ᴡʜᴏ: Clover Ebi & Qrow Branwen ᴡʜᴀᴛ: Clover wakes up with Qrow sitting next to him yet again. ᴡʜᴇɴ: Shortly after the big Maleficent showdown ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: Medical Services ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: Minor injuries, major stupidity, enough mutual pining to choke a Grimm.
______________
Clover’s eyes opened slowly and he very carefully started to sit up, staying propped up on his elbows. This felt familiar, only this time, he didn’t feel the overwhelming pain of coming back from the dead. And he remembered most of what happened. The flash of lights in his eyes, the barrage of questions, Qrow’s face. He thought he remembered telling Qrow if he was so worried he could kiss his injuries better, but Clover truly hoped that was just a dream because he was supposed to not be flirting. He didn’t want to make Qrow more uncomfortable.
He noted Qrow sitting in a chair again. “Hey,” he said quietly. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
The sound of Clover's voice made Qrow jump; he'd been drifting just close enough to sleep that he hadn't noticed when he started to stir. He coughed and tried to pretend he hadn't been startled at all. "Not me that keeps ending up stuck in bed."
That made the memory of Clover's delirious offer stir again, and Qrow could feel heat rising in his cheeks as he rubbed ineffectually at the back of his neck. Good thing Clover probably didn't remember that, or Qrow's frankly embarrassing reaction to it. He'd kinda forgotten to keep breathing there for a few seconds, thinking about it, when Clover had just been joking. Just like always.
"How you feeling?" Qrow shook his head, lips tilting into a small, fond smile. "Now that you're done killing a dragon. Lucky for them you were here."
Clover pressed his lips together in an attempt to not smile at the way Qrow jumped. At least he’d been somewhat asleep and not sitting up fussing all night. Probably anyway. “I was kind of hoping that I’d be a little more graceful when I landed, but it seems I was not in luck.” It was kind of hard not to make luck jokes or comments. It was just part of things. This time he didn’t wink, however.
“I’m fine. A little groggy. My head hurts and my ankle. Kind of like being hit by Penny...but more than one of her at once.” He grinned at Qrow’s words. “I am a very lucky person to have around. I agree.” Qrow seemed a little more flustered than normal, but Clover chalked it up to being startled out of his sleep. Slight embarrassment happened.
“How are you? I have very vague memories of what happened immediately after the fact. Not sure what was sleep induced delirium or actual facts.”
"I'm fine." The deep cut Qrow had left on his own arm when he'd retracted Harbinger into a sword was neatly bandaged under the sleeve of his shirt, not quite healed by his Aura yet but already nearly there. Qrow was embarrassed by his own clumsiness and determined not to give Clover anything else to worry about in equal parts.
After all, there was plenty to worry about just with Clover's injuries. "You got a sprained ankle and a concussion, in case that's fuzzy too."
Less terrifying than a sword through the gut, at least. There hadn't been a single moment that Qrow had to worry about whether Clover was going to make it through this one. He couldn't even find a way to blame himself, to feel guilty, this time. That meant the way it'd made him feel sick, seeing him hurt again, that was all about something a little more personal. Qrow wanted...
He'd wanted to kiss it better like Clover had said, smooth Clover's hair back and press his lips to his forehead like that could do something that Auras and doctors couldn't. It ached, not having the right to, but Qrow was good at keeping that kind of ache shoved down where no one could see it.
“Oh no. I can feel that.” Clover smiled. He was glad that Qrow seemed to be doing okay outside of the unusual flustered stuff. He knew that his aura would heal his ankle soon enough. It would be fine. “I’ll be fine. Just give it a little while.” He gave him a smile, moving to sit up a little better.
“So we’re definitely escaping this time, right?” Because Clover didn’t really want to stay here. He wanted to be in their apartment. It could be a little maddening sometimes considering the fact that he wanted to kiss Qrow more than he’d ever say. At least to him. Rhy had a pretty good idea about it. But he didn’t think Qrow wanted to, so he’d left it unsaid. “We can do that food ordering thing and relax for the rest of today.”
