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If anyone asked, he’d deny it. Ace-Ops leader Clover Ebi, top of his class Huntsman, didn’t need anyone looking after him. Even while healing from an injury. But weeks of being helicoptered by Qrow, barely able to take a breath without the other man hovering over him, had spoiled him to at least a life of seeing his boyfriend’s face for almost all hours of the day. So when Qrow didn’t show up after his mission that day...It was jarring, and if he was being honest, worrying. The rest of the day passed, quieter than he’d had to be used to in a long while. Daylight came and went, and by the time nighttime fell, Clover was swinging his legs off the bed, stitches be damned. They were clean, he’d made sure of that, but he didn’t know if he could say the same about Qrow.
He was supposed to be back hours ago. Clover wasn’t a stranger to the mines; the cave systems went deep, and missions could take upwards of a day to fully complete, but Qrow wasn’t clearing out the caves or anything. He was just supposed to scout it out, report back, and come back to him.
Why didn’t he come back to him?
Instinctively, Clover reached for his scroll, and cursed under his breath after pulling it open. Of course. He’d been meaning to add Qrow to his scroll for ages, but had continuously forgotten. When his blackbird had suggested going ahead, alone, to the mission location just to keep Clover safe, he should’ve remembered. But it had been a long day, everything ached, and he had barely been awake enough to agree to the plan - scouting couldn’t be that dangerous, right? - and by the time morning had come, Qrow was by his bed with fresh bandages again, with that stupid charming walk and his stupidly cute smile, and it had managed to completely finish the job, wiping Clover’s mind of any thoughts he could’ve had about practicality and mission safety.
So he was stuck in his room. With stitches running up his chest. Maybe he didn’t have direct access to Qrow’s status, but the kids did. He’d been cleared for light movement just a couple days prior, so it wasn’t like he was banned from leaving the room to search out one of them.
The problem came when he realized just how far away his temporary room was from the dorms. For some reason, the kids had been placed on the fourth floor, and all of the elevators were out of commission because of the newfound need to store as much dust as possible. Clover stifled a groan, and lightly pressed a hand against his chest. Where was his luck when he needed it?
Well. He hadn’t been unofficially named the most annoyingly stubborn student at Atlas Academy for nothing. So with a deep, steadying breath, he squeezed his pin and hoped like hell that his semblance could at least kick in to keep his stitches inside his skin.
———————
Qrow still blamed himself for that night. He still remembers the light draining away from his lover's eyes. He remembers the blood-stained snow, how he begged the people who had detained him to save Clover. Qrow needed to make sure his partner was safe and taken care of before he could even sleep at night. Qrow admits that he may have been too overprotective, but he had a good reason to, especially since he knows that his bad luck could affect someone he cares about, even when they have the opposite of his semblance.
So when Qrow and Clover were assigned a mission together, Qrow offered to go alone and report it back. He didn't want any possibility of Clover getting hurt again because of him and his stupid misfortune. Qrow didn't anticipate that he would be trapped in the deepest parts of the mines, though. He was caught in the middle of a cave-in, barely dodging rocks and dust in time. He instinctively reached up to where his earpiece should be, before remembering that he didn't even bother to bring it.
"Shit." Okay, this was fine. Trapped in the freezing mines with barely enough aura to keep him going, but he was fine. Maybe someone would notice his aura levels dropping, maybe Clover saw and had notified people. Qrow decided to sit at a corner of the cave, trying to savor each bit of aura he had. Someone would come and rescue him eventually.
Right?
———————
The climb was hell.
That was it. Hell. The only thing that could sum up just what type of agony it had been. Every step he took was another reminder of how absolutely unprepared he’d actually been to walk up that many flights of stairs, but every time he paused to take a breath, he’d be reminded again of the unknown nature of Qrow’s status, and the second he stepped up onto the fourth floor, he shot a glare at the pin.
At least his stitches stayed where they were supposed to.
Finally, he dragged himself over to where he remembered Team RWBY was staying, slammed on the door, and thanked all the luck he hadn’t had getting there that they were inside to open the door.
“I need to check Qrow’s aura,” he said in place of a greeting, and Blake blinked at him in confusion.
“Uh, sure?”
When she handed over her scroll, opened to the teams list, he fought back the urge to grab it and desperately search for Qrow’s. Instead, he calmly and politely nodded, took the scroll, and scanned the list.
As soon as he saw it, his heart dropped.
Qrow was in the red zone, and it was slowly, steadily dropping as he watched.
———————
Qrow was leaning against the icy wall of the cave, already starting to see his breath. Brothers, it was freezing, he couldn't even feel his legs anymore. Qrow gave out a weak chuckle as he soon realized what the future could bring. He was tired. So tired, that he was hallucinating the warm hugs Clover would have given him during the coldest months in Atlas.
