Thursday, February 7th, PGW79, La Belle de l'Ange, Commercial Section of Vale, 15:27 Hours.

"I'll be back soon," Roman reassured him, placing his folded napkin down to the direct left of his plate. "Nature calls and all that."

Qrow nodded and slouched back on his chair, letting Roman head off to the restaurant's bathroom. As soon as he was out of eyesight, Qrow kicked up the legs, leaning against the wall behind him. The lunch rush was nearly over, and only a few couples lingered, just as Roman had predicted. Roman knew the Commercial section better than Qrow did, and loved taking the man out to meals. Qrow hardly had the chance to enjoy the city as often as he had during his Beacon days, after all. Roman's knowledge of the city, however, came at the cost of his career as a master thief, which was a fact that Qrow had to push to the back of his mind as to not let it ruin their day. He sighed at the thought, and cast his gaze to the left to peer out into the street.

The sun shone on the sidewalk, on the cars and couples, on the foot traffic and vendors, and, unfortunately, on the form of one General James Ironwood, the sight of which promptly gave Qrow a heart attack. His chair fell forward, ducking Qrow out of sight of the window, but the General had already spotted him.

Barely a minute had passed before the door swung open, and the poor hostess had been politely denied as James stalked over to Qrow.

"Where have you been?" he asked, getting straight to the point. "I've been trying to contact you all day. I'm just getting back from an exhibition -"

"Here," Qrow interrupted, glaring at James, who had taken a seat during his spiel. "I've been here, having lunch, for the past half hour." He lowered his voice and leaned across the table, staring James right in the eye. "I know Oz doesn't need me until tonight, and I'm not gonna turn my Scroll on just so I can be at your beck and call."

"Oh, so for once you learn manners?" James asked, sitting straight up and raising an eyebrow. Qrow glared back in response, setting his jaw.

"I can be polite to people I actually respect," Qrow hissed, temper flaring. "And right now, you're on my shit list, Jimmy. Get lost."

The General's eyes narrowed, and he refused to budge. "Not until you actually listen to me for once, Qrow. I'll leave you to your -" Ironwood flicked his eyes down at the table, and then back up to Qrow, crossing his arms. "meal when I'm done. Whoever you're with can wait."

Qrow's expression turned dark. "I'm not kicking R-" Qrow floundered for a second before recovering, "them to the curb just because you can't wait for a mission debriefing. I'll talk to you, Glyn, and Oz later tonight."

James' expression turned suspicious in its own right. "What are you hiding?"

Qrow bit the inside of his cheek, looking over to the floor. "Look, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just, well, say it." Qrow met Ironwood eyes, barely keeping his glare in check. "I'm on a date."

Ironwood's eyes widened in shock. "You have friends?"

"Why, yes, he does!" Roman said, an eerily cheery cadence to his voice. He clapped Ironwood on the shoulders, causing both James and Qrow to jump in their seats. "What a pleasant surprise to see you here, General, but I must say, you are in my seat. Care to stand?"

It wasn't a question.

Ironwood rose to his feet, bewilderment written all over his face. Before he could say a word, Roman had slipped into his chair, balancing his chin on his palm. He shot Qrow a darling smile, which the Huntsman didn't return.

"Are you crazy?" Qrow and Ironwood both asked at the same time, for entirely different reasons.

A slight blush tinged Qrow's cheeks, but Roman waved Ironwood off with a magnanimous hand. "I have my moments, General, but I do think you're the crazy one for barging in on our meal." Roman shot James an innocent smile, to wit the man blinked in shock.

"I should arrest you."

"Qrow's said much the same. Luckily, I happen to have a lovely personality."

Qrow groaned and put his head in his hands, a slight whimper escaping him. Qrow felt Roman touch his arm, but he didn't bother to look up.

"Seriously, General, what could possibly be so important that you had to interrupt our date?" Roman asked, his tone so offended it was as if James had insulted his mother. Blindsided, Ironwood shook his head, thrown completely off his game.

"Nothing I'm going to discuss with the likes of you," Ironwood snapped, once he had recovered from the personality that was Roman Torchwick. By that time, Qrow had pulled out his Scroll, ignored his alerts from James, and sent a quick texts to Ozpin and Glynda. The point of the messages was clear-cut and simple: keep the cops from coming down on the restaurant due to James overreacting. Neither needed to know more.

Well, Qrow was pretty sure Ozpin had already figured out that something had changed in his life, but the man was too polite to ever ask outright, unless something drastic went down.

Qrow hoped this chance encounter wouldn't be it. By no means did he want to have that conversation. Once the little 'delivered' notification popped up, Qrow raised his head to see James' hand twitch dangerously toward where he kept his gun.

"Jimmy," Qrow cut in, before either man could shoot the other. There really was no getting out of the meeting tonight. "We can talk about this later." Qrow met Ironwood's eyes, meaning shining from within. "Deal with it then, and quit spreading negativity."

The General balked, but settled down with a frown. "I expect a full report," he said, trying to regain some symbolism of sensibility and class. He took a few steps around Roman, gazing at the criminal with hate in his eyes. "And this one to be behind bars."

Roman gave Ironwood a small wave of goodbye, only serving to anger the man more with his angelic, innocuous smile. "Have a lovely day, General," Roman called after him, before turning back to Qrow. His expression fell into seriousness, leaning forward on the table. "Should we -"

"We're safe to finish the meal," Qrow muttered, leaning back and running a hand over his face. "I'm so sorry about him. He's usually this much of an ass, but I didn't expect. . ." Qrow lowered his hand and gazed around the room, a guilt-ridden blush covering his cheeks. Most of the patrons had gone back to their meals, but not without a few rude and scathing glances sent their way. "This."

"It's fine," Roman reassured him, a soft smile slipping onto his face. It soon turned wicked. "It was awful fun messing with him."

Qrow snorted slightly, picking his fork back up and listlessly stabbing at his food. "Won't disagree there."

Roman frowned as Qrow's mood plummeted. He reached out and took his lover's hand, stroking his thumb over the back of Qrow's palm. "Hey, chickadee," Roman said, and Qrow flicked his eyes up. The smirk blossoming on Roman's face sent a chill down Qrow's spine. "He said 'full report', didn't he?"

Qrow blinked and nodded, propping his head up on his palm as Roman leaned closer across the table. Roman's lips grazed across his before he pulled back, and Qrow grinned as he began to catch on to what Roman was selling him. It was a devilish idea, as was standard.

"Why don't we give him something to remember?~"