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The two walked down a moonlit corridor leading to the residence hall where their rooms would be. Clover had been given the order to show the other huntsman to his room, and it was an order he’d been more than happy to comply with. He had some thoughts on his mind he needed to let out.
When Qrow had been brought in a short while before, he didn’t know the man save for some details the general had given him and what information the huntsman registry had on offer as well. The air was different now. With the memories lost and regained from six timelines that had played out before the current one, they were currently well acquainted with one another. Uncomfortably so, perhaps.
This air needed clearing.
“The part I’m still having a hard time processing,” Clover said, circling his wrist as he fanned a hand around the side of his head in a gesture of confusion, “the part I’m still hung up on... I’m not the only one who thought the whole bit in that last scenario leading up to you and Tyrian ganging up on me seemed weird, right? Before I died in Jinn’s vision of that timeline.”
Qrow’s eyes widened as he threw his hands forward, exasperated. Agreeing, he turned to the man next to him and hissed out, “I mean, was anyone - anybody other than that bastard thinking in that scenario?”
The two men shared a muted chuckle.
“I guess not. And I’ve gotta say, I didn’t expect it to go as bad as it did. I know that wasn’t the first alternate timeline she showed us where I died, but having your sword run through me by a serial killer who we’d just worked with Robyn to arrest? That was new.”
Qrow momentarily stopped in his tracks and averted his eyes, casting them and his face downward in what the other could only assume may have been some guilt.
Really?
Clover, having none of this, brought his curled fingers under the other’s chin, firmly pulling the other’s head up to face his. Now try that again, his eyes said with a raise of his brows and a pout.
“I... I dunno what to tell you,” the other sighed in resignation, “but I’m pretty confident I can say that the part where we didn’t try to deescalate the situation and talk things out definitely felt off. Like to get from point A to point C, there was supposed to be a point B that made sense somewhere in there...” he trailed off, turning his red eyes to the window next to them, smiling bitterly.
“And for some reason it was nowhere to be found,” the teal eyed man finished, running a hand down the side of his own neck with a shaky sigh. The other’s crimsons flitted back to meet his eyes. It was momentary, but Clover caught a brief flicker from a thought behind those pools that seemed to draw some light into them as he opened his mouth to speak.
“Here’s the thing though - a point B that made sense wouldn’t have led to a point C like that one, so you know what the whole thing ended up looking like instead?” Qrow forced out a laugh and continued, “like ‘hey - timeline here - sorry, couldn’t come up with a point B that made sense so here’s a haphazardly thrown in point Z instead!’”
Seeing the taller man nearly double over from hearing his Jinn impersonation, Qrow found an unapologetic smile somehow spreading itself across his own face. He was unable to stop it, and felt compelled to continue, “‘See how this is totally working and not at all out of character for everyone here except Tyrian?’ I mean, no one who actually would think in this scenario was thinking, for crying out loud!”
Recollecting himself as the last of his laughter died out, he wiped a tear from his eye and replied, “Well, we did ask for all our memories back. Definitely can’t complain for a lack of delivery on that front.”
“And who’s gonna stop me? That part hurt.”
“Qrow, my suspension of disbelief was dropped the minute that version of me decided the right thing to do was press on without stopping to properly assess the situation... or I mean, ignore anyone else in the cabin talking sense,” he snorted before continuing, “it might surprise you but after all the other scenarios that played out before that, the part where we fucked up and Tyrian killed me had me laughing. A-and to clarify,” he coughed, clearing his throat as he saw Qrow’s expression already shifting to incredulous, “I never meant the part where you broke down after the fact - that actually got me to stop. I meant the part where I said I wanted to trust you, forgetting Tyrian was there, and then getting stabbed. For lying maybe - could you believe that version of me said I didn’t trust you when that’s exactly what I’d been doing up until that point?”
Qrow didn’t know how to respond to that.
There had been at least a couple of other timelines among the bunch where circumstances brought him down first. He recalled watching Clover visibly distressed and in mourning over losing Qrow after the fact when it did happen - in the Atlesian soldier way where it would be kept well behind closed doors and out of view, that is. Is it possible that the other had already become desensitized to watching either of them fall by the point the sixth timeline came around? Even Qrow had to admit he felt so drained by the sixth round that the viewing experience left him more numb and tired by that point than it did anything else.
