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“Just so you know, Yang’s a girl now.”
She said it so nonchalantly that Qrow almost didn’t question it.
Almost.
“What?”
“Yeah, she told me yesterday morning that she didn’t want to be a boy, so I got her some girly stuff last night. She’s not into dresses but we’re figuring it out. I just thought I’d let you know.”
“No, I mean, like… what?”
“What, ‘what’?” Summer sounded confused. Qrow definitely was.
“I don’t… can h-she just do that?”
“Yeah? Why couldn’t she?”
“Can you just… change?”
“I mean, when you’re little it’s a lot easier. She can just wear girl’s clothes. If it sticks, we can talk about getting her hormones sorted out when she’s older, but when she’s this young all we need to do is tell people.”
“I don’t think I follow.”
Summer paused for a second. “Qrow, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Are you happy being a woman?”
“I mean, no, but I figured most people didn’t really like it. It’s not really… I can’t change it, so why get upset about it?”
“Would you be happier if everyone thought you were a man?”
“Yeah?”
“Okay. That’s not normal. Not everyone feels like that.”
This time, Qrow was the one to pause.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, shit.”
The next day, Qrow knocked on Summer’s door, holding a stack of papers and feeling much more nervous than normal.
“Hey, there you are!” Summer opened the door, holding it open as Qrow entered. “They’ve been waiting for you.”
“HI QROW!!!” A high pitched voice called from the living room. “Did you hear I'm a girl now?!”
“Yeah, your mom mentioned that. How’s that going for you?”
“One of the boys at school asked if that meant he could kiss me now and I punched him in the nose.”
“Not a fan of boys?”
“Not that one. He’s gross and annoying and he picks his nose.”
Qrow laughed. “Well, that’s plenty of reasons not to like him, it sounds like. Where’s your sister?”
“Sleeping,” Summer cut in. “We should talk. It seems like you brought some stuff with you.”
“I, uh, yeah. I did some… research. Had to go to the school to print this, because of course the one I have was out of ink.”
“Your luck, huh?”
“As usual. Starting to wonder if this whole thing might be a product of my luck.” Qrow sat at the kitchen table, Summer taking the stack of papers and thumbing through them.
“This is all pretty thorough. Does it resonate?” She asked, still looking through. “Is this… did you take a quiz titled ‘Am I Trans’?”
“I thought it might help…”
“And you printed out your results?”
“I thought it might be useful!”
“Qrow, this paper literally just says ‘yes’.”
“It was a pretty definitive answer!”
Summer put her head in her hands. “Okay. Sure. So what do you think that means?”
“I… honestly don’t know. I guess it means I’m a guy?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yeah.” The answer came with no hesitation. That was a surprise even to Qrow, who until this point had not been sure - or at least hadn’t felt sure.
“So you heard me calling Yang she. Do you want me to refer to you as he from now on?”
“Can I just do that?”
“That’s the point, Qrow. You can do whatever you want. However much or little you choose. But if you’re not happy being a woman, the first step is usually changing language so people refer to you appropriately.”
“... Yeah, I think I’d like that.”
“ARE YOU CHANGING TOO?!” Yang rounded the corner into the kitchen, Ruby toddling along behind her. “AWESOME! Now I don’t have to be the only one! Can I call you Uncle Qrow now? Are you gonna grow a beard? I think you would look cool! Are you gonna wear suits all the time?”
“Yang, even most boys don’t wear suits all the time,” Summer laughed. “He will probably wear clothes like you used to.”
“Can I give him mine?”
“I don’t think your clothes will fit me, kiddo.” Qrow chuckled. “But I appreciate the offer. You have a real sense of style.” He felt a tug on the leg of his pants, and looked down to see Ruby’s eyes peering up at him.
“Hey, what’s up?” He stuck his tongue out at her, earning a giggle in response.
“Ruby’s going to go to school soon! Mommy said this summer she can come with me.”
“So soon, huh?” He looked at Summer.
“She’s restless without Yang here and I need time to do things. I figured it was the best option.” Summer turned to both girls. “Can you two step out for a moment so I can talk to your uncle?”