"Just had to wait for you to wake up," Qrow promised. Clover would heal just as well at home as he would in Medical, anyway, and it'd be a hell of a lot more comfortable for both of them. "They'll probably wanna look at you again before they let me take you, but I can try to smuggle you outta here without anyone noticing if you really wanna."
Then they had the rest of the day to... huh. "Think we might wanna do some more shopping after you're back on your feet, though. I guess filling an apartment with entertaining crap is the kinda thing you're supposed to do when you settle down."
Even saying the words felt dangerous. Like someone was going to overhear, realize there'd been some kind of mistake and snatch it all away from him. Settling down with Clover... that was the kind of thing that'd never happen to Qrow for real.
“I can deal with one more look, but I’ll be happy to be out of here as soon as possible.” Clover was tired of the medical setting, which meant he’d hope they could avoid any fights for a bit anyway. Just a bit, though. He’d probably get bored if it was too long.
“Yeah,” he agreed. They might want to go do some shopping. But the concept of settling down made his breath catch for a second. He tried to seem normal and behave normal and not at all like a man in the midst of realizing he was caught up in an unfortunate one-sided situation. If he’d been a different, less certain person, he might have said something then and risked all of the positive things that had started developing by way of friendship.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Probably a good idea. Otherwise we might have to face boredom and nothing good comes from boredom.”
He waited patiently for one of the doctors to notice he was awake and look him over, so he could get the go ahead to leave. Once he had it, he looked at Qrow. “Well, I’m voting we escape before they change their minds.”
"They do, you're on your own," Qrow threatened; considering he'd already chosen to stay when there was no reason he absolutely had to, he figured that threat sounded pretty empty. Chances were he'd sit around until someone kicked him out, if they decided to keep him longer.
Then, because he apparently hated himself, he reached out to offer Clover a hand up.
Idiot. Wasn't like Clover probably even needed it... or maybe he did, and maybe he needed to lean on Qrow while they walked because of his ankle, and it sounded as much like hell as it did like a very guilty pleasure.
"I'm thinking we get something bad for us tonight. You earned it."
Clover nearly swatted him, but managed to control himself. “Fair, but considering your habit of sleeping in uncomfortable chairs, I sincerely doubt you would leave me here.” It was nearly enough to make him consider the fact that maybe he was being an idiot about everything. Only Qrow had a weird habit of blaming himself for other people’s injuries, so he might have felt like it was his fault and stayed out of obligation. The thought of it made his stomach drop.
Taking Qrow’s hand, Clover considered the fact that he was probably okay to walk on his own, but he wanted to be close to Qrow. Because he wanted, very much, to pretend that their situation was different. But it wasn’t.
Breathing out, he put a little weight on his ankle. It wasn’t the worst, but it still wasn’t the best either. “Just don’t let me embarrass myself by falling.” He didn’t know why his mind insisted on making him wink then, but it did. It made him hate himself just a little bit. “And I am all for whatever something bad for us means.” It was sheer force of will that kept him from winking again. He was pretty sure if he kept this up, he was going to be in trouble. He was supposed to not flirt, not turn everything into flirting by winking after he said it. Ugh.
That wink did things to Qrow's stomach that would have been pleasant if there'd been any hope of it leading somewhere. Instead it was just uncomfortable, with Qrow thinking of all the ways he could embarrass himself because of the look on Clover's face, the place his mind started to go when he really thought about doing something bad with him. Clover probably didn't even realize he was doing it. He hadn't signed up for some unlucky bastard throwing himself at him.
"Please," he said instead of begging for what he couldn't have. "You fall and you'll just end up landing on a pile of gold or something."
He heaved Clover's arm around his shoulders anyway, their sides nearly plastered together. It was hell, but the closest to paradise that Qrow would probably ever get. He didn't make eye contact with anyone on their way out. You know. Just in case they could see everything he was feeling on his face.
Clover laughed at Qrow’s words. “Wouldn’t that be lucky?” But he didn’t think that’s what would happen. Since he’d been entirely unlucky in being a reasonable fucking person. If he wasn’t entirely terrified of destroying everything, he was fairly certain he’d have kissed Qrow already. So much for being lucky.
He allowed himself to be led out of the medbay by Qrow, trying to ignore the warmth at his side. He was already regretting all of this.