Chapter Text
A leak.
A gods damned leak.
And a leak that he’d later learn only hit his room on top of it all.
Bad luck semblance or no bad luck semblance, that just wasn’t fair.
But regardless of whether or not it was fair, what it was was real and Qrow needed to do something about it.
From what Qrow gathered as he simultaneously observed the situation, got dressed, and tried to salvage anything previously left on the floor, the leak likely started last night while he was sleeping. Qrow slept right through its start and only realized it the next morning upon rising from his bed and feeling the very odd sensation of cold water greeting the heels and balls of his feet on the now wet ground.
Qrow was fortunate that most of his personal belongings had been spared the unwanted water’s wrath and those that were hit could be salvaged easily enough with some towels and just good old-fashioned sunlight. It still didn’t make the matter of his room flooding good though, just a bit more tolerable.
He couldn’t live like this.
Well, he probably could, but he sure as hell didn’t want to.
Qrow had slept in damp or even flat-out wet beds before under worse circumstances, and the smells of mold and mildew were not ones he ever wanted to make repeat appearances in his nostrils again.
Besides, it took forever to get the grime out of his hair.
No, Qrow needed a new living arrangement, and he needed it fast.
There was only one man he could go to to get that particular job done -- or at least get it done quickly -- and Qrow had no reservations whatsoever about paying that man a visit.
What a day this was shaping up to be...
It was a shame -- Qrow was actually getting used to his personal little corner of Atlas Academy. It was a comfortable enough space, not to mention private. He actually had a bit of space from the kids and while he enjoyed their company to some extent -- or at least, that was all he was willing to admit to anyone apart from himself -- after traveling side-by-side with them for weeks on end, the privacy that he gained from having a room to himself a little ways away from them was more appreciated than it wasn’t.
Well, maybe he’d get lucky and get a similar living situation again.
Of course, he often knew better than to hope for such things, but hey, he was trying to embrace optimism.
His nieces must have been rubbing off on him.
Perhaps someone else was, too.
Qrow found a custodian down the hall from his room and informed him of the leak on his way up to one of the academy’s elevators. An almost imperceptible movement jostled below Qrow’s feet as the elevator made its way up to Atlas Academy’s top floor.
Faces of varying degrees of familiarity met Qrow as he left the elevator and approached the likely location of his intended target. Qrow did what he could to starve off his own grouchiness, but by the time he had just one corner left to pass, the desire to do so had eroded away like footprints in a sandstorm.
And just in time to meet that grouchiness, James Ironwood was exactly where Qrow figured he would be.
James stood in the hallway right by his offices’ door, presently speaking to a couple of his soldiers. Whatever they were talking about, based on his slightly less rigid than usual posture and tone, it didn't seem like it was very important and probably wouldn’t keep him busy for too long.
That was good for the both of them, because Qrow intended to fill that void of business as soon as he could.
Qrow stayed by a nearby corner of the hallway while they continued talking, but the moment that the soldiers left James’ company, he struck. James gave him a small smile upon taking notice of Qrow, though it didn’t last long once he saw what was likely to Qrow a still very annoyed look on his face.
“Qrow,” James said, hesitantly, yet not without that professional tone he wore like a suit. “Always a pleasure.”
“Speak for yourself,” Qrow grunted. “A leak sprung in my room.”
A beat passed. James’ right brow raised.
“Bad?”
“I wouldn’t be here if it was good.”
“Fair enough,” James said right before releasing a sigh. “Come inside. I’ll see what I can do for you.”
Qrow nodded, and followed James as he led him into his office.
Once inside, James brought up on his projector a cubic holograph-like projection of Atlas Academy. From the other side of the hologram, Qrow could see that each and every room was outlined in a minimalistic way, with letters and numbers along the tops of them and the cube’s top and bottom squares greyed out. Qrow watched as James’ eyes surveyed each visible room on the square of the cube closest to him, muttering things to himself that were too low for Qrow to hear. Once done with the first visible section, James swished his hand so that the hologram would go to the next square of the cube, and then the third not long after it, and then the fourth not long after that. However, James' expressions and the tone of his muttering didn’t change at all across the four sections from what they were during the first one.
Honestly, Qrow couldn’t help but find that just a bit concerning.
