rooms, can you believe that?”
He gasped softly. The cleaning staff could make Dr. Ironwoof leave a room? In his own house? “They must be very powerful to be able to do that…” he said, in a low voice similar to Dr. Ironwoof’s. “I won’t bother them while they’re working, promise!”
“Good!” He patted Boyd’s hair reassuringly. “As long as you don’t keep them from their work, you’ll get along with them just fine.” He offered a hand to Boyd so they could move on, and added, “They do a really good job of keeping the manor clean for me, so I like to show my appreciation by not interfering with them. It’s a lot easier to clean without people underfoot.”
From his armchair, Qrow called, “And because Glynda put the fear of her in you that time she caught you sassing staff!”
“That was thirty years ago, Qrow!” James shot back, which got a cackle out of Qrow.
“Yeah, thirty years ago and you haven’t unlearned that lesson yet!”
His eyes widened. He had yet to meet Miss Glynda Goodwitch, but Dr. Ironwoof talked about her an awful lot and he had painted a fairly decent picture of what she was probably like in his head.
From what he could tell, Dr. Ironwoof both really liked her and was also very afraid of her. Not that Boyd was surprised; Glinda in the books had been more powerful than either of the Wicked Witches!
And while he was… nervous about meeting her, he was also greatly looking forward to the day they were finally introduced to one another! After her, all he would have left to meet in Dr. Ironwoof’s group of Oz-related friends (as far as he knew) was The Wizard himself!
“Does Miss Glynda visit you often?”
“Not often enough,” James said. “She lives over in the Vale, near Beacon- she’s a teacher there. And she stays busy enough to not have much time to come see me.”
“That and if she comes here she might see me,” Qrow added, coming over to rejoin them. “And we can’t have that. Don’t worry kiddo, you’ll meet her eventually.” He ruffled Boyd’s hair. “You’ll probably meet Snow first, thought- her wife.” He winked. “She’s the other good witch.”
Oh! “So it would be Mrs. Glynda, then? And Mrs.-” He stopped, stunned, and exclaimed, “The other good witch?!”
Well, that was certainly a surprise! Both Good Witches?! And they were married?! Why hadn’t he learned this sooner?!
Although…a troubling thought began to form to the front of his mind at the mention of witches.
“If they’re the Good Witches…does that mean there are Wicked Witches too?”
James and Qrow exchanged a dark look over Boyd’s head, and James gave Boyd a reassuring smile. “Who’s to say? I don’t think you’ll be meeting any, though.”
“I’m pretty sure our Dorothy is an adult, so it stands to reason that the Wicked Witches are in the ground by now,” Qrow said, scooping an arm around Boyd and steering him away from James with a vague ‘yoink’ motion. “Sounds logical, right?”
“Oh!” he said with a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s very good news-” Another stunned beat. “Did you say Dorothy?! ”
Oh, he’d been wondering ! He’d been wondering so hard if there was a Dorothy in the group! But after weeks and weeks of not even a mention of any person of the sort, he’d started to wonder if their Dorothy had met a fate similar to Mr. Lionheart’s and the topic was simply one that the adults preferred to avoid. So he hadn’t asked further, just in case.
His assumptions hadn’t been far off.
“We don’t actually know a Dorothy, but we do know a Theodore,” Qrow said, while James grew silent behind them, ears and tail drooping more with each word. “That’s practically the same name, right? Dorothy, Theodore… that counts, don’t you think?”
“Dorothy…Theodore…”
He repeated the names over and over again for a brief moment, before lighting up with inspiration. “Oh, wow, you’re right! They ARE the same!”
“Well, then I can’t wait to meet Mr. Theodore!” he said, unaware of Dr. Ironwoof’s sudden sad demeanor behind them.
“Don’t hold your breath,” Qrow said, glancing back at James as he did. “We haven’t really been on speaking terms since we lost Leo.”
“Qrow…”
“Which, given how you’ve carefully never mentioned a lion, I’d assume you’ve already heard about.”
“Oh…yeah, I heard about him,” he said sadly. “I asked Dr. Polendina about him, and he told me that he wasn’t… around anymore.”
So Mr. Theodore was still alive! But…not on good speaking terms with his friends. That was a shame, and probably a topic the adults wanted to avoid.
Qrow glanced at James; he’d gone still, ears and tail rigid, hands clasped behind his back. Shutting down.
“Leo passed about three months before you turned up,” he explained, and patted Boyd’s hair kindly. “It’s sweet of you not to bring him up.”
So, he’d been right in his assumptions after all. But… three months ?! That was so soon, only a short time before he’d met Dr. Ironwoof for the first time!
Also the fact that it had been so close since their first meeting, and he had just blurted out how excited he was to see the lion, sent the tiniest spark of guilt through his body. It was in the past, sure, but…
He didn’t really understand a LOT about death, at least in the non-Definitely-Real-Boy sense. But after a threat of being shut down due to his dangerous abilities, he at least had a small idea of what it was like.
And what he did know, he didn’t like very much at all.
“Death is scary,” he said in a small voice. “And…and I know a lot of people don’t like to talk about it. I don’t like to talk about it either.”
“It’s scarier for those left behind,” James said quietly, and Qrow reached over to take his hand, give it a squeeze.
“Then let’s talk about something else. I’ve hardly spent much time around you so I really only know you second-hand. Tell me something fun you do that isn’t shadowing my husband at the Labs.”
