Family Night

A thank-you request fic for a supporter of mine! I've never written Summer and Tai so much so I hope this is is okay!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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							Family Night

Living as a huntsman and a huntress from teenage years wasn't exactly an easy life for Summer and Tai.

Even before they had met one another, both of them had been passionate hunters.

Their beginnings hadn't been all that kind to them, but they'd been determined to make a difference in order to ensure their following years were kinder.

When Summer first met Tai, it was in the middle of the woods. She'd just finished a long hunt, and had been about to head home when she noticed the man stumble out of the bushes.

He'd been a bit scraggly-looking, almost like a vagabond. He hadn't shaved or bathed in several days, and looked as though he were about to keel over.

Most surprisingly of all, however, was that he had a baby girl in his arms.

And he'd begged Summer to take her and to nurse her back to health, to raise her as her own.

But Summer had refused to leave him there to perish and get eaten by Grimm.

So despite her smaller stature, she'd carried the exhausted Tai on her back and baby girl Yang in her arms, and trekked relentlessly all the way home to her cottage with them. She'd given them a warm place to stay, shelter, food, and blankets.

As soon as he was certain Yang wasn't going to catch a cold, Tai tucked her into the makeshift crib of blankets Summer had created for her.

He'd told Summer everything that night, about how his hometown on the other side of Patch had been invaded, and his first wife had disappeared amongst the fray. He could only take Yang and run.

He promised to repay Summer for her hospitality, and yet did not want to overstay his welcome.

But Summer had lived alone at the time, struggling to get by...

She'd invited him to stay.

So he did.

And several years later, Yang got a baby sister...

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. . .

The cottage was a little cramped for the family of four, but that didn't stop Tai from bringing home a puppy.

Summer wasn't opposed to it, and their daughters certainly weren't.

They played and squealed for hours on end with the pup they named Zwei, using leaves and twigs from outside as toys for him.

Summer and Tai were beginning to get recognized as skilled hunters, and they started getting offers and receiving payments for every hunt they did. They had sources of income, a roof over their heads, and a space for their daughters to sleep.

Ruby and Yang would curl up in the same bed together most nights. Yang would always try to make sure her younger sister fell asleep first, and if Ruby was having trouble, Yang would turn on the bedside lamp and stay awake to play games with her.

Even if Yang was exhausted and about to fall over, she'd stay up until Ruby was too tired to do anything more than sleep. Then, she'd tuck Ruby in and flop down beside her, leaving the lamp on all night.

Zwei would sleep at the foot of their bed, and if he sensed discomfort from either one of them, he would waddle up to curl beside them.

But some nights, even their valiant guard doggie got spooked.

Storms were rarely pleasant, especially when thunder was involved. Living so close to the forest always ensured that tree branches would sway and reach and tap against their window, scraping on the side of the house and making terrifying noises.

On nights like those, Yang would help Ruby out of bed, take her hand, and walk her to their parents' room where they could all curl up together.

The wet season's storms usually struck at nighttime, but on occasion they did roll in earlier than that.

Yang was seven at the time, and Ruby just five.

Sitting on the floor in the living room, they were playing with Zwei, rolling around one of his toy balls, passing it back and forth to one another as the little, chubby dog dashed back and forth between them.

Tai was sitting on the couch nearby, his nose in a book.

The scent of homemade chocolate-chip cookies had started to fill the house ten minutes ago – Summer always made them on Saturday nights to celebrate Sunday as hers and Tai's off-day.

Ruby rolled Zwei's red ball to Yang, giggling as she watched him chase after it and end up crashing into her sister's lap.

"Zwei!" Ruby called out. "Come here!"

With a yip, the corgi wiggled out of Yang's lap and rushed over to Ruby, jumping up at her excitedly. Ruby caught him with a delighted laugh and rolled onto her back, the dog licking her eagerly all the while.

Yang chuckled as she watched the scene, tossing the red ball in her palm.

But then, she heard a rumbling of sorts, faint, but still loud enough to distinguish. With a laugh, she called into the kitchen toward Summer.

"Mom, are the cookies almost ready? I think Ruby's tummy is gonna go crazy if she doesn't get some soon!"

"Hey!" Ruby whined indigently. "I mean, yeah I can't wait for cookies, but that rumbling wasn't my tummy! Maybe it was Zwei's." She sat up and flipped him onto his back, then began to rub his belly.

Yang shrugged.