When he was at last done, James moved his finger so that the second square on the cube he visited was brought up. While there was a look of unease on his face, Ironwood gave the screen a decisive nod.
Finally, frowning and seemingly just a tiny bit nervous, he turned to Qrow, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“There are no other single rooms right now, unfortunately,” James said.
Looks like Qrow’s instincts were right again.
He frowned. Qrow had expected as much, but the news was still annoying to hear all the same.
“So what are my options?” he then asked, coming out more as a sigh than a question.
“What I can do is place you in one of the dorms, like where the kids are staying. You won’t be alone though. You’ll be with some of my other Huntsmen, but it’ll only be for a couple of weeks, at most.”
Great.
Two weeks rooming with up to -- and, knowing his luck, likely -- three of Ironwood’s men, hearing them go on and on about Gods knew what, dealing with the small dorm room’s litany of smells, and never getting so much as a moment to himself.
And there was, of course, always the chance that they could figure out the truth of his semblance.
Qrow hadn’t told that particular truth to a lot of people in Atlas, and though those he did hadn’t given him a hard time about it, he frankly was hoping the number of those who knew wouldn’t increase. However, Qrow knew it inevitably would come up sooner than later -- it always did, especially with Huntsmen -- and he was decidedly not looking forward to the reactions from his roommates over it, nor their treatment of him afterwards.
Wasn’t that just the perfect cherry to put on this pain of a sundae?
Still, Qrow reminded himself, it was something, and something was better than nothing.
Qrow was about to begrudgingly accept the offer, but was interrupted before he could do more than open his mouth by the sudden sound of a man’s clearing cough from behind him.
There was no need to wonder who it was -- the voice had become to Qrow as distinct as the feeling of the sun in the sky, and honestly, about as welcoming of a sensation.
Qrow turned around and lo and behold, just as he expected, there stood Clover Ebi -- bravado, charm, cheery disposition, and all.
Why did Qrow always seem to find his soul suddenly starting to feel just that smallest bit lighter these days whenever he showed up?
Eh, that was a question for another day.
For now, Qrow just wanted to know what it was he had to say.
If nothing else, it would at least make his day a bit more interesting rather than just the irritating mess it was turning out to be.
“Ah. Good morning, Clover,” James greeted.
“Good morning James, Qrow,” Clover said, walking up to them and shooting Qrow a tiny, yet kind glance as he did. “Sir, if you’ll allow me to interject, I don’t think that a dorm’s the best option for Qrow. Those beds are fine enough for the kids and some of our younger soldiers to be sure, but they’re none too kind on the back after a certain age, and I don’t think I need to tell you that like it or not, that’s an age we’ve all hit as well as surpassed by now.”
James sighed, giving Clover a slight nod. “You’re not wrong. So, what do you suggest we do? I’ve no other rooms to put him in.”
“That’s true, but thankfully, I do.”
James’ brow furrowed for a second, clearly puzzled, before settling to something of a reserved curiosity.
Clover gestured towards the holographic model that James visited a few moments ago, as if silently asking permission to use it. James nodded, and Clover took to the model, zooming in on one of the upper floors of the cube’s second square. Finally, he pointed his finger at one of the larger rooms.
“The Ace Ops’ suite has two beds per room,” Clover went on to explain, “and the bed across from mine is empty. They’re better built than those in the dorms, a bit larger in size, and I think Qrow will appreciate the privacy of only having one roommate as opposed to three. So, Qrow can stay there, if he wants, that is.” Clover then turned to Qrow. “What do you think?”
Qrow paused for a second. As Clover posed to Qrow his offer, Qrow heard a small, but unmistakably present twinge of hesitance in Clover’s voice. However, Qrow couldn’t figure out for the life of him why it was there. Whatever was the reason, it definitely wasn’t regret on his part about offering the room to Qrow -- James had clearly either forgotten or never heard of Clover’s extra bed, and Clover was more than smart enough to know that if he didn’t want to share his room, he wouldn’t have had to breathe a word about it, let alone offer it to Qrow, but he did.
So then what was the deal with the hesitance?
Well, there was one way to find out, and that opportunity was presently standing right there in front of him.
Besides, it didn’t take a genius to see that compared to three strangers, rooming with one Clover Ebi was a far better option.