He perked up at that question. “Oh! Well, I’m part of the Junior Woodchucks!” he said cheerfully. “I have the entire guidebook memorized and Huey and I like to work on getting new badges together!”
He smiled wider as he looked at Dr. Ironwoof. “Oh, that reminds me! I’ve gotten at least five new badges for all the help I’ve done at Amity! I also really like flying around Duckburg, and seeing if anyone’s in need of help! Of course there’s usually not a whole lot going on that isn’t already being taken care of by Gizmoduck or Darkwing Duck, so usually I just fly around the city for fun!”
“Flying is fun."
“What badges did you get?” James asked, easing slowly out of his stiff demeanor now that the topic had moved on from one of his biggest regrets.
“My Community Service badge, my Assistant In Robotic Sciences badge, my Create Something New badge and Name The Something New You Created badge to go with it (I didn’t tell Mr. Launchpad everything about Penny, but I did tell him enough for me to be able to get one, and I did also ask him to change the ‘something’ to ‘someone’ because she is a someone, not a something!)—” He paused, and tapped his beak thoughtfully. “—now what was the fifth one? I know it was something about ‘meeting a fairy or other magical creature who might give you good life advice and using that advice in everyday life,’ something very specific like that. I guess that one wasn’t really about Amity, but I never would’ve met Mr. Ozma if I hadn’t started coming to Amity!”
“Pretty sure Ozma is the reason that badge exists,” Qrow said. “Poor Oscar was in a conundrum when he joined the Woodchucks ‘cause he doesn’t know if he’s allowed to get it or not when the being in question is his guardian.” Qrow paused for a beat there, and then snapped his fingers. “Hey! We should have Oscar over while you’re here! Jimmy, let’s have Oscar come over, he can meet the kid. It’d be good for ‘em.”
“He’s already coming over,” James said, fondness tugging at his lips. “I already set everything up with Ozpin, he’s coming by tomorrow.”
“Oh. Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Because you weren’t paying attention when I told you.”
“Huh.” Qrow folded his hands behind his head in thought. “Were you wearing your glasses when you said it?”
“I don’t know? Maybe?”
“That’ll be why then. You know you can’t talk to me when you’re wearing those things.”
“Okay, Qrow,” James said, pushing open the door they’d come to.
“I get to meet Oscar tomorrow?”
The flirting between the two adults had gone over his head, he was far too excited about meeting another kid! Much like Glynda, he’d heard a great deal about Oscar during his time at Amity, and had started to piece together an idea of what he was like.
While he had met Ozma and had originally been set on the idea of him being both the Ozma AND Tip of the group (they were the same after all, it was a logical conclusion), he had started to reconsider the idea when it came to Oscar.
It was only a theory, of course! One he couldn’t be too sure about until he actually met him! …And of course, him being Tip or not being Tip wasn’t an indicator of whether or not they would be friends! Of course Boyd wanted to be friends with him no matter what!
But his little imagination had picked up the habit of going into overdrive when it came to theories and ideas surrounding the Oz-based circle of friends and acquaintances. He was going to question further, but let out a small gasp as they entered the new room.
This room was round, with the outer wall lined all around with high narrow windows, and on the ceiling an elaborate mountain scene that gave off the impression that the mountains were hovering above them, pointing down at them.
In the center of the room was a beautiful grand piano, and the room itself was lined with comfortable seats.
“The music room,” James said, slightly needlessly.
“If Winter comes by while you’re here see if she’ll play for you,” Qrow added.
“Miss Winter knows how to play the piano?”
“Violin, too, but she learned the piano cause she wanted to,” Qrow explained. He moved over and lifted the lid to plunk at a few keys while Boyd looked around.
James glanced over at Qrow, fidgeting with the piano, and checked his watch.
“Qrow, not that I want to get rid of you, but…” He gave him a pointed look, and Qrow sighed.
“Yeah, I know.” He scrubbed a hand over his hair and came over to Boyd, ruffling his hair again. “I got an appointment to get to soon, so I’m gonna peace out. I’ll see you later this evening, mkay?”
He giggled a bit when Mr. Qrow ruffled his hair. “Okay! Goodbye, Mr. Qrow!”
“See you, big man,” Qrow added, giving James a peck on the cheek before departing. Once he was gone, James turned to Boyd and offered his hand again.
“The rest of the house isn’t really that interesting, so it might be more fun for you to explore it and discover what there is for yourself, but there is one last place I want to show you- the garden.”
“The garden?!” he asked excitedly.
Oh, he loved plants! Probably more than he…actually stopped to realize! He had been absolutely mesmerized by the cherry blossom gardens that he and Huey had visited in Tokyolk, and sometimes while he was in the city, he’d just stop and stare into the window of a random flower shop, for no reason other than the fact that they were just so pretty!
And of course, his love of the Oz books had brought him a new perspective on and an interest in pumpkins.
He reached up to take his hand again, then decided to just gesture up to Dr. Ironwoof that he wouldn’t mind being carried again. Only a gesture, for even if Mr. Qrow was no longer around to accidentally bump his knee on something, it didn’t hurt to be careful and not launch himself into Dr. Ironwoof’s arms around a very fancy, and probably expensive, piano.
James tossed Boyd up into his grasp, adding a slight touch of horse-play (but only a little, to test the waters) before settling him onto his arm and heading out through a door in the outer wall- camouflaged against the windows so it wasn’t even noticeable unless one knew where to look.
