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Any Dessert with That?
Qrow regretted taking the bet with Yang. He should have known better with his luck but the odds seemed to be in his favor. How was he supposed to know the girls would magically pull off a victory against an undefeated private academy like Atlas Prep? And now because of it, he was treating a good chunk of the girls’ basketball team and their significant others to Buffalo Wild Wings of all places.
“Seriously,” Qrow grumbled as they pulled into the parking lot of the sports bar and restaurant. “You could have picked any place in town but you had to pick this place.”
“I like their spicy wings,” Yang teased from her spot on the passenger side. He knew she was well aware of his distaste for their food. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either by his standards. He would much rather be eating something that wasn’t fried in grease but the kids seemed to love it so here they were.
Normally, the car would be Yang, her girlfriend Blake, Ruby, and their mutual friend Weiss. But Weiss’ sister was in town so she was getting a ride from her to the establishment. So, they traded out Weiss for Oscar—Ruby’s boyfriend. Qrow was doing his best to not glare at the poor kid since he was just a freshman while Ruby was a Junior. Still, his nieces were the closet things he had to kids so he was going to be the overprotective dad.
“Yeah uncle Qrow,” Ruby chirped from her seat right behind him. “Their wings are the BEST!”
He really wanted to contradict that statement but was cut off by the sound of Jaune’s truck screeching to a stop somewhere in the parking lot. He could hear Nora screeching out the window before he saw the group of teens get out of the car. Nora and Pyrrha were also on the basketball team, accompanied by their boyfriends Ren and Jaune. The group was seen giggling and walking to the front of the brick building and that seemed to be the other teen’s queue to get out of the car and rush to meet their friends.
Watching them all talk and doing the math in his head for how much the kids could eat, he was suddenly glad for his career as a writer and how it seemed to give him more than enough cash to make these occasional bets. Though with his luck, half of his food would end up on his shirt by the end of the night. Still, he got out of his old, beat-up car, and made his way to the doorway where the teens had all gathered.
“Hey aren’t you going to wait for the Ice Princess?” Qrow asked the group and Ruby turned to look at him with a smile.
“Weiss said to head in, she and Winter should be here soon.” That seemed fair enough. He couldn’t blame the girl it wasn’t every day that her sister got military leave—let alone got to watch one of her games. So he could understand her dawdling a little.
“I guess that answers that, alright kids—let’s head in.”
“Yeah!!!”
“Nora keep it down were going into a public place.”
“Hehe, sorry Ren.”
“Ooo I wonder if Penny is working tonight?”
“I doubt it she was at the game earlier.”
“You’re right that wouldn’t make sense.”
The idle chatter continued as the large group was shown to their table. It was late so the place was busy but it wasn’t slammed like it would be on a Friday or Saturday night. Still, Qrow found it more than a little annoying to his senses to be hearing not only people talking but also having to listen to overly zealous fans and empires narrate the various games that were displayed on the wide array of flat screens around the restaurant. But he supposed as long as his nieces were happy that was all that mattered.
“Hey Welcome to Buffalo Wild Wings, I’ll be your server Clover, what can I get for you?” Qrow looked up from the menu the hostess had given them, he expected to simply look at the waiter and tell him what he wanted so the kids could go ham. But he didn’t expect was to quiet literally see an Adonis standing there holding the note pad and looking at him with sparking teal eyes.
The kids all quickly began scrambling to order their food. Somewhere in the chaos even Weiss had shown up and was listing off her order. But all Qrow could do was stare like a dumb-ass and hope his mouth wasn’t open. It didn’t help that the guy has the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to show off all of his biceps and the shirt was probably a size too small judging by how the fabric stretched over his chest. His hair was stylish and he had a blinding smile. Still, he looked way too old to be working in a place like Buffalo Wild Wings. He had to be thirty-five at the youngest and forty at the oldest.
“Uncle Qrow it’s your turn,” Yang coaxed when it was finally his turn to speak up. His eyes dropped back to the menu and his mouth was dry. He couldn’t remember for the life of him what the hell he had been planning to order. Oh god, he probably looked like a complete moron right now. His face was starting to heat up now and he wished more than anything that the floor would just swallow him whole.
“He’ll have a garden buffalo chicken salad,” Yang added quickly. “And a coke to drink.”
“Alright, I’ll get that started for you right away and be right back with your drinks. After that then Clover was gone and Qrow could feel the eyes of the kids at the table watching him as he began to slink down in his chair.
“What was that?” Blake asked suddenly—golden eyes blinking in shock over what she had just witnessed.
“Did Qrow just have gay panic?” Nora said just a little too loudly and caused Ren to shush her for what felt like the millionth time that night.