Briefly remembering how those bright eyes staring into his dulled multiple times before as the light faded from them, he couldn’t help holding his breath for a moment. What had it been like for him when those blues looked into his reds the instances where time came for him first?
He didn’t know.
He did, however, know that since leaving the office there was now an undeniable new fear that embedded itself into his psyche that hadn’t been there before. At this point he understood how he might be afraid to watch both halves of Solitas crumble under the weight of cowardice and misplaced trust. He understood how he might be afraid for his nieces fighting a battle on fronts he wouldn’t always be able to reach. He even understood how he could feel afraid that his choice to turn things around might prove for naught; how and at what point the fate of the man before him became another item on his growing list of anxieties seemed more irrelevant pondering of it, and he supposed it shouldn’t surprise him now.
There was something else niggling there though.
Their distance was narrow. The shifting and softening glow of the moonlight through those aqua blues - it almost looked like an invitation, didn’t it? Could it really just be wishful thinking to assume the way his eyes relaxed as they looked into his own, perhaps a bit longer than they should, may well be? The other leaned further forward, moving as if to observe him a bit closer, not reaching out or moving his arms any. Qrow felt a searing, but - to his surprise - not unwelcome, burn crawl up his neck. He almost suddenly found himself quite keenly aware of his situation and he found himself willing to take his chances this evening - if he misread or miscalculated here, the other could pull back and he’d be fully prepared to apologize after.
The silence between them was broken by the muted snick of two pairs of lips that had mingled and parted in a mere matter of seconds. Before fully pulling his face away from Clover’s, Qrow briefly scanned and gauged the other’s reaction. There was a knowing glint in those pools of turquoise. Slightly annoying though the glint proved in the face of his own uncertainty, it and the hand now snaking its way around the back of his waist undoubtedly demanded something more. Clover didn’t seem to want to move from here.
Qrow realized this was no mistake. He let that thought spur him into pressing his lips onto Clover’s again, sure of himself this time. His pulse felt dangerously close to a full burst, and the exhale catching on his upper lip seemed proof like no other that this - if nothing else - was certain. This kind of thing hadn’t really ever been before, and as he moaned into the warmth of it while mirroring the way the other cupped his chin, he thought of how he hoped it would be again.
The following exchange of promises to spend their day off tomorrow talking about the things they didn’t already know about one another, in light of this new direction their story had taken, went by like a blur. If he didn’t know any better, he might think these new sensations even had him reeling. Well to a point, unbeknownst to him where he even missed a few signals - a dragged outward turn, and a hesitance to stop looking at him even as he began the walk to his own door - pointing to the other’s reluctance to part ways that he would have been more attuned to were his mind clearer. He was grateful the timing worked as well as it had, a day ahead of work would not have boded well with someone who needed some time to grapple with this pleasantly unexpected addition to the list of things he already gave too much of a damn about.
One hand waved the other goodbye for the evening as the other held his scroll to the door’s keypad. Before stepping in through the already familiar doorway, he looked back out to the other’s form as he retreated down the hall to his own quarters.
Qrow groaned under his breath. The electricity from the other’s lips on his was still coursing adrenaline through him. Sleep would not be an easy find any which way this went.
Still, he couldn’t help thinking to himself that he could have continued on his merry way and entered his room leaving Clover well enough alone as he walked further away down the corridor.
He really could just have let him continue walking back to his place.
He could have just cooled down, even with the challenge the butterflies now multiplying at record speed in his stomach would have proven.
He could have shrugged the notion off to open his mouth - he already said good night to the ace op, didn’t he? Hell - he already impulsively kissed him, didn’t he? Qrow figured if nothing else there’s a thing that effectively ruined any seventh shot he might have had at maintaining a casual friendship with that man. Not that he felt confident by this point that a casual friendship was fated to work, and perhaps, this was an opinion the other might’ve shared as well if he had witnessed the same sequence of events he had and was still willing to fall with him into this.
And what a plunge it’s been.
He exhaled softly, and closed the door, not having passed the threshold leading into the lonely abode.
A tad late to turn back at this point, it seems.
“Clover, wait.”