“I don’t have much of a green thumb myself, but I’ve always loved natural spaces. A bit of a contradiction for a man who works with so much that’s artificial but…”
The music room opened directly into the garden: a series of low walls formed an elaborate curling pattern around different areas, each one overflowing with beautiful plants of all kinds, some flowering, others not. There were trees and fountains and, as with anywhere James had a hand in building, lots of comfortable benches, and in the very center a fruit tree laden with plums.
“Natural…” he repeated softly, taking a slow look around at the gorgeous scenery before them.
That was a good word for it! Natural! He liked the natural beauty of plants! Was that a contradiction, too? For a Definitely Real Boy to like things that were natural, like plants?
He stared at the garden in silence, his wonder shifting to inquisitiveness as a thought occurred from the way the low walls and paths curved. “May I use my rockets for a moment?” he asked, turning back to Dr. Ironwoof. “I want to see something.”
“By all means,” James said, making a ‘go ahead’ gesture. “I trust your judgment when it comes to them. I know you’ll be careful.”
He nodded and, once he was safely on the ground, took off into the airspace above the garden. It took a few minutes for him to get high enough to confirm his suspicions, but finally he descended (slowly! carefully!) back into James’ arms with an epiphanic smile.
“I knew it! The entire garden is one big symbol!”
James chuckled and set Boyd down. “I found it doodled in some notebooks that belonged to my mother before she passed and…” His smiled faltered, but not much. He gestured out at the garden. “It seemed appropriate.”
“It’s really pretty,” he said, with another look back out to the garden. “Just like the rest of your home.”
It was funny. Being a child of a wealthy family, and being friends with the nephew of the richest duck in the world, meant Boyd was no stranger to elegant homes.
But there was just this something about Dr. Ironwoof’s home, a something similar to the feelings he’d felt during his first visit to Amity. A something so warm and inviting, so safe …
It was like all his bad feelings, his complicated feelings towards Dr. Gearloose, towards his brother, the stresses of his past…they didn’t have to exist for a little while.
He scooted closer to Dr. Ironwoof, and gave him a grateful hug. “Thanks again for letting me stay here.”
-/-
The afternoon passed pleasantly, with James and Boyd ending up back in the library, James looking on while Boyd explored the stacks, conversation drifting in all directions without the concerns of work to keep them on track. Toward evening, James had to leave to cook dinner, though.
“Qrow is usually exhausted when he gets home from his appointments,” he said. “The least I can do is have supper waiting for him when he gets here.”
Boyd looked up from the book in his hands (turns out they DID have copies of the Wizard of Oz series in their library, so Boyd’s versions would be saved for light reading before he settled down into sleep mode for the night). “Okay! Can I come with you?”
“I was hoping you would. Has anyone ever shown you how to cook? I know you don’t need to consume, and you mentioned not having taste buds, but cooking for other people is a great way of expressing affection for them, and it can be a way of helping, too.” He led Boyd to the kitchen, still talking. “Qrow cooks for me when I’m having a bad head day, or as an overture when we’re fighting, and I cook for him when his appointments leave him too exhausted to function properly. Even if I didn’t have a working digestive system, it would still be something I did for him.”
“I know a little bit,” he said, trailing after him. “Sometimes I help Mother and Father with dinner, though I mostly just fetch ingredients for them when they need them. I don’t really know much about the actual cooking part itself.” Hmm, they kept mentioning Mr. Qrow having appointments, and his curiosity was successfully piqued. “What kind of appointments does Mr. Qrow go to?”
Hmm. James hesitated as he was reaching for the fridge, trying to gauge how much Qrow would be comfortable with Boyd knowing. In the end, he decided to err on the side of vague.
“He has therapy every other Saturday. It’s very emotionally draining for him, some days more than others.
He looked into the fridge, wondering what to cook. Hmm… salsa would be fun, and easy enough to teach someone with little experience.
“Ohh…” he said in an understanding tone. “That makes perfect sense. Those kind of appointments can be very tiring.“
Not that he would get into it too deeply either, but he’d seen just how exhausted Mother and Father could get after their own therapy appointments. He remembered being very worried for them at first, but very quickly relaxed after plenty of assurance that even despite their drained energy, the sessions were helpful and a very necessary thing for them to their lives and emotional states back on track.
And while there was not a lot Boyd could do to help them there (they had calmly yet firmly assured him of that; he was just a little boy and that wasn’t his job), he did know that being a little more helpful than usual around the house afterwards was something he could do!
Of course, it wasn’t like he needed a reason to be even more helpful in the ways he could be!
He watched Dr. Ironwoof at the fridge for a moment, then looked around at the rest of the kitchen. “Do you need me to get any ingredients?”
“We can get everything in one go, but you can help me carry.” He rummaged around in the fridge a moment, and took out a tupperware of beans, a bag of shredded cheese, a tub of sour cream, and a pack of tortilla wraps. From the freezer he grabbed a pack of chunk chicken, and handed all of this to Boyd to hold while he went into the fridge one more time (making sure he had everything, of course).
“My secret ingredient for making salsa,” he explained, and held out the jar.
It was salsa- the storebought kind. He chuckled at his own joke and closed the door with a whack of his tail. “Go set all of this on the counter while I get the frying pans and oil, and I’ll show you how to throw it all together.”
He tilted his head. “But you didn’t make—”
He paused, thinking for a moment. “Oh! That was a joke! I understand!”
