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Qrow sighed, leaning back in his chair. Him and the kids had the night off, but it was hard to enjoy it when he was left sitting alone in his quarters. Normally he’d pass time with Clover, but the leader of the Ace-Ops was off on some mission with his team. Qrow had volunteered to come along, ever so casually suggesting that he might be of use. Clover had waved off the suggestion though, insisting that Qrow needed to rest and the Ace-Ops could handle it on their own.
He wondered how Clover could be so insightful and yet still so oblivious. Sure, he could use some more sleep and he didn’t mind having some time to spare, but what was the point if Clover wasn’t around? The two of them had become practically inseparable. They trained together, ate meals together, and always seemed to seek out each other on their off days for a game of cards or a stroll around Atlas. It had been so long since he had someone his own age who he could talk with so casually. Qrow didn’t really want to spend the rest of his life as the only adult among a bunch of teenagers, even if he cared for all of them more than he’d like to admit.
As if on cue, he heard a loud pounding on his door.
“Open up, this is important!”
Despite Yang’s words, her tone was cheerful, and he could hear Ruby giggling as she spoke.
Qrow took his time walking to the door, laughing as Yang’s knocking became louder still.
“You trying to knock the door down, firecracker?”
He swung the door open, revealing his two nieces. Ruby was smiling and while Yang eyed him with mild annoyance, it quickly faded from her face.
“We’re coming in.”
She shoved past him before he could protest, Ruby following behind her.
Qrow raised an eyebrow as Yang claimed his chair and Ruby plopped down on the small couch. “Make yourselves at home, I guess.” He took a seat next to Ruby. “You two need something from me?”
“What, we’re not allowed to want to spend time with our dear uncle?” Yang asked with a smirk.
The giggles that erupted from Ruby weren’t a good sign, he decided. This wasn’t going to end well for him.
“Just say it already.”
Yang grinned, hopping back onto her feet. “We’ve noticed something, well, I’ve noticed something—“
“Hey!” Ruby squealed in protest.
Yang made a face at her sister before continuing. “You and Clover have spending quite a lot of time together recently.”
Oh. Oh no.
“And after a bit of observation, I have deduced two key facts.” She held up two fingers before slamming her hands down on the arm of the couch. “Number one, you like Clover. Number two, you don’t have a clue about how to flirt with him.”
Qrow’s mouth fell open, even though he had already predicted where she was going with this. Well, maybe not all of it.
“You think I can’t flirt?”
He didn’t bother to hide his offense. How many stories had he told them? How many times had he shown himself to be a charmer?
“You’re not going to deny the first point?” Ruby piped up, her eyes widening with excitement.
Oh, right.
Qrow took a second to mentally compose himself before turning to Ruby with a smirk. “He’s my partner, why would I dislike him?”
Ruby pouted while Yang groaned.
“So, anyway,” Yang spoke, “we’ve established that you’ve got it bad for Clover, but you’re hopeless when it comes to approaching him in a romantic fashion. We can work with that.”
“Okay, hold on,” Qrow glared at her. “I can flirt just fine, and if I wanted to flirt with Clover, if,” he added as Yang gave him a knowing look, “I would do so without any help from you.”
He had actually flirted with Clover numerous times with reciprocation, but he wasn’t about to volunteer that piece of information.
“Uncle Qrow, Uncle Qrow...” Yang shook her head, sighing. “You may think that’s the case, but it’s just not true. You desperately need my help, and,” she leaned forward, a mischievous glint in her eyes, “you have no choice but to accept it.”
“No choice?”
Yang pulled out her scroll, sliding through several tabs. “It just so happens that I’ve had something on hand for a while now that should convince you.” She pulled up a picture and held out the device for Qrow to see.
“...How do you even have that?”
“Dad thought it’d be funny to put it on my scroll before I left.”
Qrow rolled his eyes. “Of course he did.”
“Anyway,” she moved her hand back, closing the scroll, “unless you’re willing to take my advice, Ruby and I will be showing this to one Clover Ebi, and we’ll gladly tell him the story behind it, along with any other stories we can think of.”
“Yeah!” Ruby cheered.
Qrow paused, thinking it over. Clover had been nothing but understanding with him over the actual, serious mistakes he had made, surely he wouldn’t judge him for his teenage years. Their relationship would remain intact, but Qrow’s pride? He couldn’t suppress a shudder as he imagined Yang and Ruby marching off to bother Clover and reveal every embarrassing story of Qrow’s past. Knowing his nieces had informed Clover of every mistake Qrow had ever made would likely ruin his ability to flirt more than whatever Yang had in mind.
“Alright,” Qrow sighed, leaning back into the couch. “You’ve got me.”