"Well, if it's cookies he wants, he can't have those. Those are people food."

"Don't worry, you two," Summer called out. "They're almost ready. And I'll give Zwei a little treat, too."

"Yaaaay!" Ruby grinned and then proceeded to bury her nose into Zwei's white belly fur.

But not a minute later, the rumbling came again, this time much louder. The house shook a little bit, and Ruby squeaked in fear, scrambling to crawl across the floor and hold onto her sister.

"Yang? What's that?"

"I don't know..."

"Is it a big, big Grimm coming to get us?!"

"No," Tai said, looking up from his book. "Nothing like that. It's just a storm coming."

"Storm?!" Ruby wailed. "But then I'll never get to sleep! I can't sleep with these loud storms all the time!"

"It's not even bedtime yet," Yang said. "Maybe it'll be over before then."

Rain had already started to fall, hissing and pattering against the windows and roof. Ruby whimpered and clung tighter to Yang. She'd get so anxious sometimes that she would throw up due to bad thunder, but Yang didn't want that to happen.

"It's okay, Ruby," she said, squeezing her. "We'll have yummy cookies soon! So forget about the mean old storm!"

But as if to thwart her suggestion, another blast of thunder sounded, shaking the house.

And then the lights went off all at once.

Ruby screamed and wailed into Yang's shirt.

"What's going on?! Where did the lights go?!"

Yang didn't have an answer for her this time.

But despite the two girls' panic, their parents weren't all that upset by this. Tai sighed as he was forced to close his book in the darkness and put it aside.

"It's okay, you two," he soothed, getting up from the couch. "It's just a power-outage." He used the faint bits of remaining light from outside to guide himself across the living room and kneel down beside his daughters. He picked them each up and sat them both on either side of his lap. Ruby was still whimpering and clung to him, but Yang blinked up in the darkness curiously.

"A power-outage?" she parroted.

"Yes," he said calmly. "It means-"

"It means-" Summer's voice cut him off. "That these cookies didn't get to bake for the last few minutes they needed." There was a patter of footsteps as she cautiously emerged from the kitchen, using the wall for guidance. "It means we're just going to have to eat them now, when they're still a bit extra gooey and melty."

That was enough to cure Ruby.

With an excited squeal, her previous tears were nowhere to be seen as she jumped up from her father's lap and rushed toward the kitchen. But she seemed to have forgotten that she couldn't see, and she ended up tripping over Zwei and falling to the floor.

"Owwiiiiie!"

"Oh, honey!" Summer quickly dropped to her knees to scoop her up. "Be careful! Did you hurt yourself?"

"No..."

"That's good." Summer kissed her forehead anyway for good measure. "I'll light some candles in a moment. Until then, let's all just walk slowly, okay?"

"Okay."

Summer carried her daughter into the kitchen, and Tai picked up Yang to do the same.

The few flashes of lightning from outside illuminated the room for a minute, and allowed the parents to get their daughters into their seats at the table. Tai fumbled around the drawers for a flashlight, and once he found it, turned it on so he could help Summer with the cookies.

The thunder continued to crash outside, but Ruby didn't feel nervous this time, not with her whole family awake with her and the promise of cookies just a few feet away.

Yang nudged her sister's foot from beneath the table.

"I've never seen a power-outage before. It's kinda cool!"

"Really?" Ruby marveled. "You've never seen one before, Yang?"

"Nope! It's never happened before from what I can remember!"

"Whoa..." Ruby was amazed at this event now, something even her big sister Yang had never experienced before. It made her feel a little special somehow.

Zwei was circling her chair, majorly unaffected by the lack of light. His presence helped to soothe Ruby's fears about the storm and situation, as did the flashlight her father was holding.

At last, Summer brought over two plates full of freshly-baked, homemade cookies.

"Here they are!" she announced, placing them on the table between her daughters. "They didn't get to finish baking all the way before the power went out, but they're still warm! Daddy's getting some milk."

Ruby squealed happily as she reached forward to grab a cookie, feeling it melting all over her fingers. She took a bite and instantly hummed her reaction.

"Mmmmm, Mommy they're so yummy! Thank you!"

"I'm glad! That's all I needed to hear, dear."

Yang took a bite as well and gave a similar reaction.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten!"

"You flatter me!" Summer laughed.

She went to get a dog treat for Zwei as promised, and placed it on the kitchen floor for him to happily gobble up.

