Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The galaxy was old enough to be considered established but young enough to still have surface-level problems that those in charge have yet to figure out. Each planet, moon, and massive star had its own deity. Every single celestial body was designed to exist on their respective planes. Meaning no one was able to leave and visit each other on a whim, not without destroying themselves anyway.

Some of the gods had trouble finding their footing in terms of learning how to take care of their assigned domains, but being a god of the Sun was like clockwork to Clover. To the surrounding deities, the work appeared effortless. From the outside, it looked like he was doing next to nothing other than being a carefree god with no duties to uphold.

However, Clover’s body was a series of fine-tuned gears that ceaselessly functioned to maintain the Sun. Constantly modifying the heat output to ensure its reach could extend to the planets, emitting enough light for proper night and day cycles, maintenance of the Sun’s surface, and most importantly he manages gravitational pull in order to hold the entirety of the Solar System together. This was all done while remaining idle.

It meant Clover was limited to what he could do so he sat and watched the galaxy frequently change and readjust. The enjoyment he found in seeing others create and rearrange stars to their liking was the closest he could get to comfort while simultaneously ensuring peace among his peers. Though it made onlookers jealous seeing as he had so much time to spare.

“It wouldn’t kill you to pull your weight around here, Clover.”

The familiar gruff voice of Imperia penetrated his head through telepathic reception, condescending as per usual. Letting Clover know he’s now in view of Mars’ own deity. One of many other planets that won’t let him forget that everyone has their eyes laid upon him. Ready to poke and prod with their harsh words at a moment’s notice.

He rose from the place he’d been sitting and began to make his rounds on the Sun’s surface. This had cost more energy than he had to spare, but doing so reassured them that he is in fact hard at work keeping the Solar System intact.

As Clover went about regularly monitoring the system, a pale light came into view from the corner of his eye. Turning to acknowledge what it was, he saw it happened to be Earth's Moon.

The Moon was nothing to gawk at, but it had a certain charm to it. It orbited Earth with a cool, gentle glow.

A moon with two faces...strange.

He squinted to get a closer look at the more somber half of the Moon to find a figure dwelling there.

A lone man sat, clad in a sheer ebony shawl and a deep teal green sarong. Silver jewelry adorned pale skin and soft black hair. His muted colors contrasted from Clover’s own bold palette of deep purples and blues with golden accessories.

Amidst the observation, pale red eyes shot up and glared at him. “Do you mind?” a gravelly voice echoed in Clover’s head. Startled, he donned the kindest smile and waved to the Moon’s deity– receiving an eye roll in return.

“I’d like to sincerely apologize, I didn’t mean to stare at you.” Clover hoped he had come across as genuine to smooth out any ruffled feathers.

But the god in question began to face away from him.

Clover made one last pleading effort before the man had disappeared entirely. “Can I at least get your name?”

“The name’s Qrow, now can you buzz off?” Qrow’s voice echoed in Clover’s head more angrily this time. His mouth wilted into a frown as he turned back to continue his work.

The brief interaction had put the Moon near the top of the list of things to be mindful of.

Any moment Clover had to spare, he’d sink them into paying attention to the Moon from afar, sometimes absentmindedly when he was exhausted.

It couldn’t be helped, there was an intense interest in how Qrow did things. The slight strain in the muscles of Qrow’s arms when regulating the Moon's own orbit and pulling the Earth back to keep the tilt of its axis steady. How his body would radiate a soft, silvery light when he performed most of his physical tasks, focusing that power into his touch instead of commanding it around. Laboriously fixing deeper craters on the Moon's surface; there was a subtle appreciation for how he worked with his hands.

Without him, Earth’s own orbit would be in shambles. Clover would soon make the mistake of assuming that Qrow’s efforts were common knowledge.

Chapter Text

It had been a solid two weeks of being pinned under the watchful eyes of the high and mighty Sun god whenever the Moon came into view of the Sun. Qrow had about enough of it.

I’ve flown under the radar for however many centuries and now this guy wants to be up my ass...great.

As someone who went out of his way to avoid the fine gods of the planets, he started to think it may have something to do with the unrest of the humans below. Not that he had any control over how they felt about the Moon. But he was sure that if Mother Earth felt it necessary, she’d have him under surveillance to see whether or not he needed to be replaced with someone much more fit for the job than he could ever be.

A lot of what he did went unnoticed to the public eye because the Sun had always been the center of humanity’s praise. Providing warmth and light at the beginning of every day, but without Qrow part of the world would never be able to experience that because the Earth would spend most of its orbital period with North and South being East and West for an indefinite amount of time.

There would be no flourishing crops, stable weather conditions, or steady night and day cycles. Just a catastrophic mess that would kill half of the population by either starving or freezing to death –

The hair on the back of his neck stood up, meaning prying eyes were on him again. “You gotta starin’ problem, pal? What exactly do you want from me?” Qrow snapped.