It didn’t hurt that he was a pretty decent guy either.
“Yeah,” Qrow finally said. “That sounds good.”
Clover smiled. That bit of unease was still there, now in his eyes, but Qrow could tell that the smile itself was as genuine as it ever was and hard not to look at because of that.
“Great!” Clover said. “Why don’t I help move your things from your room to mine and we let James get back to some slightly more pressing matters?”
“That would be preferable,” James chimed in, answering for Qrow and smirking back at Clover.
“Always a pleasure,” Qrow snorted, calling back to James’ initial greeting as he followed Clover’s lead out of James’ office.
As they headed towards Qrow’s room, Qrow noticed that as it often happened, by this time of the day, much of the hustle of the morning had settled down, now just a student or a soldier here or there making their ways to their respective classes and drills.
Qrow liked the Academy at this part of the day for that, but always felt the least bit unsettled by the quiet of it. There was this weird echo the hallways had as they carried the sound of just his footsteps for just a second longer than he felt they should have.
Clover’s presence alleviated things somewhat, as if a bit of noise somehow subconsciously radiated off of him like heat off of a fireplace. He turned to Clover who gently met his eyes with his own while sporting an easy smile.
“Thanks, by the way,” Qrow said, “for the offer.”
“Happy to help,” Clover said.
“How’d you hear about it anyway?”
“I was walking by your room to see why you didn’t come down to grab your morning coffee, and saw a custodian working there,” Clover answered. “He told me what had happened and from there, I figured that you’d probably gone to speak with James.”
“And so you came to save your boss from a cranky old Qrow?”
Qrow smirked, both at his comment as well as its underlying meaning. Maybe one day, he’d tell Clover the truth about his other form, but that would be on a day when he had so much as a single clue as to how to even start that conversation.
Then again, given the very nature of that confession, that might be a long time’s wait, though it was time that Qrow couldn’t help but feel like they had.
“And to save that Qrow himself,” Clover responded.
Qrow’s smirk melted into a snarky smile as they entered the elevator.
“Should I be swooning and calling you ‘my hero?’” Qrow nudged his head in Clover’s direction, clasped his hands together, and batted his eyelashes a couple of times just for good measure.
“If you’d like,” Clover said, punching in Qrow’s floor number just before letting loose another one of his winks, winks Qrow was simultaneously well-used to by now but still caught off guard by. “I certainly wouldn’t object.”
The elevator door closed and the two of them started laughing.
Clover’s laugh was infectious -- deep, attractive, casual, yet spirited -- and it made Qrow’s last a little bit longer than it otherwise would have for a joke like this.
It also reminded Qrow, as their barks of laughter settled down into rumbling chuckles, of how much Clover’s laughter contrasted that bit of hesitance in his voice he had at James’ office.
Well, Qrow figured that before they started the process of moving him into Clover’s room, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to clear that up.
“Everything okay, Clover?” Qrow asked. “Couldn’t help but notice that you seemed a little strange back up in James’ office.”
Clover's smile receded, not completely, but all the same into something more neutral. “By offering you the bed?”
“No, that was normal for you. I just noticed you just had this weird look in your voice as you were offering it.”
“I see.” Clover snorted. “You’re far too observant for your own good. You know that, right?”
A wicked smirk took over Qrow’s features. “Absolutely.”
Clover sighed. “I just didn’t want you to feel pressured into taking the room because it was me offering it or because James was there. I could only take a guess at what you wanted, but if I was wrong…” Clover seemed unable to continue, but able to tell that Qrow could understand his logic from there.
Qrow smiled at that bit of vulnerability Clover let him have. He’d received fragments of those bits here and there, and they had a way of sticking themselves onto Qrow’s heart like syrup on pancakes and feeling just as pleasant.
“You made a good guess,” Qrow assured, “and I appreciate it -- really, I do. Thanks, again.”
Clover’s smile brightened. “You know, you’re a lot better at giving compliments than you are at receiving them.”
“What can I say?” Qrow shrugged. “That’s just how I work.”
“Then I’ll just have to work that much harder to change that,” Clover challenged.
Qrow was starting to suspect that if anyone could accomplish such a feat, it would be Clover, and as they exited the elevator and continued towards Qrow’s room, Qrow realized that he wouldn’t have it any other way.