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Clover blinked at the lanky form sprawled on the bed that was decidedly not Qrow despite it being his room. Gold eyes blinked back at him languidly and he casually backed slowly out of the room to close the door again. Teal stared blankly at nothing while he tried to process what he’d just walked in on before he shook his head and turned to go wait for the others to return home. He’d thought Qrow had been home but obviously not. He hoped the pirate was out doing whatever needed to be done regarding what he’d just seen but the other man was too unpredictable to tell for sure. After all, Clover wasn’t even sure how the thing had ended up in Qrow’s room to begin with, though he certainly planned to find out when the other got home.
~*~
Qrow slowed a half step when he walked in to find a slightly frowning Clover staring aimlessly down the hall at the bedrooms, his heart kicking up a beat at the possibility that his lover had discovered what he had hidden away in his room before he had everything ready. He hadn’t expected Clover or James to be home until later which was why he’d arranged for his most recent purchases to be delivered to their house with (supposedly) enough time for him to move things out of sight but obviously that wasn’t going to happen. Which meant he was on to the next (spur of the moment) plan. “Cloves! Hey paradise, what’s up?”
Clover turned to face him, taking in every detail. Qrow’s smile was slightly off from his real one, his voice a touch too high to be natural, his eyes shifting more than they should be if he was relaxed. Clover had long since learned the signs of the pirate’s nervousness in an effort to keep the peace between the three of them as Qrow was (surprisingly) less vocal about it than Clover expected him to be. He supposed it could have been a side effect of his profession, the need to always appear and act unshaken even when dealing with the worst outcome possible. If that were the case, then he was very good at it. Unfortunately it was a bit of a problem in a relationship. Particularly since James wasn’t much better. At least the other man was improving since he stayed in Atlas where Clover was beside him and could teach (train) him better.
“Went looking for you earlier. Didn’t know you were out.”
Qrow cleared his throat, a slight trill mixing with the sound oddly as it sometimes did when he got nervous, mind flipping through anything that might buy him the time he needed to get out of trouble. “Oh, yea. Had some last minute shopping to do and I figured I could get it done before the two of you got home.”
“James knew you were coming back today and he thought it would be nice if one of us was here to greet you. Looks like you beat us to it by a bit though.”
“Not by that much really.” Not by enough anyways. Clover arched a brow as Qrow sauntered closer. “Was sweet of you guys to do that though.”
Long arms wound around Clover’s neck, a strong lithe body pressed against him. Clover’s lips twisted into a small wry smile. “Don’t even try it.”
Qrow pulled away just enough to pout at him, absolutely caught but not about to give up. “Can I try a little bit?”
“Try what?” James looked both amused and confused as he entered the room, his coat already gone for the day.
“Qrow was going to try distracting me.”
“And why would he need to do that?” James paused, casting a suspicious look to the pirate that he wouldn’t have thought to have been home long enough to get into trouble. Then again, the lithe man was especially skilled at trouble whether it was causing it or getting himself and others into it. He was beyond grateful that Clover was so blessed with the ability to spot and deal with trouble before it got out of hand, though his gift was certainly being put to the test by Qrow.
“Go look in his bedroom….” Beautiful teal gave him an unamused look while Qrow huffed and crossed his arms, standing back from the Captain now that he’d been caught. James gave the blushing, sulking pirate a considering look as he passed the two, returning moments later to give him a flat glare.
“Why is there a lynx on your bed?”
Qrow rolled his eyes, flinging himself petulantly into a chair while James settled into the couch with Clover cuddling into his side. “He was in the last haul we plundered.”
“I thought you were supposed to return the things you recovered.” Clover was actually positive that they were supposed to return it. He distinctly remembered asking Qrow questions about sanctioned pirates and being told that they made a profit by getting a percentage of the value of what they returned.
“Yea well…” Qrow grimaced, like the words were foul on his tongue and he didn’t even want to speak them. “They were gonna skin him.”
Clover scowled harshly before he smoothed it out to a neutral expression. He didn’t want to approve of Qrow’s actions. The man had basically stolen the creature from the actual owners but… He couldn’t say he wouldn’t have done the same in Qrow’s position.
“I see.” James’s voice was carefully controlled, carefully empty of any feelings. He was going to have to do some fast work to make everything legal and proper if they were going to save the feline. He was dragged back out of his thoughts by Qrow.
“I know, I know. There are proper channels to use and all that but look…. They would have already skinned him by the time the paperwork was even started and I ain’t gonna let them have him.” Qrow crossed his arms defiantly, sulking in his chair completely unaware that James had already been making plans for it. “And it doesn’t hurt any to keep him. Like I said, we get paid based on what we return, going by what the inventory cost is listed and since they can’t claim he was in the cargo without admitting what they want him for, they can’t keep the money from us. So. I got us a new pet. Deal with it.”
James sighed, lifting a hand to rub his forehead. They had nothing ready for keeping any animal, let alone one like a lynx. The fact that Qrow had even brought it home at least suggested that the feline was raised indoors and not captured. Not considering the fact that he had apparently been in Qrow’s room for however long without tearing it apart. “Qrow…”
“No.” Qrow sat up straight, glaring him right in the eyes. “I already bought what I need to take care of him. He stays.”
James straightened as well, eyes narrowing at the authoritative tone in challenge but Clover’s hand tightened on his wrist as a warning to stay calm. He backed down, not much, but enough to give Clover the lead. “He’s fully tamed?”
Red eyes blinked, finally breaking contact to look at Clover. “Yea.”
“And you said you bought everything we’ll need. When will it be delivered?”
“This afternoon. Was hoping to have everything set up before you guys found out.” Qrow looked away from the faint glower James was aiming at him and pretended not to hear the sigh from Clover. He knew what he’d done was a little underhanded but he was a pirate, what did they expect from him?
“Right. Well.” Clover shifted his hand to run soothingly along the stiff spine of James beside him. There were several issues that would need to be addressed about what had happened but for now Clover thought it best to focus on the biggest issue. The one currently sleeping on Qrow’s bed. It wasn’t that they minded having the lynx around, or at least Clover didn’t, but he would have preferred that Qrow gave them a heads up instead. “He’s going to need a name.”
Qrow slumped in his seat further with a thoughtful coo, frowning as he tried to come up with something and wound up blank.
“What about Ludo?”
“No.”
“Angus?”
“No.”
“Sabor?”
“No.”
“Clawd?”
Qrow glared at Clover, not even dignifying that option with a response and he pouted, putting on a wounded look as Qrow shot down every name he came up with. “We need some kind of name for him Qrow! I’m guessing they didn’t name him if they were planning to kill him.”
“Would you accept Ajax as a name?”
Both turned to him, Clover surprised and Qrow considering. The pirate's head tipped, thinking it over, and a small smile quirked his lips with a happy chirp. “Ajax… I like it.”
Clover sighed in relief both that a name had been found and at the signs that Qrow still felt safe enough around them to not hide his bird voice. Maybe since James had helped name the feline, settling the minor dispute would be easier. It wouldn’t help the next time it happened but Clover was hoping that with a bit of talking with the two, he could stop this from becoming a regular problem. It would have to wait though, since Qrow was out of the chair and heading to the door before the chime had finished ringing from the doorbell, though it was hard to tell with the quiet little song he'd let out in excitement. Apparently the delivery had arrived and both him and James stood to help. With any luck Clover could turn what might have been a relationship straining dispute into a shared bonding experience.