Yang nodded dutifully, grinning at Qrow as she tugged on Ruby’s hand, leading her sister out of the room.
“So… next steps.” Summer looked at him. “You’ll probably want to buy some clothes, I assume. Do you want to tell people immediately?”
“I don’t know who I’d even tell. Not like I talk to anyone,” he shrugged.
“You talk to Ozpin, and the other Beacon staff. You talk to people at school.”
“I haven’t talked to Oz in months, and school isn’t in session.”
Summer frowned. “Why haven’t you talked to him?”
“Because I’m a shut-in who doesn’t know how to socialize or have fun?” He scoffed.
“Are you still crushing on him?”
“I… didn’t ever tell you about that.”
“Nope! But I could tell. Also, you just did.” She stuck her tongue out at him, prompting an eye roll.
“So, next steps.”
“Yes. I will give you a pass on changing the subject, just this once. Do you want to go shopping?”
“I probably should, huh.”
Stepping into the men’s section of the store brought a mixed bag of emotions for Qrow. He was nervous - very much so. But at the same time, it felt right. Nobody paid him much mind as he browsed - not that the store was particularly busy - but he couldn’t help feeling like all eyes were on him. What was he supposed to say if someone asked him what he was doing? Should he tell them outright? That seemed like a bad idea, but what else could he do? Would he be asked to leave over this?
He was startled out of his thoughts by exactly what he dreaded - a store clerk approaching him.
“Can I help you find anything?” The young woman asked, seemingly unphased by his presence in a section he did not appear to belong in.
“I, uh… just looking,” he stammered out.
“Well, let me know if you need to find anything in particular!” She smiled, the kind of smile you’d expect from someone just doing their job. She turned to walk away.
“Uh… do you know… where the ties are?”
“They’re just down this aisle, around the corner on the right.”
“Thanks,” he said, trying to swallow around the lump in his throat.
“Welcome back,” Summer greeted him at the door. “Did you find anything you liked?”
“I think so,” he said, showing a bag full of clothes.
“You tried them on, right?”
“Yes. For once. I figured I needed to make sure this stuff would fit right.”
“HI UNCLE QROW!” He couldn’t help but smile as Yang rounded the corner, again with Ruby in tow.
“Hello again.”
“Did you buy boy clothes?” She pointed at the bag. “Is that a tie?”
“Yes and yes,” he said, pulling the item in question out for all to see. It was plain black - not anything exciting - but Yang marveled over it all the same, reaching her little hands out to test the texture.
“It’s smooth… what else did you get? Can you show?”
The group spent the next few minutes going over what he had bought. A few collared shirts, a couple of plain t-shirts, and pants that would be appropriate for a business casual setting - for work, he had intended.
“Are you gonna cut your hair?” Yang asked. “Can you tell mine is longer?”
“Yang, you’ve been growing it out for three days,” Summer sighed, still smiling.
“I dunno, Summer, it looks longer to me.” Qrow winked.
“You’re a menace.”
“Not my fault your kids are so cute.”
Summer smiled again. “So, are you going to cut it? I can do it if you want. I’m the only one Yang trusts with scissors anywhere near her hair.”
“Would you?”
“Of course.”
“Can we watch? Your hair is so long… are you gonna cut all of it off?” Yang reached up to pull at his hair, which he had tied back while shopping.
“If you cut it off, it’ll always grow back,” Summer said. “So don’t worry about how short you take it. Just tell me what feels right.”
Qrow thought for a second.
“I kind of wanna spike it up,” he said.
“You’re gonna need a lot of hair gel. But I can take it that short.”
“I can afford hair gel,” he teased. “Cut it off.”
Looking in the mirror at home that night, Qrow felt different. Not bad different, he thought - just different.
New.
He rifled through the papers he’d shown Summer earlier, stopping at a page he had only glanced at beforehand.
What is Gender Euphoria?
As he looked at his reflection again, wearing one of the shirts from earlier, hair styled with the gel Summer had given him, he figured he was feeling something like that.