“No it wasn’t “gay panic”,” Qrow said quickly—already on the defensive. “I just zoned out and didn’t know what I wanted was all.”
“Oh yeah, and that just happened to be on the waiter’s face?” Weiss said with a smirk as she happily joined in on the “let’s all tease Qrow” game.
“Remember who is paying for the food,” Qrow half threatened. He wouldn’t actually make them pay for their own food but it made him feel a little better thinking that he could threaten them. Unfortunately, the group knew him way too well and called him out of his empty threats.
“Alright here is your drinks everyone.” The table was suddenly quiet as Clover quickly set to getting everyone’s drink in front of them.
“He Clover how old are you?” Nora asked suddenly and Qrow could feel himself sending a death glare down the table to where the hyper-active ginger was sitting. Sheepishly Qrow looked back at Clover half expecting him to be creeped out or at the very least embarrassed as being asked such a personal question by a customer. Instead, he just watched as Clover blinked in confusion.
“I’m thirty-seven,” he quickly answers without thinking much of it.
“Hey he’s only three years younger than you uncle Qrow,” Yang offered with an innocent smile. Yeah, innocent his ass the brats were up to something.
“Imagine that,” Qrow said in a gruff tone before shooting a look of warning to his niece. He really wished he was half a threatening as his sister Raven at that moment, but unfortunately, it seemed like they had figured out he was way too soft for his own good. Especially after he stopped drinking Ruby’s freshmen year of school.
“Right, I’ll be right back with your food,” Clover said still slightly confused as he went back to the kitchen. Qrow took that as an opportunity.
“What the hell do you kids think you are doing? You’re harassing the waiter.” Qrow scolded but they all seemed to ignore the protest.
“He’s a total beefcake,” Yang stated as if that was the answer. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you date. And he seems interested in you too.”
“Yang, I know you have never worked as a waitress before but that’s called customer service.” Qrow lectured to his niece. He watched then as Blake whispered something in Yang’s ear and Yang blinked a bit then smiled and giggled. They were up to something and he didn’t know if he liked it or not.
Unfortunately, Qrow would figure out what that was sooner rather than later. Mostly because, Clover happened to be the waiter for the whole section of the sports bar, and the kids definitely noticed it.
“Geez Qrow, I can’t believe you made it on the best sellers list again!” Blake said loud enough that even in the crowded area she could easily be heard. “What is this the fourth time?”
Qrow sent a narrowed look at Blake. She was usually the quiet one but when she spoke up he really noticed just how painfully well she went with his niece. Just as mischievous but unfortunately, she didn’t have the uncle card to pull on her and he didn’t have Ghira’s number like he had James’ to threaten Weiss with. While Jimmy wasn’t her dad, she respected the old military dog like her father so it did the same trick. Even he wasn’t heartless enough to call her actual father.
“What are you guys doing?” Qrow asked but he wasn’t given an answer—instead he was met with more overly obnoxious compliments.
“Four times! That’s amazing Qrow!” Oscar piped up though when he glared at the kid this one shrunk away from the look. He was still too new to the group to know Qrow was harmless and the author wanted to keep it that way as long as he could.
“Right my uncle is the best! Successful, nice enough to take us out to diner, and he’s good looking!” Ruby gushed practically bouncing in her seat as she continued to sing his praise. He softened a little at her though, he always had a soft spot for Ruby just like he did her mother. Then again, most people had a hard time saying no to the Rose girls. “I can’t believe he’s still single.”
And there went all of the soft fuzzy feelings he had just been feeling.
Qrow groaned now as he began looking around the area. There were a few whispers as people looked at him with curious glances—though the looks seem less focused on him as an individual and more on the table as a whole. He hoped that Clover was back in the kitchen or working another area—unable to witness the commotion but in fashion, with his luck, Clover was at a table right near them and now giving Qrow a bemused and curious expression. It made Qrow’s stomach tighten into knots as he became fascinated with his silver wear all of a sudden.
“Kids please stop, your embarrassing me,” Qrow begged the group but they seemed completely undeterred by his pleas as they continued to sing his praise the whole time Clover was out in the dining area.
“Keep at it and you’re going to run out of material before the food gets here,” Qrow grumbled to himself. Unfortunately, that seemed to just make the other’s more determined to say good things about him.
“Alright, here is everyone’s food,” Clover announced to the table suddenly with several large platters full of food and holy shit how was he able to carry that all by himself and fuck why did his arms have to look so good. Qrow was internally screaming both from the sight and the continued announcements about his personal life that the kids were telling a total stranger.
“Dang Clover, how did you get so buff?” Nora asked suddenly and Qrow could feel his eyes trying to roll back into his skull. He was going to leave a big ass tip for the harassment this poor man was having to workaround.