Smiling with amusement, he carried everything to the counter and, after realizing that the countertops were too high to reach properly on his own, used his rockets on their lowest setting to lift himself up high enough so he could set it all down. He didn’t like using them TOO often inside the house, out of fear that he’d break something, but small uses here and there were usually safe!
“You’re getting quicker on the uptake,” James said, setting two frying pans and a bottle of oil onto the stove. He nodded his approval at the care Boyd had taken with his rockets- he’d been hoping Boyd might get a little more comfortable making judgment calls about when to use his those, instead of asking permission every time. Restraint was well and good, but it needed to be tempered by judgment, or it would become stifling, and he couldn’t learn judgment if he didn’t practice it.
“Okay, we’re going to start by putting enough oil in the first pan to deep fry these tortilla wraps, and then we’re going to put a little bit in the second to coat the bottom of the pan.
He demonstrated, and switched both burners on. “The oil in the first one will get hot while we mix the other ingredients. First things first, hand me the chicken- we need to brown it first.”
He seated himself on the edge of the counter, far enough out of the way of Dr. Ironwoof but close enough so that he could observe and pass him ingredients. Which he did with the chicken upon request. “Okay, what next?”
“Once we get the chicken nice and brown, we can add the cheese and then the beans and then the salsa- and while we’re doing that, help me listen to the oil on the other burner. Once you start hearing a crackling noise in it, you’ll know it’s hot enough to start frying the wraps.”
He talked Boyd through the entire process, explaining not just what he was doing but why: the chicken needs to brown on its own before adding everything else, they used shredded cheese because it melted and stirred more evenly, it was important to get the oil hot before putting the wraps in so they wouldn’t get soggy. He let Boyd stir the salsa so he could see how to do it without letting it spill out of the pan; he showed him how to check if the oil was hot by breaking off a very small piece of the wrap and dropping it in: if it reacted, it was hot enough.
The dip was done just as the oil was hot enough. James switched the burner under the dip off and showed Boyd how to drop the wrap into the oil without splashing the oil everywhere in the process.
“The dip will set while we do this,” he explained, as an aside. “By doing things this way, we don’t lose any time waiting for the oil to heat up before we use it, or for the dip to set before we eat it.”
He was very helpful the entire time, listening and observing closely as Dr. Ironwoof not only did every step but explained why the step needed to be done.
It was really fun, being taught not only how to do something but to be taught every single step in the process, and why you had to do one step before the other or why this had to be done sooner rather than later!
He was especially thrilled when he was allowed to help with the salsa, and took care to follow Dr. Ironwoof’s instructions about not spilling it. The oil part was a bit surprising, if for no other reason than the crackling, but he was still able to do it without any trouble!
“Is all cooking like this?”
“More or less,” James said, picking up the tongs and showing Boyd how to turn the wrap every so often to make sure it cooked evenly. “This is actually better with smaller wraps because they don’t bubble up and that makes them better for dipping, but we’re out of small wraps. These still do fine, though. Anyway, cooking is really just… knowing how your ingredients- both the physical elements, as well as things like heat and time- work together, and balancing those so things come out right.”
He pronounced the first wrap browned properly, and transferred it to the drainer, then handed Boyd the tongs. “Each one will cook a little bit faster as the oil gets hotter. Want to do the next one? I’ll show you how to time it.”
Ooh, all by himself? Admittedly, he was a bit worried since they were working with fire and hot oil, and other things that could easily cause harm if they weren’t careful. And he didn’t want to hurt either of them by accident!
But …
“Okay, I’ll give it a try!” he said determinedly.
James might have hovered a bit while he walked Boyd through the process, but after a short while there was a nicely browned wrap being added to the drainer. James turned the burner down.
“I actually like mine a little darker,” James admitted. “But we’ll make those once the oil gets hotter and cooks them faster.”
“I did it!” he said proudly.
And he had indeed! He hadn’t even burnt it!
“Cooking is so much fun!”
“Of course you did. Cooking is about patience and care, and those are both things you have in abundance.”
James had predicted that Qrow would be getting home just as they were taking up the last of the wraps, and sure enough: just as he was setting the last one into the drainer the door opened and Qrow came in. He dragged himself over to sit on one of the stools at the counter, flopping forward to rest his beak on the counter and stare blankly at them.
James, for his part, seemingly ignored him: he just carried on transferring the dip to a dish, adding the sour cream around the edges and sprinkling a little more cheese on top.
“For presentation,” he explained to Boyd in a low voice, and grabbed a plate for the wraps. He handed both plate and bowl to Boyd and directed him toward the dining room. “Go set these on the table, and then come back for the plates, okay?”
“Okay!”
He carefully hurried to the table and, feeling much braver about using his rockets to quicken the process, carried both to the dining room table and set them in place.
While Boyd hurried the food into the dining room, James came over and rubbed at the back of Qrow’s neck, finally getting him to sit up a little straighter and lean into the touch.
“All right?”
“I’m tired,” Qrow said, turning and nuzzling James’ palm briefly before sitting up all the way. “Do I smell salsa?”
Boyd returned to the kitchen, and lowered himself the floor near where Mr. Qrow had seated himself.
“Hi, Mr. Qrow!” he said cheerfully. “I helped cook dinner!”
James hummed an affirmative as Boyd rejoined them; his excited declaration got a weak smile out of Qrow.
