ᴡʜᴏ: Clover Ebi & Qrow Branwen ᴡʜᴀᴛ: Celebrating getting through a fight unscathed. ᴡʜᴇɴ: Saturday, February 15, post-Maleficent attack ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: JJ's Diner ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: They’re both so stupid. It’s so sad. Also some feels regarding past trauma and spoilers for Volume 7
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Picking Harbinger up to fight again the first time, when he'd sparred with Tahiri, had nearly driven Qrow to put his weapon down for good. His hands had shaken and no matter how clean he'd wiped the blade he could still see it covered in Clover's blood. Harbinger had been Qrow's most constant companion for the last two decades; not being able to look at it without remembering Clover bleeding in the snow would have been a harsh blow.
What had saved him had been the fact that Clover hadn't been there. It wasn't going to happen again. Clover wasn't going to end up impaled on his blade in some cruel twist of fate. And... explaining what the problem was to a stranger, to a kid a little younger than Ruby, that wasn't something Qrow had wanted to do. He'd pulled himself together and eventually he'd managed to drive it from his mind completely. But... that'd been without Clover.
Drawing Harbinger with Clover beside him had been something else altogether. Qrow had been thinking about it the whole time, conscious of where Clover was, waiting for something bad to happen.
But here they were, neither one of them with a scratch on him. Their Auras had taken a beating but they hadn't broken. Everything had gone... fine, as long as you weren't looking at the fact that she'd gotten away. Other people had gotten hurt, maybe, but for once Qrow was pretty sure he actually hadn't had anything to do with it. There weren't too many times Qrow felt like celebrating but this, this was one of them. And maybe a diner wasn't the classiest place for a celebration, but it was cheap and Qrow didn't exactly have refined tastes.
He'd eaten with Clover before, but he hadn't realized until they sat down with menus that it was a little different to eat out with someone. A little more formal. A little more open. "Gotta admit, she just doesn't stack up to Salem when it comes to being terrifying."
Fighting beside Qrow had been different. Sure, they’d had work and things, but this was different. He was aware of where Qrow was and did his best to assist where he could. He was quietly frustrated that the woman in question got away, but at least it seemed most of the people made it out okay.
He had been happy to stretch his legs and get back into the game. It was also nice not to have Qrow questioning if he was up to it. He knew he was kind of in a post-near death situation, but he wasn’t going to let that change how he did things.
Now that they were eating, Clover looked up at Qrow, smiling a little. “It’s true. She’s not really scary so much as annoying. Gotta admit she’s got some skill, though. At least we have some idea of how she fights now, however.”
"That mean you're coming up with some sort of strategy for taking her down?" Qrow was teasing, sure, but it wasn't like he wasn't already thinking about it too. Once you knew how someone fought, that was when you could start planning. She was hard to get close to, that much was for sure. And that magic...
Qrow had never seen magic, real magic, outside of Oz. They were in a different world now; he knew there were going to be all kinds of things that he hadn't seen before. This, though, this was really starting to make it sink in.
At least Qrow and Clover were probably as strange for all of these people as they were for Qrow and Clover. Put them all on equal footing.
“What? And you’re not already thinking about it yourself?” Clover gave him another smile. He knew for a fact that Qrow had to be in the same line of thought. When you had someone to fight, you just needed to figure out a plan. Only they might need some more people to their group. He studied Qrow for a moment before saying, “Think we should see if anyone’s trying to form a group to fight her and what the plan is? I’d like to make us a two person only group, but I think we might do better with more than just us. And if we’re going to get a chance to fight her again, a strategic way of doing so ahead of time might help us out.”
He took a sip of his water, glancing around at the people that were actually there. There weren’t that many of them, honestly. A lot of people seemed to have disappeared since they’d showed up. “Can’t hurt, really.”
Even though Qrow had started to get... comfortable, partnering with Clover, the thought of a bigger group, a real team, still made him wince. Should've figured Clover would go there though. It was what he knew. What he was comfortable with. The more people Qrow was close to, though, the bigger the chances that something would go wrong.
It wasn't even a little about wondering if Clover would find himself a better partner. Honest.
"Little short on time to get comfortable working with a new team now," Qrow commented instead. "Not saying not to check. Just putting it out there. We're the new guys."
And sure, people had been weirdly nice so far. They were having a damn game night with Rhy and his husband. A game night! No one had ever invited Qrow to something like that before. Still didn't mean they'd find anyone wanting to take the risk of fighting as a team.
“Short on time never stopped anyone before.” And he figured he could get to know more people around to see if they’d let them help as much as they could. That Steve guy seemed okay in their meeting. Had a lot of questions, but that wasn’t new. He was happy to direct them through the questions, letting Qrow give his two cents, but the people at the Bureau seemed to run similar enough to the military. It made it easier to understand. He wondered idly what sort of secrets they had here since there’d been so many back home.
“Worried they won’t accept you into their groups, are you?” Which seemed likely. Qrow was always worried about other people when it came to him. Worried he’d do something to put them in danger, worried people wouldn’t like him. It seemed counterintuitive to try to make people dislike him when he seemed to think about it so much. Then again, he said he didn’t always have to make them. But Clover didn’t question it too much. “Where I go, you go or I don’t go. So I wouldn’t worry about it.” That was the deal now.