Meanwhile, Tai was at the refrigerator, opening the door to grab the carton of milk. Ruby expected the room to fill with light, but only the glow of the flashlight remained.

"Daddy?" she asked. "How come the light in the refrigy isn't coming on?"

"Because the power's out," he told her. "Everything inside can't keep cold without the power, so we have to hope it'll come back on soon." He poured four glasses of milk, put the carton back, then took his seat at the table, distributing the glasses.

"Oh..." Ruby mumbled, taking her glass and pulling it close. "It's weird when the power goes away. When will it come back?"

"That depends," Summer replied. "People in town need to fix some wires, and then it will come back."

"But where did it go?"

"The storm scared it away."

"Oh..." Ruby nodded comprehensively, then dunked her next cookie into her glass. "But we can't see until then."

"Yeah," Yang said. "What are we gonna do? Should we just go to bed?"

"Noooo!" Ruby cried. "But we're just having cookies!"

"Calm down," Summer chuckled. "We don't have to go to bed yet. There's plenty we can do without the lights on."

"Really?" Ruby piped. "Like what?"

"Well, once we've finished eating, Daddy and I will show you."

So they enjoyed their cookies despite the clatter of the storm outside. Ruby found she simply couldn't be upset about the thunder if she had a belly full of chocolatey cookies.

Once they'd finished, Summer and Tai cleaned up the plates and glasses as Ruby and Yang went to work on wiping their hands on napkins. They still only had the flashlight to see by, so Summer rummaged through a few cabinets for some candles.

"Dear, I can't find the matches," she fretted.

"Me either," Tai grunted. "Must've forgotten to by some last time I was in town. We haven't had a power-outage since Yang was a toddler."

The older girl perked up at the sound of their conversation.

"Are we gonna light some candles?"

"Well, we were going to," Summer said. "But Mommy and Daddy can't find any matches."

"Hmm..." Yang hopped off her chair and crossed the room. Ruby watched curiously as her sister reached up and took one of the candles off the counter.

Yang pinched the wick with her thumb and forefinger, concentrating...

There was a brief flare as Yang's blonde hair lit up for a second, a charge of electricity traveling to her fingertips. A second later, there was a flame on the candlestick.

"I did it!" she cheered.

Summer and Tai gasped and carefully pulled her away from the candle, a little startled, but impressed nonetheless.

"That's quite a nifty talent," Summer said. "But don't use it so suddenly, dear. You could've burnt yourself."

"At least it shows she's unlocking her semblance and getting better with it," Tai put in.

He and Summer patted Yang on the head and thanked her, then used the one lit candle to transfer flames to the others. Ruby clapped for her sister and grinned.

"You gave us light, Yang!"

"Aw, it was nothin'."

Their parents set up some candles all around the house, providing a bit of light in every room. Tai kept the flashlight on-hand so to better light whichever room they were all in at present.

Ruby hopped off her chair in the kitchen, scooped Zwei into her arms, and made her way over to Summer.

"So Mommy, what things can we do without the power on?"

Summer picked her up again, puppy and all.

"Let me show you."

She carried Ruby back into the living room, and Tai carried Yang, preferring to move them about this way rather than risk one of their daughters bumping into furniture and hurting themselves.

They all sat down on the living room floor, and Summer had them wait for a moment before she went to one of the cabinets.

"Ah, here we go." She pulled out a small box of sorts, and as she walked, Ruby could hear tiny things inside of it moving.

"Mommy, what's that?" she wondered.

But Yang was already answering for her.

"Ooh, a puzzle! I haven't done one in forever!"

"A puzzy?" Ruby said.

"Puzzle!" Yang repeated. "It's a bunch of little pieces out of order, and you put them together and it makes a picture!"

"Whoa! ...But how?" The concept was a bit advanced for Ruby, but she was interested for sure.

Summer knelt down beside them and poured the contents of the puzzle box onto the low coffee table, so her daughters could easily reach out and connect the pieces. Summer did her best to explain things a bit clearer for Ruby.

"It's a broken picture," she said. "Your job is to fix it."

"Oh! That sounds like fun!"

Ruby had always been a builder since the day she could crawl, always playing with blocks or other small toys, always building, always creating something. There was no doubt in her parents' minds that she'd one day create something incredible.

Tai and Summer sat on the couch behind their daughters, shining the flashlight on the puzzle to help them see.

The girls instantly got started on a plan.

"Okay!" Yang said. "I think we start with the outside pieces."