“You did? That was nice of you.”
“Dr. Ironwoof taught me a lot about cooking!” he said proudly. “And I even got to do a bit of it on my own!”
Oh, right, he needed to get the plates! He hurried back to Dr. Ironwoof, hands extended.
James had set two plates on the counter, but as he reached for them to hand to Boyd, a thought occurred to him. “Did you want to join us?” he asked. “I didn’t even think to ask.”
“Yes, I would like that!”
He didn’t need to eat, nor could he really taste anything he was eating, but joining people for their meals made him feel even more like a Definitely Real Boy! And besides, even if he couldn’t taste the food, it still always looked so nice and appetizing!
“Way to leave the kid out, Jim,” Qrow said, a half-hearted attempt at his usual sarcasm as he moved over to the fridge to get drinks and then just stared into it blankly. “…oh right.” He shook his head and grabbed a carton of juice, while James got down another plate and glass from the cabinet.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have asked to begin with.”
“That’s okay!” he said. “I am a Definitely Real Boy who doesn’t need to eat, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t ask first. But I am glad you did, because I want to eat with you! Especially since I helped make dinner! Maybe one day when I finally get taste buds, I’ll be able to help cook dinner and taste the food, too!”
“Maybe if Gearloose ever apologizes to Pietro they can collaborate. I think he’s been working on developing taste buds for Penny, so he might be able to work out some way of adapting your current hardware and software to accommodate.”
The dig at Gyro was accompanied by a glance at Qrow, who could usually be trusted to tease him about his “crush” on Pietro, or make some wisecrack about Gyro (who he’d never actually met, but hated on principal and to guilt James for not getting involved in his four-way rivalry with Winter, Glynda, and Raven).
Nothing. James took a deep, steadying breath and poured the juice, wondering if it was going to be one of those nights or if Qrow would be back to his usual self once he’d had a chance to eat something.
Boyd perked up a bit at the idea, though a question bubbled to the front of his mind that he only just realized he hadn’t asked sooner. Although…
Mr. Qrow was already in a tired mood, and he was sure Dr. Ironwoof wouldn’t be thrilled to talk about Dr. Gearloose, but…
“Dr. Ironwoof? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but…what did Dr. Gearloose do to Dr. Polendina to make everyone not like him? If it’s really bad or sad, I…you don’t have to tell me. I’m just curious, is all.”
James was a little taken aback- not by the question, but more because it hadn’t come up yet. Before he could answer Qrow cackled derisively.
“Honestly wouldn’t take much to get that lot at the labs up in arms where Pietro’s concerned,” he said. “Everyone loves ‘im up there. Eh, he’s a good guy, definitely deserves his fanclub.”
He said this in a way that suggested he didn’t quite agree, but James decided not to remark on that- sometimes after therapy everything Qrow said came out sounding derisive, whether he meant it that way or not. He did take over the tale, since he didn’t want Qrow accidentally saying something that Boyd might be hurt by.
“We were at a robotics expo about twenty years ago, and Pietro was discussing his early attempts at developing the AI that would one day become Penny. Gearloose overheard us and made a remark to the effect that only an idiot would try something like that-”
“Jumped up little upstart,” Qrow sneered. “Thinks he’s so much better than Pietro just cause he got there first. Our Penny’s gonna be better than anything he could ever build- present company excluded, of course,” he added, with a nod toward Boyd. “Even a blind squirrel finds ‘is nuts once in awhile.”
“Qrow,” James scolded.
“-not that Gearloose-”
“Qrow .”
“…right.” Qrow fell silent, sullenly spooning some of the dip onto his plate and grabbing a few of the fried tortilla wraps. “Sorry.”
James sighed. Yep, it was going to be one of those nights.
“Oh…”
Somehow he wasn’t surprised in the slightest to hear such a cruel thing from Dr. Gearloose. And even though he knew he had long since moved past that kind of behavior (at least when it came to Boyd), he still felt a twinge of sadness at the idea that he would say anything of the sort regarding the creation of artificial life.
Especially since he knew exactly why he’d have that mindset.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” he said. “But thank you for telling me. That really isn’t a nice thing to say at all, and I don’t blame you for not liking Dr. Gearloose for it. I…I agree that he should apologize! Not even just because I want taste buds, but because it’s the right thing to do!”
“It’s all right. Really it all boils down to him being rude to Pietro, and the rest of us bearing a grudge out of loyalty. Winter hadn’t even cracked her shell at the time and even she bears a grudge over it. The truth is it’s far less what he said and that he said it to Pietro, and the rest of us care about him.”
“Also, Jimmy has a crush on Pietro and Winter has a crush on Jimmy-”
“She does not have a crush on me.”
“She has a dad crush on you. I keep telling you you need to just go ahead and adopt her already. You as good as have already anyway.”
He smiled a bit at their banter, grateful that his question hadn’t brought down the room completely, and perked up further at the mention of Miss Winter. “Do you really want to adopt Miss Winter, Dr. Ironwoof?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” James said, at the same time Qrow said, “Yes.”
They glared at each other, a silent argument, and Qrow repeated, “Yes, he does , but he won’t, because he thinks it’s complicated.” He rolled his eyes. “Girl just wants you to be her dad. Surprised she hasn’t tried to change her name yet.”
Complicated. Right.