“Well I was military for a long time, now I just work out every day. Helps with being a CNA,” Clover answered calmly without hesitation. Qrow had to give it to him, he was a pro at dealing with the kids. Maybe he was just used to thirsty soccer moms at this point? “Getting to sweep cuties off their feet is just a bonus.”
Qrow swore he had to have hallucinated the wink Clover sent his way. He had to. There was no damned way he gave him a wink. He must have just been blinking and Qrow just saw it at a weird angle. That had to be it. But the moment Clover left the kids at the table were all but screeching.
“Did you see that uncle Qrow,” Ruby all but shook him as she squealed in delight. “He winked at you, he thinks your cute!”
“Or there was something in his eye and you kids keep putting the poor guy on the spot,” Qrow deflected as he looked away. No way a cute guy like that would look at his grumpy ass like that. He had resided himself to being alone, and the kids were not helping him stick to that resolution. “Seriously you guys need to drop it.”
“Qrow,” a few of the kids all said with various levels of sorrow in their voice. Yang and Ruby each touching his hand or shoulder to comfort him.
“You’re a great guy uncle Qrow,” Yang told him her amethyst eyes shining with more kindness then he had ever seen his own sister muster. “You can’t let your sins of the past rule the rest of your life.”
They were right, some part of him knew that. Yet, he still felt himself clinging to it. Maybe because he wasn’t ready to let someone else in. Or maybe he just didn’t want to let himself open up to someone else. Either way, he could feel himself digging in his heel. He wasn’t going to budge. The guy wouldn’t ask him out if hell froze over. Boy scouts like him didn’t like rebels like Qrow.
The kids piped down after Qrow’s lack of response. The game wasn’t fun anymore when Qrow was so obviously facing his own internal struggle. It was sad to the kids who all knew he was an amazing guy but they couldn’t lead a horse to water or make a bird fly.
“Here, on the house.” Qrow blinked as he saw a hand stretch out in front of him holding a to-go box. They had already paid and it had been a pretty quiet event. In fact, they were just about ready to leave when Clover dropped the box in front of him. “You looked like you could use something extra sweet though I couldn’t find anything as sweet as you are to these kids.”
Qrow flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t bear to lift his eyes to look at Clover. He tried to will his heart rate to slow and his stomach to settle. He was just doing his job; he was just showing good hospitality. That was all. Qrow wasn’t anything special.
“Thanks, but you really are giving me too much credit,” Qrow said with a half-hearted laugh. “These kids practically held me hostage to bring me here.”
“You know you really shouldn’t do that.”
“Do what?” Qrow asked blinking up at the waiter curiously—genuinely confused.
“Deflect a compliment, these kids seem to genuinely adore you.” Clover paused to smile and Qrow cursed again at how someone he just met has such an effect on him. “You should give yourself credit for the effect you have had on them.”
Clover was gone then and Qrow felt his jaw drop open a little bit while the kids did their best to contain their excitement. To his niece’s credit, they stayed quiet even as they dropped off Blake and Weiss at home (Oscar having hitched a ride with Jaune since they were neighbors) and didn’t say anything until they made it back to the Rose Xiao-Long house. To which the two went rushing in to spill everything to Summer and Tai before Qrow even got the chance to take his shoes off at the door.
“Is there something you want to tell us Qrow?” Tai asked managing to escape the whirlwind that was his daughters to make it over to his old friend. Qrow only snorted in response.
“The two were dead set on setting me up with a waiter at the restaurant,” Qrow noted as he set the foam container holding the dessert on the counter. He figured he could share it with everyone as a light snack.
“Was he cute?” Qrow only shot Tai a look for that one which made Tai laugh again. “I’ll take that as a yes. You only get defensive about their antics when they are on the money.”
“I hate how well you know me.”
Qrow opened the container and froze as he saw the black sharpie written inside the container. His throat closed as he felt his heart rate pick up again.
“Since you couldn’t take me home as dessert instead 😉” was what the box read and it was signed Clover in the same handwriting he had written on the check. Under it appeared to be the guys' phone number.
“Qrow,” Tai said as he clapped a hand to his friend’s shoulder. “I think you need to thank the girls.”
“Why do we need to be thanked?” Yang asked before she caught sight of the container and then began laughing uncontrollably. “Oh my god, I have to text everyone this.”
“What is it?” Ruby asked as she peeked into the kitchen curiously.
“Qrow got the guy’s number and a cheesy pick-up line.”
“Well, that is a sure way to catch a Branwen.”
“Not you too Summer,” Qrow whined at her but she seemed undeterred as she giggled. Still, he couldn’t help but smile at the number as his eyes went back to the box.
Maybe he would give it a shot after all.