Archive of Our Own ^beta

They made good progress over the eight days that they had been traveling. Despite Clover wanting horses to travel, they would have to stick to the main roads or less dense forests. Qrow convinced him it was better to travel through the woods and without horses since they can’t get through the dense underbrush, get spooked too easily, get injured too easily and can draw out grimm. 

“But what about us? Won’t we also draw out grimm?”

“It’s possible, especially with your emotional state…”

“Hey…”

“...but in reality we are more likely to stumble across them than the other way around.”

“What would we do then?”

“Avoid them and go around if we can. Fight them if we can't.”

“And what would you fight them with?”

“A sword.”

“Really? And where is this sword that you seem so sure could protect us? Are you going to summon it out of thin air?”

“As fun as that would be, no, perky smart ass. It’s on my back under my cloak."

“Oh. Sorry. I got a bit…worried that we were going to walk through the woods…nevermind.”

“Don’t play dumb. I know that you have a weapon on your person too. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet. It must be collapsible and special for you to keep it under your pillow last night.”

“I-I did..do not… Such a thing would be...”

“‘Such a thing.’ When did we get all high and mighty.?”

Clover stopped talking, grumbling to himself. Qrow was beginning to piece together that this former guard was higher up in the ranks than he had previously thought. That could be good and bad, depending on the situation. 

As it turned out, Qrow had been right, as they had only come across grimm three times so far and were able to avoid them each time. And from what Clover could tell from the maps, they were making really good progress. But they came to a denser part of the forest and Clover had to know if it was really the fastest path.

“Wouldn’t it be faster to go along the other path so that you don’t have to hack our way through the forest?”

“And how would you know?”

“I don’t. I’m asking since it seems like a lot of work.”

Qrow considered his suggestion. He had a point. He took a few steps back and glanced at the other path. It had clearly been more recently traveled, by human or animal he couldn't say, but not so recent that it was completely cleared. There were still a few bushes and other undergrowth in the path but just less of it.

“What the hell? Let’s see how bad it turns out.”

“Do you always have to be so cynical?” Clover asked but Qrow didn't answer with more than a grumble, as Clover began walking down the more open path through the forest.

They walked a good hour through the woods and it turned out to be a good choice.

“See, it was a good use of our time and energy to switch paths. We made it back around the dense portion without…”

And almost as if he had summoned it, the ground collapsed around both of them, causing them to fall into a pit. Qrow knew to look out for hunters traps, some used to catch grimm and most others to catch wild game. But he was so focused on his snarky and flirty response to Clover’s ‘told you so’ comment that he had missed it. Clover had been walking in front of him too, until they made this little detour. This had been one of the reasons that he had told him to follow him, but Clover was independent and strong willed. It irritated Qrow and it appealed to him as well, in ways he didn’t want to admit.

They landed in the pit with Qrow on top of Clover, who was face down in the dirt and his back against Qrow’s chest. Qrow pushed himself up, and Clover pushed back onto his knees in front of him, which caused his ass to brush up against Qrow’s thighs. Images of Qrow’s past lovers pop into his mind, as he had the slight urge to push back against Clover. Qrow shook his head. Fake kissing to hide Clover from the Royal Guard does not imply that he has an interest in him or an interest in having a romp with a man that was escorting him across Anima, in a hunters trap no less, regardless how good of a kisser Clover was. 

Qrow quickly stood up, concerned that it had been too long since he had been with someone that his thoughts would trigger his body to react. His focus had been to quit drinking and dealing with its side effects. It seemed traveling worked well as a distraction. However, his pent up urges were making themselves known. Maybe tonight, after they got out of this hole, he could find a quiet moment to rub one off.

Qrow reached out a hand to Clover, who had rolled over, as he was still struggling to get up off the bottom of the pit. 

“Thanks.” Clover dusted himself off. Luckily it hadn’t rained too much recently or this pit would be full of mud.

Qrow looked around the pit for a rock or root to use to climb out yet none could be found. This pit was strangely smooth on all four sides. The floor, as Qrow tripped on a root, was not. What purpose would a pit with smooth walls do? What were they trying to catch that was smart enough to climb out? And why was it so deep? Deeper than any he had seen before. Qrow had a bad feeling and that was never a good sign.

“Any idea on how to get out of here?”

“I’m working on it.” Qrow pondered using Harbinger in sword form to wedged it into the wall of the pit so he could reach the edge and climb out. But he could see that even at tip toe height he wouldn’t be able to reach the top. However, he could use his small hatchet to carve foot and hand holds for the both of them. It would take a bit of time but he could do it.

He pulled the hatchet out of his belt holder and started hacking at the walls. The wall didn’t give way as easily as they should. What in the world is this? It felt like rock but smoother than that yet just as strong.