Overall, he thought Dr. Ironwoof would make a really good dad for Miss Winter! But after what happened with Penny, and especially with the use of the word ‘complicated’, he held his tongue out of worry that he might make Dr. Ironwoof sad with a comment like that. Even if it was a result of a lot of built-up things that weren’t entirely his fault, Boyd really didn’t want a repeat of that.
“If it’s complicated, then we don’t have to talk about it,” he said, with a small look up to Dr. Ironwoof. “After all, we should probably eat before the food gets cold! That’s bad, right? Letting the food get cold?”
“Yeah, these things get soggy if you let ‘em sit too long,” Qrow said, waving his wrap around. And, because he couldn’t resist getting the last word in, “But it’s not complicated.”
“Eat your food, Qrow,” James said, trying not to let Qrow’s attitude get to him. “After Boyd went through all that trouble to make it for you, too.”
Qrow huffed and took a pointed bite, and once he’d swallowed, said, “Hey, you didn’t do a bad job there, kiddo.”
“Really? They taste that good?”
Beaming with pride, he ate one of the ones on his own plate. Absolutely no flavor, but he still felt pretty accomplished nonetheless! “So what do they taste like, exactly? I like to write down everything I ‘eat’, including what they taste like, just so I have a proper list to revisit when I finally get taste buds. I know I could always just memorize the foods in my head, but it’s just really fun to write down my experiences for later analysis!”
“Tastes like mush,” Qrow said.
“It’s mostly savory,” James said, electing to ignore his husband for the moment. If he was going to be petulant- “But the sour cream gives it a little bit of a bite. And the salsa is just spicy enough to cut through it, but not so spicy that it offends Qrow’s delicate sensibilities.”
“Rude.”
“Savory…spicy…mushy…” he said, absorbing the information.
“Okay, got it! I’ll be sure to write all that down later!”
Qrow went a bit sullen after that, picking at his food as much as eating it and not really seeming to have any inclination toward conversation. James gave him a few minutes, just to give him a chance, and when it was clear he was going to hold to his tantrum, turned to Boyd instead.
“What were you reading earlier, when we were in the library?”
Boyd looked at Mr. Qrow for a moment, wondering if he should voice any concern for his behavior. He knew Mr. Qrow was tired from his appointment, but the way he was picking at his food reminded Boyd a lot of his brother whenever he’d tell their parents his latest adventures at Amity.
Annoyed, irritated …
Was he… bothering Mr. Qrow? Did he not want him here?
No, no, that was silly! Mr. Qrow had agreed to let him stay for a few days, and he wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t okay with him being here! It was fine, he was probably just tired and that was all.
…Right?
“I was reading more of the third Wizard of Oz book,” he explained to Dr. Ironwoof, while he continued to eat. “ I just got to the part where they’re trying to meet with the Nome King, to free the Queen of Ev and her children. Also, Mr. Qrow was right; you do have the series in your library! So I can save my copies to read when I’m about to enter sleep mode for the night! Though I was also thinking about starting the story Penny got her name from,” he added. “Pinocchio, I think it was called? Maybe I’ll read it after I’m finished with my current book…”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read Pinocchio,” James said thoughtfully. “I know we have a copy because I made sure to have all of the classics when I restored the library, but having a book doesn’t mean I’ve had the time and inclination to read it.”
“It’s a sorry story anyway,” Qrow groused, playing with the rim of his glass. “If you’re good you get to be rewarded with life? If you’re naughty you have to stay a puppet? Why not make the kid real to begin with and let ‘im learn instead of making it some kinda reward system?”
Boyd’s expression fell, not because Mr. Qrow’s words had hurt him, but because he was right. It wasn’t fair to only be treated as a real boy when you were good and a puppet (or unfeeling robot) when you were bad.
Although he did perk up a little at the fact that Mr. Qrow agreed that it was a sorry deal. “It might not be a happy story, but I’d like to read it anyway,” he said. “I’d like to see what kind of things another Definitely Real Boy has to go to in order to become a real boy! I know they won’t all be happy, but…all the things I went through weren’t very happy either. But I guess there were plenty of things that were happy,” he said with a fond smile. “Like meeting my best friend, and meeting you and Dr. Ironwoof!”
“And I mean,” Qrow started to go on, and then stopped, and shrugged, and poked at his food a little. “Lemonade from lemons,” he grumbled, and a tiny smile tugged at his beak- just for a second.
James caught it. He reached over and gave Qrow’s hand a quick squeeze where it rested on the table, then returned to his food. To Boyd, he said, “He hasn’t read the book either, so it might be happier than he’s making it sound.”
He giggled a bit, feeling less anxious after seeing the tiny smile from Dr. Qrow. “Well, when I finally read it, I’ll have to let you both know just how happy, or sad, it really is!”
Dinner went a little more smoothly after this, with Qrow even deigning to add to the conversation here and there, in between sullen grumbles. By the time their plates were clean, though, he was growing quiet again- not his previous grumpy tantrum quiet, rather the exhausted quiet that James knew meant he just wanted to sleep and forget about whatever emotional turmoil his latest appointment had left him in.
“Why don’t you get some sleep?” James suggested, reaching over to squeeze his hand again, not letting go this time. “You look wiped.”
Rather than answer, Qrow turned to Boyd again. “You got a bedtime routine, kid?”
“Routine?” he asked “Well, I don’t know if it’s really a routine . But I usually spend some time writing everything I learned during the day in my notebook, then I spend a little while reading one of my books before I eventually power down for the night!”