Qrow eyed the man above him in annoyance, watching how the other’s face shifted through a handful of expressions before he responded, “You’re interesting.”

“You wanna run that by me again?” Qrow asked, confusion weaved into his tone.

Without a moment of hesitation, the Sun god gave a more in-depth answer, “The way you work, you put in a great deal of effort for next to no praise in return.”

“You do realize it’s because they’re all busy worshipping you, right? Or did you overlook that little fact?” Qrow said, now beginning to face away from the other. It doesn’t shut him up, but he doesn’t feel pinned down by mint green eyes anymore.

“I...I’m sorry, I can’t help that. But it doesn’t erase the good you do for them, the importance of your job. You keep going despite how they treat you and that says a lot more about you than you think,” the smooth voice of the Sun god echoed apologetically in Qrow’s head.

It had been the first time any of the gods had openly acknowledged how vital he was or addressed him at all for that matter. Instead of watching them sneer at him and catching snide comments from others talking to Mother Earth; none of them would ever speak to Qrow directly. Seriously, why do you still keep him? they would all say to her pretentiously, as if they knew what was best for her and the humans she so adored.

Qrow looked over his shoulder, “What’s your name?” he asked.

“My name’s Clover,” the other replied.

Their interactions were sparse at first. Qrow took some time to mull over what Clover had said to him. Appreciating the compliment for what it was, even though he felt as if he didn’t deserve it. It was his job, it wasn’t some great feat – but it felt nice to be seen.

He’d grown to like Clover and his charms, the way he joked, winked, laughed, and the way his eyes shone. It was refreshing to talk to him, he’d always be the more uplifting between the two of them and it was unlike any of the other gods Qrow had the displeasure of meeting in passing.

When it came time for them to finally cross paths during Qrow’s orbit once again, he looked for his friend. Clover wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the immediate area, he’d usually be around by this time. He’d call out to him in hopes it would connect to him telepathically wherever he was on the Sun.

Eventually, Clover came around looking worse for wear. Tousled brunet hair sat atop his head instead of styled waves and he was a sickly pale compared to his golden tan. The bags under his eyes were deeper than Qrow had remembered from their last encounter, the way he appeared overall was worrying.

“Been hoping you’d show up. You don’t look too hot, are you okay?” Qrow inquired.

Clover puts on a strained smile and shrugs nonchalantly, “I’m fine, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Qrow sits there stunned, the man is in tatters and he’s trying to pass himself off as fine still. He overworks himself significantly more than any god ever should, it wasn’t fair to Clover to keep doing this to himself.

“Why do you do that?” Qrow pressed the situation in hopes for an honest answer.

“Do what?” Clover responded, puzzled.

“Run yourself into the ground. You carry the hell out of the Solar System to take care of it, it wouldn't hurt to take care of you, Cloves.”

Clover ran a slightly trembling hand through messy hair as he spoke, “I can’t do that, Qrow. The universe depends on me regularly, I can’t just take a vacation.”

A headstrong attitude was something to be admired, but this was getting ridiculous. Qrow furrowed his brows and sighed in annoyance, “It isn’t gonna fall apart in an hour, you can take breaks, Cloves. How are you supposed to do your job right if you don’t give a damn about yourself?”

Tanned shoulders fell along with the forced expression on his face. Qrow looked on as Clover sat himself down and took a deep breath. “I try so hard to do what’s expected of me...it’s never enough. They push and push for me to pull my weight and I am, but to sit and explain that I’m constantly working whether they see it or not will always be written off as a poor excuse,” Clover said as he laid back and looked at his own hands.

As he started to visibly unwind, Qrow noticed that the ever-present golden yellow glow that coated Clover’s body began to fade away. He smiled softly as he replied to the other in a more calming tone, “Maybe it’s time to start telling people to quit telling you how to do your job.”

“You might be right,” Clover said through a light snort of laughter as he idly began to rearrange some stars.

They sat there for a good hour and Qrow casually worked on a nearby star. It was a comfortable silence, one that neither had experienced in literal ages. A moment to breathe and relax may have been something they both needed and not just Clover.

Before it came time for them to split, Qrow had one last thing to say. “Oh uh, Cloves? This is for you.” He shot a shooting star past the Sun and watched as Clover’s face lit up. “Something to remember me by. Every time you see one, just know I’m thinking of you.”

As Qrow turned around to return to work, a warm voice pulled him back, “Oh yeah? Watch this.” He sent a star rocketing past the Moon. “A reminder that you aren’t as alone as you feel,” Clover said, as he winked.

The star had a green tint to it, similar to Clover’s eyes. Qrow immediately looked away as he emitted pale light, “Thanks.”

They finally said their goodbyes as Qrow’s orbit moved further and further away from Clover to where they could no longer communicate. It was silent once again, but this time...it was ear piercing.