Qrow.

Chapter 1 | The Calm

An empty house could never really be a home. With each season that passed, it seemed things were changing faster and faster. One thing stayed the same though; The feeling of emptiness, as if things would never be the same, remained. The thought of missing how things once were stained in Ryan's mind.

Every time he tried to continue working, he just didn't feel like it. He'd get as far as getting to his workshop and picking up his tools. Then, staring down at a piece of wood, he'd feel drained. He'd turn his back away and head home. With that type of pattern, it was no shock he ended up selling the house and moving in with Ghost and Ricky.

Ryan carefully set the plates in his hand on the table. The sound of a child's laughter and sweet music was simple noise in his ears. Anymore, he just felt like he was floating through like. Nothing was keeping him grounded, but nothing was allowing him to continue upward. One thing that did manage to catch his attention was a door slamming.

He raised his head, seeing Maxine storming out of Felix's bedroom. She was in the midst of pulling on her shirt as she rushed to get out of the house. Her boyfriend quickly emerged from his room in only his jeans. To try to be decent around his family, he pulled on his button down while he talked.

"Babe, please, I'm sorry!" He pleaded for her forgiveness, "I didn't mean it!" Felix grabbed her coat off the wrack before she could. "Please, don't go."

Maxine was prepared to rip his head off but reminded herself she was in front of his family. She grabbed her coat from him with a yank. "I'm done talking about this. It's obvious you still love her. Why else would you keep her pictures? I'm not mad that you love someone else. I'm mad you keep trying to force our relationship and refuse to admit it. I'm done."

With that, she slammed the door behind her. The whole room stared, which only made it worse. It was insult to injury. He looked across the room, seeing his parents, little sister, and sister-in-law in the living room. Then, his older brother and uncle back in the kitchen. Great, the whole family got to see him get dumped. As if this whole situation wasn't awful enough. Embarrassed, he rushed back into his room.

Ghost stood up from the couch slowly, "Maybe I should go talk to him."

"Honey, stay out of his business." Ricky replied as sweetly as he could, "He wouldn't talk to us anyways. Maybe..." He glanced back at Ryan.

He sighed, "Yeah, I will, if someone else finishes setting the table."

"I will." Kitty replied, glancing down at the toddler beside her, "You want to help me?"

Of course the baby blood sucker agreed. She absolutely adored Kitty, as any young girl would. The two walked over to finish what Ryan had started, while he was sent to do damage control. Age can't change the fact that teenagers are teenagers. Yeah, obviously Felix isn't in his teen years anymore, but he still faces young struggles.

Ryan opened the door quietly, closing it behind him gently. "You know," He started out, "I don't know why they sent me to talk to you because I'm hopeless with women."

Felix sat up on his bed, quirking an eyebrow, "Seriously? You just look at women and you can get them in bed."

"I've slept with a lot of women but that's hunting. Actual dating? I haven't been on a date that was intended to lead to a relationship in a very, very long time." He took the desk chair and turned it around, slowly sitting down. "So, what'd you do wrong?"

"I called her the wrong name during sex. It's not the first time I accidentally called her... that."

"Called her what?" He asked.