“Your folks don’t tuck you in or anything? Read you a bedtime story? You don’t need to spend twenty minutes building an elaborate fort with all the stuffed animals someone-” This was accompanied by a pointed look at James, “-keeps buying you? And then tossed into it face first until they’re all in a pile around your bed? You don’t need seventeen glasses of water and an elaborate configuration of night lights? Just write in your diary and read till you fall asleep?”
“Oh, they tuck me in!” he explained. “But they can’t exactly do that while I’m staying here, right? And I can easily read stories all by myself, so I don’t need them to do that for me either.”
He tapped his beak thoughtfully. “As for the other stuff…I don’t drink water, so I wouldn’t even need one glass, much less seventeen. And my eyes can light up in the dark if I need them to, which I usually don’t. Once I’m in sleep mode, I usually stay that way until morning. I’ve never made a stuffed animal fort, though! That sounds so much fun!”
“Huh.” Qrow glanced at James. “I didn’t know kids could have uncomplicated bedtime routines.”
“Your point of reference is skewed,” James pointed out, and added to Boyd, “If you want to build a stuffed animal fort, the girls keep their overflow in the toyroom. They won’t mind if you use them.”
“Hey, how deep a sleeper are you?” Qrow asked. “If we need to wake you up for some reason, will it give us any trouble? Or is it just a matter of flipping a switch?”
“That’s a good question,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve never really thought about that. I’ve never actually had to wake up in the middle of the night before, and the few times I did, it was more…my body just decided it needed to be awake? I didn’t really have much of a say in the matter.”
He thought harder. “Although I guess you could always try just waking me up like a non-Definitely Real Boy? I would assume that if I were to function like a non-Definitely Real Boy, then I would be able to be awakened from sleep like one too?” He brightened. “And I wouldn’t mind getting some stuffed animals to make a fort! I’d very much like to see what it’s like to sleep in one!”
“There shouldn’t be any reason to wake you,” Qrow said. “But you never know what’s gonna come up. So if it does come up, hopefully it works like normal.”
“When you’re done eating I’ll show you to the toy room and you can pick some stuffed toys out,” James added.
Oh, that was enough to make him finish the last bit of food on his plate much quicker than he would have normally! Still neatly, of course, he was…well, he was an animal, but he was in a guest’s home and would remember his manners, no matter how excited he was!
And even with his blossoming excitement over the idea of being surrounded by so many stuffed animals as he slept, he still offered to help clear the table of its dirty dishes first.
“Helpful kid,” Qrow said, shoving his hands in his pockets and watching while Boyd stacked the dishes and James carried them into the kitchen.
“I’ll wash those later,” James said, and held out his hand. “It’s not important.”
“Stuffed animals are way more serious business,” Qrow said, following behind them at an amble that didn’t do as much as he’d hoped to hide how tired he was.
While Boyd could remember where the toy room was from their tour of the house, he still tried his best not to run too far ahead of the adults as they made their way there.
…Tried being the keyword, for he was at the door to the room before either of them, eagerly bouncing in place as he waited for them to catch up.
With Boyd running ahead, James didn’t think it would hurt to take a second to check on Qrow. He halted until Qrow caught up to him and reached up to lay a paw on his cheek.
“If you want to go ahead up-”
“Nah.” Qrow nuzzled the paw on his face. “Put the kid to bed, and then you can put me to bed. I can wait.”
“If you’re sure,” he said, sounding very unsure himself, and then hurried to catch up. Boyd was waiting at the toyroom for them, so James pushed the door open without any fanfare.
It had, at one time, been the ground floor nursery. Colorful, sanitized cartoon animals made a winding parade around the pastel pink walls; cartoon birds flew across the ceiling toward a light fixture with a plastic sun over it. Shelves painted in the primary colors covered the lower half of the wall, stuffed animals lining all of them.
“Like I said, the girls won’t mind you borrowing their toys while you’re here, so grab any of them that you like.”
It was such a pretty room! Like one out of a storybook!
And of course Boyd was at the shelves as soon as Dr. Ironwoof gave the okay, closely examining each stuffed animal and decided which ones he wanted.
He was no stranger to stuffed animals; there were plenty in the Drake household. Of course most of them were up in the play area, at least three times taller than he was, and usually off limits for him because they were Doofus’s. Well, off limits until Mother insisted that he was supposed to share.
They were very soft and cuddly, but he’d never really stopped to think about them other than the fact that they were just there and overall very pleasing to view. And he certainly hadn’t thought of making some kind of fort with them!
…Oh, the ones back home would probably make a really good fort with their size! But he would save that idea for later and would just gather as many little ones as he could! He was sure that no matter the size, they would be excellent sleep mode companions!
He gathered up a fair amount of them in his arms, a very brave-looking lion, hungry little tiger, and a soft brown bear being among the chosen ones, and hobbled back over to Dr. Ironwoof and Mr. Qrow with a smile that was probably hidden behind the pile of plush.
“Will this be enough?“ he asked, voice slightly muffled. “I don’t know how many I’ll need for a proper fort, but I hope this is a good amount!”
James was going to assure Boyd that if he needed more, he could always come down and get more, but with a glance at Qrow he changed his mind and said instead, “Why don’t we grab a few extra just in case? I can help you carry them if you want.”
“Yes, please!” he said as best he could without his voice being muffled further. “They’re not heavy at all, but it is hard to talk with so many of them in my arms at once.”