“Let’s see how well you hold up to this?” Qrow pulled out Harbinger and took a few hacks at the wall. It gave way under its strong blade. “That’s more like it.” He made a few more calculated slices and then pried the rock like wall away, letting it fall inward. 

“It’s not pretty but it will work,” he turned to address Clover, who was nowhere to be seen.

“You know that if you just wanted to play in the dirt with the rocks, you didn’t have to wait until we were at the bottom of a hole in the ground.”

Qrow had to look up to see that Clover was now above him at the top of the pit, on the opposite side that they had fallen in. 

“How in the hell?" Qrow looked around and was unable to see anything that Clover was able to use to climb out. So either he was secretly a spider in disguise or that weapon that he kept hidden had just the right tool to help him get out of the hole quickly. He hadn’t even heard it make any noise.

“Grab onto this,” Clover yelled down as he lowered a bunch of vines and roots that could easily bear his weight. 

And he was still keeping it to himself, since he wasn’t sharing it with Qrow as a way to get out. Alright. Keep your secrets and I’ll keep mine. He climbed the makeshift rope and Clover helped him at the top. 

“One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me how you did that?”

“Did what?”

“Don’t play games with me. Or should I just leave you to your devices here in these woods?”

Clover glanced around. He wasn’t afraid of the woods or the grimm. But he had to admit that he didn’t know where he was and he would likely have to wait a bit to see if he could tell where the sun was behind the clouds to get his bearings as to the cardinal directions, since he didn’t have a compass with him. All of the ones he had access to had some scent in them that the royal dogs could track. Combination of finding fallen comrades and preventing people from deserting. He also didn’t know exactly where he was going. He just had a general idea but not an exact location.

“Okay. Once we get to our destination, I will tell you.”

“Our?”

“We are traveling together.”

“Fine, lucky ass” Qrow dusted off some of the dust, as well as the vine and root remnants on his cloak and pants. He glanced around. “Be careful of more of those traps. They were not meant to trap your normal animals.”

“What do you think they are for?”

“Grimm.”

“What on earth would someone want to trap a grimm?”

“I have a pretty good idea but I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

Didn’t take long to prove Qrow’s hunch correct, as they skirted a triggered trap that had, not one, but three grimm in the bottom. Qrow pulled out his crossbow, tied a string to the end of it and shot the arrow into one of the grim. It didn’t kill it but it did injure the creature, in a manner of speaking. Qrow repeated this three or four times for each creature before he killed them all.

“Despite not wanting to stick around to find out, you decided it was worth taking the time to kill them?”

“That’s why I used my crossbow and not my shotgun.”

“You have a shotgun? Where?” 

“Waste of bullets and it would draw too much attention to us. Let’s keep going.”

Clover just shook his head.

They reached the end of the forested area with all of the grim traps and Clover let out a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn’t have to deal with the pits anymore. 

The clearing that they came to had a beautiful view. Another forest across the clearing and a distant mountain with white peaks. It was a weird combination of the colors and views he was used to and the lush green grounds that he was unaccustomed to.

They slowly made their way across the lush green field. There were a few brown spots here and there but there were no grimm as far as they could see. Clover saw a bunny on the far side and birds in the sky above the opposite forest. Clearly life was thriving here, especially farther away from the more populated towns and villages.

Qrow led the way like he had first told Clover. He had learned his lesson and it had been a particularly embarrassing moment for himself. On top of the fact that Qrow had landed on top of his back, which had triggered some strange urges. And then having to decide whether or not to use Kingfisher to get out of the hole quickly while Qrow pondered other means. It was risky and clearly Qrow was no push over, as he quickly recognized that Clover had something that helped him get out of it that he wasn’t sharing. But he did promise to tell him when they got to Vale. It would all be worthwhile in the end.

Qrow stopped suddenly in front of him and Clover almost ran into him.

“Something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

Qrow turned to face him, “I have traveled through this field before and it was teaming with animals of all sorts and now there are hardly any.”

Clover looked around, “Maybe there was a grimm pack here recently that drove them away.”

“It’s possible but there are no tracks that I can see of any sort of grimm or grimm pack. I just have a strange feeling.”

“Could it have something to do with the pit that we fell into and the others like it that we saw with grimm in them?”

“Maybe.” Qrow took a few steps backwards and looked up at the sky. “Something doesn’t feel…Woah!!”

Suddenly, Qrow was falling right in front of Clover. On instinct, he grabbed Kingfisher from his hip, and flung it down towards Qrow. Clover aimed for Qrow’s belt and around his broad sword holster on his back, which was more visible as the air pushed up his cloak like he had wings. With his skill and maybe a bit of luck, Clover was able to successfully catch Qrow from falling all the way down.