At least he wouldn't have to worry about his semblance hurting anybody anymore. Clover and the kids would be much safer then. After all, he was just holding everyone back, making them clean up his mistakes for him. He didn't want to be a burden to them anymore. He couldn't find the will to even believe the words Clover had said to him many times, reassuring that he wasn't a bother. There was no way his boyfriend didn't blame him for his near-death experience.
Qrow's eyes were starting to become heavy despite trying to keep them open. His consciousness was fading and he swore that he heard Clover's voice calling out his name as everything went black.
———————
“Qrow!”
He shouldn’t aggravate the stitches, really. The possibility of pulling them out, of re-injuring himself, was far too high, but there he was. Through the gaps in the ice when they were clearing it out, there was Qrow, leaned up against the wall of the cave. Still.
He almost panicked before seeing the small puffs of breath misting up in the cold. Even then, it was terrifying, knowing just how cold it was, and just how low his partner’s aura must have dropped in the time it had taken for him to hobble back down the stairs, find someone willing to bring him out into the tundra, and then gathering together people to help with all the heavy lifting that he had been rendered incapable of doing.
As soon as the hole was big enough for him to fit through without curling in too far, Clover stepped forward and squeezed in, carefully dropping down to hold the body on the ground, far too cold and far too limp.
“Come on, blackbird,” he muttered, curling him as close as possible without pain. “We’re here now, just hold on a little longer.”
"Light movement," the doctor had said. Fuck that . His boyfriend was hurt and in his arms. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to walk out of there empty handed, no matter how much it hurt. As long as they were both alive, that was what mattered.
But luck couldn’t hold together a human body. Luck couldn’t overdrive basic biology. So it was with a loud, startled cry and a sharp, pulling sensation in his chest that he pitched forward, vision slowly going dark from the pain.
———————
Qrow groaned as he opened his eyes, just to see a white ceiling. He was so out of it that he didn't even process where he was until a few minutes later. He tried to get up to move around, but was held back by the obsessive amounts of blankets that were wrapped around him. He opened his mouth to try and call for someone, if anyone was nearby, before he heard the door open. Qrow expected it to be a doctor before hearing another voice by the door.
Clover's voice.
Qrow wanted so badly to be in a warm embrace with his boyfriend's arms around him. He tried shuffling around to get out of the blankets, not even paying attention that was being said. He only paused when a sentence caught his attention.
"You're lucky that you didn't open up your injury again, Ebi. We just had to quickly tighten the stitches." What? Clover was injured again? Didn't he stay back in their room? How did he even get hurt? Qrow let out a weak whine of concern, needing to know if his partner was alright, if he was safe. He needed to see those familiar seafoam eyes. He needed to.
———————
“Don’t lecture me, sir,” Clover said, stepping into the room. “I did what I had to do. If it weren’t for me, Qrow wouldn’t be safe in bed right now.”
Speaking of Qrow, he turned to look at the mess of blankets tucked up against a shape on the bed, and blinked when he met familiar red eyes. Open and awake.
Safe.
Instead of the quip he was expecting, or some comment on how the blankets were nestled in around him, though, those eyes just opened up wider, and Clover’s heart cracked at the soft whine his boyfriend let out. Ignoring the doctor - their conversation was over, he’d said all that was needed - he sped up, reaching the side of the hospital bed in just a few steps.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he soothed, rubbing at where he figured Qrow’s arm was under the layers of blankets. “It’s okay, you’re safe now.”
Qrow nodded, his eyes slipping shut. Right when Clover figured he was submitting to the pull of sleep that the pile of warmth no doubt was pushing him into, he squinted his eyes open again and frowned at…
His chest. Clover’s chest, where the stitches were, and Clover winced at the sleepy grumble that came out. “Don’t… Don’t worry about those, Qrow,” he said, and pressed a hand against his cheek, nudging his eyes up to meet his own. “They’re all clean and tight, you just worry about warming up right now.”
With a huff of a sigh, Qrow nestled his cheek firmly into the hand pushed up against it, and sent his chest one final glare before his eyes closed completely.
———————
"You sure this is all necessary?" Qrow had asked, putting on an amused smirk as his boyfriend kept coming back with more blankets. It felt nice that he was being taken cared of, but he was literally just discharged an hour ago.
"Of course it's necessary! I don't want my little birdy to be cold," Clover answered before cuddling into the blankets beside Qrow. "Besides, I wanted to cuddle."
Qrow rolled his eyes and chuckled, nuzzling his face against Clover's shoulder. "You're a stubborn dork."
"And you're an adorable brat."
Qrow sighed contently and smiled at his lover. He loved this dork so damn much. He was so happy that he could spend his life with Clover. Seafoam eyes stared at red.
"Uh oh, I know that look. What are you thinking about?"
"I'm just thinking about how lucky I am, having an amazing boyfriend like you." Clover answered, giving a soft smile. Qrow's cheeks started to match the color of his eyes.
"Okay, that was cheesy and you know it." Qrow chuckled and leaned against Clover, giving out a smile matching his lover's. "Brothers, I love you so damn much.”
"I love you too."