“Fortunately, my arms are longer than yours,” James said, crouching so that Boyd could load him up and go back for round two.
They were indeed! And Boyd handed the pile in his arms to Dr. Ironwoof with a (now visible because his face was no longer hidden) smile to him as he hurried back for more.
Soon he had another armload of brand new stuffed animals (once again piled in such a way that his face was blocked; that was okay, he had sensors to detect where he was going so he didn’t have to worry about knocking anything over if his eyes were blocked), and returned to the adults.
“I think this will be plenty for a wonderful fort!” he said triumphantly.
Fortunately, James had plenty of practice in carrying armloads of stuffed animals, but halfway up the second flight of steps a precariously-perched stuffed kitten shook loose from the pile. Qrow, who had seemed to only be going through the motions, caught it as it fell.
“Careful, Jimmy. Don’t want any escaped convicts around here.”
Boyd was about to ask, with only slightest bit of worry in his tone, what Mr. Qrow meant by ‘escaped convicts’. However, any worry faded when he shifted enough to get a proper look back at him.
“ Oh! You meant one of the stuffed animals!”
“Course. You think they’re here in an unused nursery as some kinda reward? Nah, they’ve been imprisoned for…” He faltered. “…crimes.” He held up the kitten in question. “He knows what he did.”
He got it, it was one of Mr. Qrows jokes! He was getting better at recognizing them.
“What did he do?” he asked with a smile.
Qrow seemed a little taken aback that Boyd had caught onto his bullshit, and tried to save by booping him awkwardly with the kitten.
They’d reached Boyd’s bedroom by now; Qrow pushed past the two with their armloads of toys and opened the door for them, standing off to one side with the kitten while they got to work on the stuffed animal fort.
(Qrow couldn’t help wondering if they were going to try to logic up an actual fort-like structure- with Ruby it was always just an elaborate tetris-like pile of stuffed animals for her to make a mess with, but Boyd seemed more like he’d enjoy an actual structure of some kind.)
But of course he was going to at least try and create some kind of fort-like structure! He hadn’t earned that Fort-Making badge alongside Huey for nothing!
Or at least, he was going to do the best he could, given the very soft materials and lack of things like weight-bearing poles or any sort of means to tie everything together. It would certainly only be useful for sleep and not much else.
But with determination, he soon had…well, admittedly, still a random pile of stuff animals. But he’d been clever enough to use the blanket as the ‘roof’ (he’d realized quickly that none of the stuffed animals were large enough for such a task and too many together would just collapse!), while the stuffed animals served as the ‘walls’ and the softest ones were arranged on the bed itself in a nest shape; the best arrangement choice for maximum comfort while in sleep mode!
Overall, he seemed very impressed with his work.
“Wow, that was fun to make!”
James was very glad the beds in the manor were all so big; there was no way a small twin bed would have supported such a structure. All the same, he was impressed by Boyd’s ingenuity and said as much.
“Nearly as fluffy as the soft animal I’m taking to bed with me,” Qrow said, setting the kitten in his hands on the pile. “At least if one of these guys rolls onto you in the night you’ll still be able to breathe. Well, in theory, I mean, I don’t think you…” He trailed off, and shrugged. “You need anything else before you power down?”
He smiled as he watched Mr. Qrow set the kitten on top of the pile. “No, I think I should be alright,” he said, fetching a few things from his backpack. Specifically a book and his little notebook. “I’ll probably write and read for a bit, and then power down for the night like I always do! Also your theory is correct; I would still be able to breathe!”
“Lucky you.”
“If you do need anything, we’ll be just downstairs,” James added, patting his head fondly. “We’ll say goodnight now.”
“Yeah, he’s gotta come tuck me in now,” Qrow said, trying to sound teasing and resisting the urge to take the front of James’ shirt and physically pull him out of the room.
“Goodnight!” he said sweetly, waving to them as they headed out of the room.
Once they were gone, he settled himself into his little fort (which held up fairly well, more reason to be proud!) and flipped open his notebook. He scribbled a few things here, a few others there (he absolutely included all the information Dr. Ironwoof had taught him while cooking, the names and information he’d learned about Mr. Theodore and Mr. Lionheart, and Mrs. Glynda and Mrs. Snow, and plenty of other things!), before he closed it, placed it on the nightstand beside his bed, and replaced it with his book of choice.
He read for a short while about the characters of Oz he’d come to know and love, before finding a decent spot to pause until next time. The book joined the notebook on the nightstand and, settling further into the fort, he let sleep claim him for the night.
-/-
“I’m fucking exhausted,” Qrow said, as soon as they were out of earshot. James gave him a soft smile, and- without warning- scooped him up in a bridal carry as they reached the stairs. “Hey, what-!”
But he settled after a glimpse of James’ fond smile, and with an eyeroll let himself be carried to bed. (Unfortunately, they both still had to shower, but there was no reason they couldn’t streamline that process a little. Besides, James took forever if he had to shampoo his own fur, so doubling up meant getting to bed faster for both of them.)
“Thanks for trying with Boyd,” James said, once they’d finished showering and he had- true to Qrow’s comment- tucked him into bed. “I know how stressed you get after therapy…”
“Hey, I already ran one kid outta this house with that bullshit. Not gonna do it again if I can help it.” He yawned, and snuggled deeper into James’ arms, letting his exhaustion finally claim him as he began to drift. “But it’s nice to have you to myself again.”