-xxx-
The meal was relaxed, easy. Talking to Clover was effortless somehow. It almost felt weirdly like being alone. The meal was good and the fire leant warmth and comfort. Qrow enjoyed watching the light change on Clover's face. He was so clean cut… too good to be true.
I'm a terrible influence, thought Qrow happily. I'll fix him up.
"Tell me about Harbinger," Clover said, leaning forward.
"What, you two on a first name basis now?" Qrow asked.
"After sparring with you I looked it up," Clover looked away.
"You really need to get more hobbies," Qrow said, enjoying the attention just a little.
"I'm good."
"Well… there isn't much to tell. I made it myself. Took forever but worth the time. We get along pretty well."
"Yourself!? The file didn't say that…"
"Nice to know I still have a few surprises up my sleeve."
"But it's so complex! How did you get the choke on the shot gun so tight? Why don't you use the scythe when you're sparring? How the hell do you just wave it around like that? It must weight a ton!"
"Easy there, soldier. One question at a time."
Clover looked at him, eyes shining, "I can't even remember what I asked."
"You told me you were smooth but you're just a dork," Qrow said, with affection.
"I only look like a dork next to you. It's not my fault you're Mr Cool. How am I supposed to compete?"
At that moment a passing waitress tripped on a piece of the carpet and drenched Clover in soup.
"Don't know if that would have been my first choice," Qrow grinned.
"Ah," Clover scrunched his nose up as he scraped peas off his black shirt, "no dessert then I suppose."
"Oh Sir! I'm so sorry! I don't know wha.." the waitress cried.
"Don't worry about it," Qrow said, standing, "I think we were leaving anyway."
Clover grabbed a napkin and helped to clean up the mess while Qrow, true to his word, paid for the meal.
Clover held the door for Qrow to leave and they fell in step easily, auras keeping them warm in the biting snow. Clover reached out and took Qrow's hand. It felt strange to have a hand bigger than his wrapping his fingers. Reassuring.
"So, you sick of all the bad luck yet?" Qrow asked.
"Nope."
"Yeah, I asked for that. What are we up to now? Two rubble slides, two falling grim, one lightning strike, one giant hole in the ground and…"
"One bowl of soup," Clover said cheerfully.
"You don't sound bothered," Qrow sighed, the warm fingers squeezed his hand.
"I'm not. It doesn't matter what the world throws at me. Nothing has even scratched me."
"The soup got you pretty good."
Clover looked down at his shirt, "Yeah ok, I am completely saturated."
"How do you think the teams are going?"
Clover stopped walking, sensing the change in mood, "I think they're going well. They have all learned a lot from training together. Blake and Yang did a combination move yesterday which sent Elm flying. That's nothing to sneeze at."
"Yeah, they're smart girls," Qrow said, not meeting his gaze.
"They've had a great teacher," Clover put a hand out and cupped his chin, lifting it so he could look Qrow in the eyes.
"When will you stop going on about that?"
"When you acknowledge how great you are."
"Ok. I'm amazing. There."
"Hmmm," Clover smiled, "Think we can work on your delivery," he leaned forward and Qrow lifted his chin. The kiss was tender, sweet. It made his chest hurt feeling Clover wrap his arms around him, pull him into his warm embrace.
Finally Clover stepped away, "We should get you out of the cold."
"I'm not the one covered in pea soup."
"Don't worry about me, I'm invincible."
"That so?" Qrow asked.
A piece of masonry separated from the building above them. They both looked up, then Clover met Qrow's gaze and smiled.
"Hey ar.." Qrow started, panic rising in his eyes. The stone block dropped inches behind Clover's head and slammed into the pavement, sending a cloud of dust and snow high into the air.
"See?" Clover winked.
Qrow just stood there and looked at him. He had never felt a greater urge to just hold someone.
"You ok?" Clover asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't think I might worry you. I'm actual very careful, though it might not look it."
"I'm not worried! Just don't do that to me you jerk!" Qrow grumbled.
Clover looked at him, "You are so cute when you're angry," he whispered.
"And you're cute with your ears still attached so come on, let's get home," Qrow said.
-xxx-
"Can I clean myself up in your room?" Clover asked.
"Sure… don't want the Ace ops hearing us stumbling around this late?" Qrow teased.
"Something like that."
Qrow walked in his door and hit a light, grimacing at the state of the place.
Clover took off his shirt slowly, peeling the wet fabric from his chest. He held the shirt in the air and Qrow was momentarily struck dumb, Clover's bare chest was a perfect map of anatomy, every muscle as defined as if it were sculpted in glass…
"Uh… Qrow… where should I put this? Sink?" Clover waved the shirt in front of his glazed eyes and laughed, "I like it when you look at me like that. Maybe we should have dinner more often."
Qrow shook his head, "And let my bad luck ruin everything?"
"Once again, your bad luck is my good luck. I was beginning to think that I'd have to schedule a bunk inspection just to get in here."
"Man I would really fail a bunk inspection," Qrow sighed.