"I'm not worried about that," Qrow said. Even though yeah, he was. A little, anyway. Not like they all knew why they shouldn't want him around yet. He was just... a cynical alcoholic loner who'd never bothered to pick up much in the way of social skills. Not really the kind of past that screamed 'plays well with others.'
That promise, though, that left a warmth in Qrow's chest that made him want to duck his face so Clover wouldn't see the look on his face. He couldn't let himself believe it would last though. Not again.
"Just figured they've already got a setup they're comfortable with, is all." And yeah, Clover could probably fit into it smoothly, but Qrow...
Clover noted the way Qrow looked down. Like maybe he didn’t want him to see something. Clover assumed it was that he was actually worried about it even though he said he wasn’t. “All right.” He resisted the urge to reach over and touch him as a sign of support even though he seemed to be looking for just about any reason to touch him these days. It wasn’t worth getting excited about. Better that Qrow not suspect anything was out of sorts.
“Yeah. Maybe. But they seemed to be interested in our expertise, so I think we’ve got a pretty good chance of being useful to them.” He shrugged, taking a bite of his food. “Unless you were hoping to learn a new skill. I guess we could do that.” He laughed softly at the concept. “Apparently that’s what’s in these days.”
"Think I'm a little too old to be learning new tricks now," Qrow told him. "And I doubt they need a teacher who doesn't know anything about the world we're in. Didn't hear anything about a combat school here."
Probably wouldn't hurt to have one, but Qrow wasn't planning on suggesting it to anyone. Just... an awful lot of kids around to get caught up in those battles Molly had told him about.
"Guess you're right about us being useful, though. For now, at least." They'd see what happened after the fairy was gone.
Clover studied him for a moment, smirking. “You look good for someone who claims to be so old.” There was a pause before he added. “Lucky you.” It was absolutely flirting, but he figured it would come off as a light teasing instead. Something he didn’t need to think about.
“I don’t think there are any combat schools.” But he couldn’t say for sure. Maybe there was something or there would be some means of teaching if it was something Qrow wanted in the end. “And I’m always right about us being useful.” Because they had plenty to offer. Even after this. They’d figure it out as they went. “But now that we’re done fighting, what do you want to do after we’re done eating?”
It took Qrow a minute to answer, mostly because he was trying to figure out what Clover meant by the whole 'looking good' business. It wasn't true, for one. He figured he looked every year of his age, maybe more. Aura couldn't protect against the effects of a couple of decades of heavy drinking and...
And Clover was just giving him crap. Obviously. Hopefully he hadn't noticed that he'd almost sent Qrow into a heart attack with it. Worst part was that he'd probably let Qrow down so easy if he thought Qrow was taking it seriously.
He wasn't. Men weren't... sure, there'd been a couple times when he was younger, but Qrow had always been more a fan of the ladies. It was just. Clover. No one could resist having a guy that looked like that, with those arms and that smile shoot him a wink and keep complimenting him.
So. Ah. Maybe Qrow was more interested in men than he'd taken the time to realize. Not the time to have that little panic now. Just like it hadn't been the first time Clover had hit him with that 'lucky you' line.
"Uh. What? Sorry, kinda. Zoned out there for a second."
Clover had his own moment, which ended in him just staring awkwardly at Qrow. As much as he figured it would be taken as a joke, he hadn’t expected him to just not respond. He didn’t let his smile leave his face because he was nothing if he wasn’t a good soldier and so he knew a thing or two about how to act like he wasn’t disappointed when he was.
“What did you want to do after we were done eating...is what I asked.” He didn’t bother to bring up the other part because he had a feeling that he’d insulted Qrow somehow or upset him in some way. Part of him was ready to leave and lie on the bed. Part of him wanted to ask Rhy what the fuck this whole situation was, but that would mean admitting that he had feelings for Qrow to someone else. And right now, he was more content with the idea of lying in his room and slowly dying inside. “But I just realized I’m kind of tired, so it might be better to go back to the apartment.” Where he was living...with Qrow...because apparently he hated himself.
That seemed like a pretty good sign that Clover had noticed Qrow getting all weird—and now he was trying to be nice, probably just offering to go home because he thought Qrow didn't want to go out. Not that he was wrong. Going back and hiding in his room so he could have a meltdown with a little privacy sounded like a great idea. But Clover missing out because he was trying to make Qrow feel more comfortable, that left him feeling kind of sick with guilt. And Clover wouldn't just go without him. Not after making a big deal about them sticking together.
"That, ah. No, going out sounds good. Unless you're... too tired." Qrow wasn't sure what all their options were, but he was pretty sure he'd seen something about a theater. "Wanna check out what kinda movies they make here?"
Because sticking himself in a dark room for a couple hours with a guy he maybe, sorta, definitely found attractive, that was gonna end well.