"Outside pieces?"

"Look for ones with a straight side! Like this."

"Oooh, okay!"

As the two of them got to work, their parents watched fondly. Zwei hopped up to curl in Summer's lap and cuddle close. She gave a small yawn, and Tai pulled her close, having her rest her head on his shoulder.

As Summer napped a bit, Tai continued holding the flashlight for his daughters, who seemed to have forgotten all about the loud storm outside, instead choosing to focus on the task at hand.

As his daughters discussed strategies of how to tackle the puzzle, Tai's held Summer at his side and kissed her temple. She never let her exhaustion show until nighttime when the girls were asleep, but he knew she worked very hard to keep their lives as cozy as possible.

For around half an hour, Summer rested and her daughters worked. Ruby squealed in delight every time she clicked a piece of the puzzle correctly into place.

"You've gotten more than me!" Yang said proudly.

At last, they both turned back to Tai, rushing over to hug his legs.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Ruby sang. "We finished! Look, look!"

Summer roused herself to look as well.

The resulting image was of a big red rose that gave a splash of color to the black-and-white house.

"It's lovely," Summer praised them both.

"You two did a wonderful job," Tai agreed.

The girls basked in the compliments for a moment before they were ready to move on.

"So what else can we do?" Ruby wondered.

Tai grunted to his lover, indicating he hadn't thought things through.

Fortunately, she had.

Summer already had a lot of backup ideas planned out.

"There's a very fun thing we can do," she said. "But I want you two to brush your teeth first, okay? Change into your jammies."

"Okay!" Both Ruby and Yang chirped in unison.

Tai handed Yang the flashlight.

"Don't rush, alright? We don't want you tripping or anything."

"We won't!" she promised. Yang took Ruby's hand firmly and held the flashlight in the other. "Let's go!"

She began marching off into the dark house toward the bathroom. The cottage only had one floor, so there was no risk of falling down stairs or anything of the sort.

Their parents had set up a candle in the bathroom in advance, and once they reached it, Yang put the flashlight down, letting its light fill the room.

"We made it safely to our destination, soldier! Good work, Ruby!"

"Aye, aye!" Ruby saluted.

Yang opened the little drawer where they kept their toothbrushes and handed Ruby hers.

Together, they stepped up onto the little stool on the floor that allowed them to reach the sink. Yang squeezed a glob of strawberry-flavored toothpaste onto Ruby's brush, and then her own. Ruby turned on the faucet and they started brushing.

"Y'know," Yang said around her brush. "Thish shtorm ishn't sho bad!"

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "I thought it'd be shcary, but ish not! Ish kinda fun!" She spat out her mouthful of pink suds before continuing. "We had yummy cookies, then did a puzzy, and now Mommy and Daddy have something else for us to do, too! Maybe the power should go away every night!"

"Well, maybe not every night," Yang chuckled.

They finished up in the bathroom, then Yang picked up the flashlight and led Ruby into their bedroom to grab their sleep-clothes. They wrestled out of their normal clothes and exchanged them for looser pants and shirts made of soft wool.

At last, they ventured back to the living room and-

"Whoa..."

"What happened?"

Both of their jaws dropped in bewilderment.

Summer and Tai had moved the couch a bit to the side and brought in a few of the kitchen chairs. Yang and Ruby blinked in confusion.

"What happened?" Ruby asked again. "Why's the house all messed up?"

Summer laughed and beckoned them forward.

"This is our next project," she declared.

"Project?"

"Yes." She picked up a bed sheet she had gotten from the laundry room. "We're going to make a blanket fort!"

"A what?" Neither Ruby nor Yang had ever heard of that before.

"Don't worry," Tai said. "Mommy and I will help."

As the adults positioned the kitchen chairs beside the couch, Ruby, Yang, and Zwei watched them in the dim lighting.

Summer asked Ruby to hand her the sheet, and Ruby reached up to give her a corner of it. Summer pulled the edge of it over one chair, then set a few books onto the seat to hold down the sheet's end.

Yang carried another corner over to their father as he requested, and he fastened that corner on the chair nearest to him.

With two corners of the fort completed, Tai and Summer pulled the other half of the sheet over the couch and secured the ends into the creases of the cushions.

The final product as a large tarp-like structure with several feet of carpeted space underneath it.

"Wow!" Yang gasped. "It's like a giant tent!"

"But now comes the fun part," Summer said with a smile.