"Yes," Clover nodded, a little grossed out, "Yes you would."
"Do you have a cloth that I can use to get the rest of the soup off?"
"She really got you good, huh?"
"It's a whole bowl."
Qrow laughed.
"That's better," Clover smiled, "I love hearing you laugh."
"Well, it might be a long time between drinks."
"I can live with that. Do you like pea soup?" Clover asked, one eyebrow twitching.
"Not really. Why?"
"If we don't find something to wipe this off with soon, you might end up eating some of it."
"Just… come and have a shower. The bathroom is cleaner than…" Qrow gestured to the chaos.
"Yes Sir," Clover snapped off his salute and marched off into the bathroom, throwing his belt out the door as he entered.
"You coming?" Clover called out, "There's this one spot on my back…"
"You are so impatient," Qrow grinned.
-xxx-
Qrow rolled over, a sleepy smile finding his lips before he'd even opened his eyes. The bed was warm with the heat of two bodies but as he stretched, he could feel that the other side was empty. Where's Clover? He sat upright, panic clenching his gut.
Clover was standing a few metres away, doing something at the sink. He was topless and even in the slanting morning light, he looked amazing.
"Morning gorgeous," he said without turning around.
Qrow blinked and rubbed his eyes, "Wait… are you cleaning my room?"
"I woke up early… didn't want to wake you," Clover grinned and held up a dish cloth, "I haven't made much of a dent yet but I can always come back later…"
Qrow pushed the sheets off and stood, remembering a little too late that he was still completely naked.
Clover looked him up and down, "Well, good morning to you too," he grinned. Before Qrow could figure out how to make his boner magically disappear, Clover had closed the space between them. He put his hands on Qrow's are hips and kissed his forehead. "It's still early…" he whispered.
Qrow's bare chest touched Clover's and his whole body thrummed with the rush of hot skin on skin.
"I don't know… I wouldn't want to be late to the briefing. My boss is a real hard ass."
Clover lifted a few strands of dark hair from Qrow's brow to look him in the eyes, "I'm sure he'd understand."
-xxx-
They were both late this time. It made Qrow laugh so much watching Clover stride in trying to be all Mr Professional. He had a big love bite on his neck that he hadn't noticed yet.
"Ok then, apologies for the wait," Clover brought the screen up, offering no excuses.
Yang kept waving and trying to meet his eye. After realising that she'd do this all day, Qrow looked. She was pointing at Clover with wild gestures of "what happened?"
If you're too young to figure that out, then I probably shouldn't tell you, Qrow thought. Then again, what's one more inappropriate story?
"Miss Xiao Long," Clover's voice echoed through the room, calm and in control, "If you could hold off for a few minutes the briefing will be over."
Yang snapped back in her seat, grinning.
As soon as Clover stopped talking, Yang bounded up to Qrow and hurled herself into the next seat. "You two are suddenly very cosy!"
"What can I say? I'm a friendly guy."
Yang lowered her voice, "I saw you smile before."
"You take that back."
Yang looked at him, assessing him with a critical eye. "You have it bad!" she cried, chuckling.
"I hate mornings," Qrow said.
"You have it bad! It's ok I won't tell anyone but… no stories, ok? Just… no stories," she pulled a face.
"I thought you liked my stories," Qrow pouted, mock-hurt.
Yang nodded furiously, "Yeaaaaahhh we do! Of course we do! Just not..."
Qrow laughed, "Alright kiddo, I'll spare you the details, hey?"
"Yeah! No worries!" she said hastily, standing and striding off.
Ha! Finally managed to embarrass her! Ruby was so easy to shock but Yang… Sometimes he'd worried she was better with women than he was.
"Are you ready to seize the day?" Clover asked, strolling down from the front of the room.
"No. Why would you even ask that?"
"I guess I forget who I'm talking to…" Clover got a little lost in those red eyes OH SO BEAUTIFUL WHY!? "…would you like to work in a different team today?"
Qrow looked at him, puzzled. He doesn't want to work with me…
"You've already done the missions. The whole… clipboard thing? Remember that?"
Clover laughed, "I can add you anywhere, no one will ask about it. Plans change."
"You sick of me already?" Qrow tried not to let the hurt into his voice.
"No. Of course not, I just thought… We've been in each other's pockets. I've been taking up all your time… Maybe you'd like…" Clover started to slowly turn red, "About what I said at dinner…"
"What did you say?" Qrow asked, baiting.
"You are so mean," Clover continued to turn pink.
"I'm sorry," Qrow smiled, "but I have to be mean. You turn pink. It's the most adorable thing I've ever seen…"
Clover stepped closer and they stood together in the middle of the room, unable to touch but feeling all the same.
"Uh… I guess we should go," Clover gestured at the door, "do you want to… come with me?"
"You've already put us together. Clipboard thing."
Clover shook his head, "I guess I did. Qrow, I…"
"No. Morning. I've done enough. Come on sweet cheeks, lead the way."
-xxx-