There was a flutter of hope that had him look up, but he pushed it down because Qrow probably felt bad about not hearing him. He shook his head. “Nah. It’s fine. We should get some rest. Who knows what tomorrow’s gonna bring and we don’t want to get stuck being overtired.” Because if he had to sit in a dark room with Qrow for the amount of time a movie would take, he would probably go insane. Mostly cause he was already disappointed that his flirtations were entirely ignored. Even if he’d sort of figured they’d be taken for a joke if Qrow wasn’t interested. Laughed off and not weird. Except they weren’t laughed off and it was just weird now.
“I’m kinda tired anyway.” Which was a lie. He wasn’t anywhere near tired. He was just embarrassed and awkward and not at all sure how he got to this place where he had feelings that were enough to be jostled just because Qrow had ignored the obvious flirtations. He needed to sort himself out and get his head back into the game that mattered: making sure they were still friends at the end of this bullshit. He couldn’t ruin that just because he’d had the misfortune (ha) of catching feelings.
That little voice in Qrow's head, the one that sounded a lot like Raven, reminded him that of course Clover wouldn't want to do anything that could possibly be interpreted as a date with him. Not that Qrow had been... he knew better. He wasn't the kind of guy you held hands with at the movies. He was the kind of guy you spent a couple of sweaty hours with and then forgot about before his bad luck could catch up to you. And Clover, he could snag a date with anyone he wanted, so why would he waste his time with Qrow?
"Yeah. Guess you're right." Qrow didn't quite keep the hint of bitterness out of his voice. This, this was why he stayed away from anyone who wasn't family. How pathetic was he? A man his age, latching on to someone who was just being nice to him.
It was fine. Qrow could keep everything to himself until even Clover gave up on him.
"Felt good to get back in the field," Qrow said, because if the silence started hanging too heavy there was a decent chance he'd say something he regretted, instead.
The way Qrow’s voice sounded made Clover’s gaze drop. He felt ill. It was ridiculous. All of this was ridiculous. And now Qrow was displeased with him. All because he’d been stupid enough to put himself out there and now he wasn’t sure how to go back. Maybe if he just left it alone, Qrow would forget and he’d be able to move past this. He was going to have to cut back on the flirtations. They were only making Qrow uncomfortable, which clearly wasn’t helping the already terse situation.
He poked at his food with his fork for a little while before eating something, but his mouth tasted sour. He pushed forward a smile, putting on an act because if he didn’t, he thought he’d get into trouble. “Yeah. It was nice. I’ve missed it a little. Been going a bit stir crazy, haven’t you?”
"Yeah." Qrow could do normal. Everything about this was completely, totally normal. "I know we've only been here a few days, but I'm not used to having nothing to do for so long."
That was what he needed. Once they were busy again he wouldn't have time to think about how hopeless all of this was anymore.
Qrow could really use a Grimm attack right then. "You miss being in charge?"
Absolutely anything would have been better than the awkward feeling of rejection when you hadn’t really had a second to figure out what else to do. He knew Qrow felt some kind of way about himself, but Clover had always been fairly confident in his ability to overcome that until this moment.
“A little. Used to a team. But I don’t feel like I’m not in charge anyway. At least in charge of what I do while I’m here.” Which was honestly different. Not bad. Just different. He knew better than to ask if Qrow missed things from home. Of course he did. All of this was ridiculous.
"In charge of what we do here, and we still pick fighting monsters," Qrow said. Not that he had any complaints about that. It was a relief that there was something to fight. Retirement had never sounded good to him. He'd hated trying to settle into a more sedentary job at Signal. He figured he was going to be fighting until his luck finally got the best of him.
There was something missing from Clover's voice now... or maybe Qrow was making it up. He couldn't put a finger on what it was, but it wasn't right. Made him feel small inside.
It could be that Clover was just tired, like he'd said. That seemed too easy an answer, though.
“You expected something different?” He felt a hint of amusement despite the sinking feeling in his stomach. “No one trains that much for something only to never do it.” He couldn’t imagine choosing something else. Not here and not now. He supposed with time he might need to adjust his outlook, but it wouldn’t be right away.
He ate some more of his food, letting his mind wander a little from the conversation and the setting. He hoped that he would find something to focus on that wasn’t feeling like some teenager over an idiot man. Letting himself come back, he blinked a few times. “You ready to go back to the apartment? I think the excitement caught up with me a little. I really could stand to get some rest.” And to escape the current situation, but he’d play up the tired act until they were home.
"Sure." Qrow had started to lose his appetite anyway; the food he'd already eaten was sitting heavy in his stomach. His luck, he'd end up puking it back up on Clover and then he'd really want to spend time with Qrow, wouldn't he?
With that pleasant thought in mind, it was a relief to push his plate away. "I got this one."
Seemed like the least Qrow could do to make up for the fact that he'd somehow managed to make everything awkward and just sort of awful in general. Way to go, him. If he hadn't already known exactly why Clover might want to get away from him, this would be enough of a reason all by itself. It felt a little like the beginning of the end. If Qrow was smart, he'd go ahead and finish ruining it right now so it wouldn't be even worse later... but he wasn't smart, and he was too selfish to put them out of their misery.