She gave the girls the task of gathering every pillow in the house they could reach and bringing them back to the fort. As Ruby and Yang scampered off to their bedroom, Tai pulled a blanket from the hall closet and laid it down beneath the tarp.

Seconds later, excited footfalls and little barks from Zwei indicated that their daughters had returned successful. Yang was holding both hers and Ruby's sleeping pillows while Ruby was holding a small decorative pillow with a smiling dog face on it.

"Perfect!" Summer clapped. "Now put them all in the fort to make it comfy."

The girls crawled underneath the tarp and did just that, throwing their pillows down on top of the blankets Tai had placed over the carpet. Their father took two of the couch's pillows and brought them underneath as well.

Once Ruby and Yang had settled, their parents crawled into the fort with them, and Zwei soon followed.

"This is so cool!" Ruby squealed, rolling around a bit. "I've never heard of a blankie fort before!"

"It's really soft, too," Yang sighed, flopping down onto her stomach into a pile of pillows.

"I'm glad you both like it," Summer smiled.

Tai positioned the flashlight so that it was pointing upward, providing a glow that reflected off the overhead sheet, allowing them all to see fairly well.

Ruby and Yang wrestled the blankets for a moment, burrowing underneath a few of them and letting Zwei come under as well.

Laughter filled the house, light and merry, and Summer shared an affectionate look with Tai. She could see the mischief in his eyes right away and put her hands up.

"Dear, no-"

"Too late!"

With a laugh, he lunged forward and started to tickle her. Summer let out a squeal that reminded them all she was indeed Ruby's mother, high-pitched and childish.

"Tai!" she shrieked, thrashing about in the blankets.

He chuckled as he fended off her counterattacks.

Yang followed her father's lead and tackled Ruby, tickling her to no end. Ruby squealed over and over as she laughed and rolled around.

"Yaaaannng! Stoooppp! Ahahaha!"

Sometimes, Ruby's voice and her mother's were indistinguishable from one another, overlapping in loud giggles.

But it wasn't much longer before Summer overpowered Tai, pushing him away and making her counterattack at last. He howled with laughter, trapped against the side of the couch as Summer darted her fingers all over his sides.

And Ruby might've been small, but she was very, very fast.

Within seconds, she too had rolled away from Yang and ended up behind her, jumping on her to wiggle her fingers all up and down her sister's sides.

"Whoa! R-Ruby- haha!"

"Got yooooouu!"

As Ruby and her mother got their revenge, Tai and Yang had no choice but to surrender.

At last, the pairs pulled apart and Summer gave her youngest daughter a high-five. Tai shrugged to Yang.

"We'll get 'em next time."

Summer smirked triumphantly at him.

"We'd like to see you try."

After that, things started to quiet down, the storm included.

Summer and Tai got comfortable in the sea of blankets, Ruby and Yang curling up side by side.

Summer started to tell them a story, a new fairytale she'd yet to share with them. Ruby was yawning before long, and though she protested that she wanted to hear the end of the story, she soon slumped sideways onto Yang's shoulder. She asked if they needed to go back to their room, but her parents smiled and shook their heads.

"We'll all sleep here tonight," Summer told her. "Just to change things up a bit."

Yang nodded and laid her little sister down on the blankets below, slipping a pillow beneath Ruby's head. Zwei wiggled into the younger girl's side and was soon snoring beside her.

Summer laid down and curled up behind Ruby, and Tai laid down in front of her. Yang slipped in between them both, leaving herself, Ruby, and Zwei in between with one of their parents on either side.

Summer and Tai kissed their daughters goodnight, then shared a kiss of their own.

Yang was struggling to stay awake.

"When's... the power gonna come back?" she wondered sleepily.

"It'll be back by morning," Summer promised.

"Time for bed now, Yang," Tai murmured, kissing her forehead. "Goodnight."

"Mm, g'night..."

Yang yawned again, pulling Ruby and Zwei a little closer.

Summer and Tai kissed them both a few more times, murmuring phrases of love before ultimately falling asleep as well.

That was the last time a storm ever bothered Ruby or Yang.

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A/N: My dilemma about writing Summer and Tai was that I have no idea what they look like, so to solve that - power outage! We can't see them at all, haha. Though I am debating with myself whether I want Summer to be more childish and playful or a bit more collected. Judging by what Yang said about her, I'd like to think she was they type to tickle when the opportunity presented itself. And I imagine she and Tai were rather cuddly for whatever reason.