Which was good as he suddenly looked at what was below him and gasped. “ What… is that? ”

Qrow didn’t respond right away, as he was a little in shock himself staring face to face with a large pool of black liquid. It stunk. And it reminded him of some of his missions from years ago and yet that couldn’t be. There was no way. And yet, here it was as he dangled above it, clear as day.

“Qrow. I’m going to pull you up now.” Clover yelled down to Qrow, as he hovered there like he had wings.

Clover took a few steps backwards, minding his footing as he went, before using the crank to slowly lift Qrow up the rest of the way. Once Qrow got close to the top, he grabbed the edge of the hole and pushed himself up. Yet the ground gave away again and Qrow slipped part way back down the hole. Clover had not let go and not lost his grip and instead, pulled hard and yanked Qrow up with Kingfisher and all his might. It worked but a little too well as Qrow was quickly pulled up and propelled into Clover, knocking him over. For the second time in a single day, Qrow landed on top of Clover. Only this time, they were facing each other with Qrow’s forearms landing above Clover’s head. Qrow shifted up, bracketing Clover's head. It caught them both by surprise.

Qrow had to do everything in his power to behave because his thoughts shifted back to how good Clover had looked earlier, on his knees in front of him and now here he was beneath him again. And not only that, he was between Clover’s legs to boot. If this fellow wasn’t gay, it would surprise him, because he could feel every muscle beneath him and the tension in Clover’s muscles was everwhere.

Clover looked up at Qrow and the look he saw in his eyes was like he was ready to eat him alive. It gave him a thrill that he had never felt before but it scared him too, to think that he was becoming too easily manhandled and by accident. Both times they had landed on top of one another, had been of his own making. It wasn’t like Qrow was making it happen.

But the feel of this man he hardly knew laying between his legs and how exhilarating it felt to have him there made his body respond in ways he didn’t want Qrow to know. But he didn’t move, as a small part of him wanted to pull Qrow down and kiss the man senseless. He wanted to feel the thrill like they had back at the tavern. Despite not knowing him well or for very long, he did know one thing for certain. Qrow was an excellent kisser.

Neither of them moved for a few moments longer as they each took in the sight of the other and schooled their thoughts and feelings to something more in the realms of a PG rating.

“Sorry about that. Let me…” Qrow shifted and placed both of his hands on either side of Clover’s body and pushed himself up and off of the man and onto his knees. He glanced back to make sure that there was plenty of space between him and the edge of this unusual pit that they had uncovered. Then he stood up and offered Clover a hand, as he sat up, helping him stand. Then they both looked back down at the pit.

“Thanks.” Clover said before quickly letting go of Qrow’s hand. “What is that ?”

“Don’t know. Never seen anything like it.” Qrow lied and looked around and noticed that the area around this pit and its inky black water, was surrounded with a bit of brown grass. It was summer and when there was little water, the grass would turn brown when there was a lack of rain. However, Qrow knew that it had rained at least a week ago and that was not long enough or hot enough to trigger that reaction. He glanced back the way that they had come and saw none of the brown grass but when he looked out across the field, he saw at least a dozen brown spots that seemed to outline various shapes.

Clover unhooked Kingfisher from around Qrow and wound it up and placed it back on his hip while Qrow was surveying the area.

“Let’s get going. Don’t think I want to wait around to find out.” Clover took a step towards a different area of the grassy field. 

“Clover! Stop!”

And suddenly another section of the ground gave out right next to where he was. There is a hiss as the dirt falls into the black liquid and an odd dusty reaction between the two, creating a cloud of smoke. Qrow isn’t sure if Clover is still there for a moment before he sees his shadow figure among the smoke. 

“Thanks for the call out. That was a close one.” Clover took a few steps back as he looked down at the pit in front of him. Qrow slowly moved to join him.

“We can’t go this way. There are likely more of those pits all over this field. We are going to have to back track and find a different path.”

“That’s unfortunate. Let’s make this quick. I don’t want any more surprises.”

“You and me both.”

They quickly headed back the way they came and kept to the forest perimeter to avoid any of the pits that they had fallen into before and eventually continued on their path. 

This night they were lucky, even with their detour, they were able to make it to a small village and pay for lodging for the night. Clover didn’t even blink when he was offered a single room with a full size bed. It wasn’t a town or city so inns and taverns were not common. But a handful of people would rent their spare rooms to those passing through or would have spare rooms built just for this purpose. This was the latter. He grabbed the key and dragged Qrow with him down the hall. All he wanted after sleeping on the ground for the past week was to sleep in something more comfortable than grass on the ground or the bed roll that Melinda had given him. He knew that traveling would be hard but not having proper lodgings was not something that he had ever considered.  