Ruby let a whoop as Yang grinned.
“So, what exactly are the Yang Xiao Long master flirting techniques? Are you going to teach me how you wooed that girlfriend of yours?”
“Oh, I know this,” Ruby butted in before Yang could speak, “you have to tell Clover that his bow...or, uh, armband, matches his pajamas!”
Qrow raised an eyebrow. “Are you expecting me to break into the Ace-Ops quarters in the middle of the night? It’s not like Clover and I are going to be at the same slumber party.”
Yang began to reply. “Well, you—“
“Oh, oh, new idea!” Ruby was giggling, giving her sister a teasing look. “Tell him that you like his haircut!”
Qrow rolled his eyes. “Clover hasn’t gotten a haircut recently. I would’ve noticed.”
Yang gave him an unimpressed stare. “Is that so? You seem to be paying quite a bit of attention to a guy you previously claimed to have no interest in.”
Qrow froze, his brain going back over what he had said. It seemed he was still much less subtle than he thought. He’d have to think quick.
“Listen, firecracker, are you going to school me or not?”
“I am, as long as someone,” she glared at Ruby as her sister quietly giggled, “will let me speak.”
She marched to Qrow’s kitchen table and dragged a wooden chair over to the couch, sitting on it backwards so she could rest her arms on the back of the chair.
“So, our obvious start is puns, both Clover-specific and situational. We’ll begin with a question. What elements of Clover are prime targets for puns? I’ll give the easy answer: his luck."
“He’s named after a plant!” Ruby called out.
The two of them turned to Qrow expectantly.
“Um... He likes to fish, hence the whole...fishing pole...” Qrow grimaced as Yang motioned for him to continue. “He’s a bit of a golden boy? And, uh, he really likes playing cards.”
“Oh?” Yang grinned. “Does he like to play go fish?”
Qrow groaned. “Please tell me you’re not going to make me say that to him.”
“Well, not that one,” she waved her hand. “For now, let’s focus on luck and clovers. Maybe something like, are you a clover? Because you’ve planted yourself in my heart.”
The pun drew matching groans from Ruby and Qrow.
“You try it now!”
“Um...” Qrow paused. He wasn’t about to practice flirting in front of his nieces, but Yang clearly expected him to at least say something. “We’ve been paired together? Just my luck,” He monotoned.
Ruby’s pout and Yang’s stare made it clear neither of them was particularly impressed.
“When you say it that way, it sounds like you’re not happy about it,” Ruby commented, idly playing with the pouch on her hip. “Like you’re disappointed.”
“Uncle Qrow, this is exactly what I was talking about. You’re hopeless!”
Qrow grimaced, thinking to himself that next time he should maybe put some actual effort in. Yang’s insinuation was insulting enough without him reinforcing it in her mind.
“Whatever, let’s move to situational puns. Imagine you’re walking next to Clover and you trip, but he catches you before you hit the ground. What do you say in that situation?”
Qrow flushed slightly, remembering that he had in fact been in that exact situation, and his response at the time was to glare at Clover. He hadn’t known the man very well then. It was easy to mark Clover off as an annoyingly professional toy soldier with obnoxiously large arms. It was harder to process that Clover’s semblance was a counterpart to his own, that the man didn’t seem to be bothered at all by Qrow’s semblance, and how Qrow was finding himself increasingly attracted to him. Lucky you, huh?
“Uncle Qrow?”
Ruby’s voice startled Qrow out of his thoughts.
“I say, uh, lucky catch?”
It was a reused pun, but it seemed like it would fit well enough.
Yang sighed, but gave a nod of approval. “That’s better than your last try, at least. However, focus more on the situation. For example,” she lowered her voice in a poor imitation of Qrow, “Looks like I’m falling for you.”
She stuck out her tongue as Qrow groaned.
“I bet Clover would appreciate that pun. Anyway, let’s move on to the next scenario.”
~~~
Qrow was beyond grateful that today’s mission was just a routine wall check, because he couldn’t focus for the life of him.
It had taken over an hour for Yang to finish her “lesson” and leave his room the previous night, and he had hardly slept as he remembered her insistence that he practice his new material as soon as possible. He was worried he’d make a hole in the floor of the briefing room, his foot rapidly tapping as he waited for Clover to finish announcing the assignments. They’d be working together, they always did, but he couldn’t help but hope maybe today would be a break from the norm.
Of course, his hope had been dashed. Clover ended the briefing by assigning Qrow and himself to a wall check, and Qrow pretended to not notice Yang and Ruby giving him thumbs up from across the room. Yang had even lingered after they were dismissed, standing close enough to Qrow for no one to overhear.