He shoved the key in, turned the lock, opened the door, threw his bags down, nearly jumped out of his armor and headed to the washroom. He had also never been this dirty since he was a child. So he was happy to see that there was heated water and soap ready for him to use in a wooden tub. He got undressed, dropping his clothes to the side and slid in, enjoying the feeling of the dirt that floated off of his skin. He just sat in the water for a while. Despite how tired he was, he needed to feel human again first.

Qrow followed Clover to the bath house and was pleasantly surprised to find more than two tubs ready for use. So he too climbed out of his clothing and slid into the wooden tub next to Clover’s. It wasn’t often that small villages would have such luxuries so when they did, he indulged himself. Clover seemed to be in his own little world, which was fine with Qrow. Maybe he could take advantage of Clover’s gorgeous muscled physique and rub one off like he had considered early today without drawing too much attention.

Qrow sank down into the tub, up to his shoulders, with his head leaning against the wood frame of the tub and thought back on a few of his past conquests. There hadn’t been any since he quit drinking and that wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was his sudden attraction to Clover. Maybe it was because he was sober that his mind wasn’t being delayed or affected the same way. Regardless, he thought back to Tameran, Ezra and Jay, both of them. Memories of these four were fairly intense and not when he was overly drunk. Just recalling them all in succession got him more than halfway hard. 

Qrow glanced over at Clover who’s hair was wet, having clearly been washed and proceeded to wash his body with the soap bar. And boy was it a sight to see. Clover was sitting up with half his body out of the tub. The suds over his chest and neck. It was all Qrow could do to restrain himself from reaching out and touching the glorious muscles and tanned flesh. It had been a really long time apparently and being raring to go didn’t make it any easier.

Clover moved on to washing his feet, legs and thighs. Qrow didn’t have to turn to see him, as he sank down in his own tub, with Clover in his near peripheral vision. Oh how much Qrow wanted to be that bar of soap or the wash rag Clover was using. He would do such a better job and get all those places that Clover couldn’t reach on his own and make him feel so good in the process. 

Qrow forced himself to glance away and looked on the other side of his tub to find a bar of soap and his own wash rag. He leaned over and grabbed them and let the bar float in the water, as he got the rag wet and then began to stroke himself, slowly. He wasn’t going to take very long.

Clover had shifted down to rinse off his neck and chest in the water. Then he shifted back up, soaped up the wash rag and washed his arms from wrist to shoulder. Qrow began rubbing himself gently to a similar motion as Clover did with the soap bar. It was amazing that he hadn’t moaned out loud yet. But he had discipline in many things. This was just another thing that carried over from learning how to take pain silently as not to give away your location when spying on people in very confined locations.

Then he watched as Clover took his own wash rag under the water and shifted uncomfortably as he washed his nether regions. Qrow had to hold his breath and sink lower as he watched the man focus on his more private parts. But Qrow knew that he had to get past this desire, this lust that he felt for the man beside him. Once he did, Clover would be nothing more than a job for hire. A distant memory. Or at least Qrow continued to convince himself that it would be.

Clover finished and put his rag and soap bar to the side. He stood up facing away from Qrow, who was grateful, because he was certain that he would come on sight at seeing Clover’s naked, glorious body on display, especially after all of this build up. Clover would definitely see what he was doing in the water and his body’s reaction. As it stood, easily on its own in the water, Qrow was having a hard time breathing normally and staying quiet as he got close to the end with Clover’s perky ass on full display. 

Clover climbed out of the tub and bent over to pick up his towel to dry off and Qrow had to duck under the water and hold his breath as he visualized that perfect round ass back in the pit from earlier in the day in front of his thighs. He dug his nails into his thighs to prevent himself from coming right then. After a few moments, once he was certain that he wouldn’t come, he slowly raised out of the water and took a slow but deep breath and wiped off his face with his hands, pushing his hair out of his face. He turned to see Clover with his pants on and a towel draped over his head and shoulders as he towel dried his hair using his hands and oh so muscular biceps. Qrow grabbed the bar of soap floating in his bath and started to create a lather, so he could distract himself while Clover finished getting dressed, but his eyes wandered over and watched as he pulled a shirt over his head. As Clover turned around, Qrow began washing his arms. Clover dropped the towel and rag over the back of the tub. Clover turned back around and made for the door to the hallway that led to their room.

“I hope you enjoyed the show,” Clover said as he opened the door and let it slowly close behind him. 

Qrow froze for a moment, trapped in that tub, as he glanced over to watch Clover leave. He smirked to himself as he realized that Clover didn’t care that he had been watching him. He reached back under the water to finish what he started, knowing that release wasn’t far behind.