“I’ll be expecting some progress today. Don’t let me down.”
She held up her scroll and winked, before heading off after Blake.
And so, Qrow found himself in quite the uncomfortable situation. He didn’t want to incur the wrath of his nieces, and Clover would probably still be nice to him, but Qrow liked to think he still had some amount of pride.
That didn’t make him feel any better when he saw Clover’s reaction to his...appearance. Yang had insisted Qrow change things up and had given him instructions the night before to push his hair back and wear her sunglasses for a day.
Pushing his hair back had been his signature move before he started a fight he was sure he’d win, which made it feel extremely unfitting for the occasion. It didn’t help that the Qrow who had done that and the Qrow who was about to go flirt with Clover felt like entirely separate people. Also, Yang’s sunglasses didn’t match his outfit and he was sure he looked ridiculous.
“Everything alright?”
Clover’s gaze was soft, and Qrow was once again reminded of how easily the other man saw through him.
“It’s nothing, just my nieces being brats.” Seeing Clover’s face begin to relax, he impulsively added, “You know I’d never put up any walls when I’m around you.”
Clover’s brow furrowed as he processed the words, and he stared down at Mantle’s wall before looking back at Qrow.
“...If you say so.”
They continued to patrol silently until they spotted several small Grimm heading towards the wall. The duo jumped down and made short work of the Grimm, their styles blending together flawlessly.
Now it was time for the hard part.
Qrow placed Harbinger back before pretending to stretch casually.
“Nice work, Captain Muscle Arms.”
Kingfisher’s hook, which had been smoothly arcing back to Clover, suddenly flopped to the ground as Clover nearly dropped his weapon.
“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
He was staring at Qrow with a mixture of confusion and concern.
Qrow shrugged, trying to keep a neutral face. “Nice work?”
“That’s not...” Clover wasn’t making eye contact anymore, instead staring a bit too intently at Kingfisher as he finished reeling it in and clipped it back onto his belt. Finally, he sighed, raising his head to look at Qrow.
“What’s really going on?” As Qrow began to open his mouth, Clover quickly added, “And don’t reply with some pun or nickname this time.”
Qrow gave a sheepish laugh as his cheeks warmed slightly. “You’re not enjoying them?”
“Listen,” Clover said as he cracked a smile, “you know I enjoy a good luck pun, and I’m not opposed to earning a nickname from you... but you’ve been off today.” His smile faded as he walked forward to place a hand on Qrow’s shoulder, his other hand coming up to gently pull the sunglasses off of Qrow. “Talk to me, please.”
Qrow’s breath caught in his throat as Clover’s hand brushed against the side of his face. He was used to being in close proximity to the other man, but the action felt far more intimate than their usual interactions. It was as he looked into Clover’s pleading eyes that the ridiculousness of his actions hit him, and his face flared up as he broke eye contact.
“It’s just...something dumb. I’m sorry if I made you worry.”
“Qrow.” The voice was soft yet firm. “You can tell me about it.”
Qrow sighed, but gave a small nod. “The girls—my nieces, paid me a visit last night. Yang decided I needed some pointers in...” He trailed off. It wasn’t like either of them was unaware of their flirting, but the two of them had never outright spoken of it before. It was a comfortable silence, even if Qrow constantly wondered what would come about if he broke it.
“In?”
“Flirting.”
He finally looked back at Clover.
The man’s mouth was open in an o-shape, his eyes unfocused. The spell broke after a few seconds when Clover took a step back before doubling over with laughter.
“That was supposed to be flirting?!”
Qrow shuffled his feet, unable to stop a broad smile from spreading across his face. “Hey, it was all Yang’s idea, don’t blame me.”
“Why did she even...” He stopped to collect himself, wiping tears from his eyes as he stood back up.
Qrow swore his heart had turned into mush, watching Clover act so free. There was no trace of the professional solider left; this was purely Clover.
“What made her think you needed pointers?” His voice wavered slightly with another laugh.
“You know how kids are.” Qrow shrugged, now beaming. “She insisted I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Well...” Clover stepped forward again, reaching up to ruffle Qrow’s hair back into its normal style. “I happen to like your flirting just fine the way it is, no change needed.”
Qrow was honestly surprised he was still able to stand at this point. Now his whole body felt like mush, as he found himself unable to look away from Clover’s soft smile.
“I’m... glad to hear it.”
His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
Clover gave one more laugh before stepping back. “In fact, I’d love to see it some more. Maybe over dinner? It just so happens I’m free tonight.” He winked.
Qrow grinned. “More time with you and an excuse to not report back to Yang tonight? Count me in.”