Chapter Text
Clover is starting to learn that family means something different to Qrow than it does to him.
When Clover thinks of family, he thinks of his Mom and Dad, retired and living by the sea in Solitas. He thinks of his older sister who moved to Mistral with her boyfriend. He thinks of his cousins, aunts, and uncles who he saw every holiday. He thinks of his grandparents, gone long ago.
Teams RWBY and JNOR refer to each other as family. When they’d first arrived, he had no idea what that could have felt like. Now, he thinks he has an idea.
“Yang, you put that donut down! You know I claimed that one!”
Nora is held back by Ren, who is shaking his head at Nora’s flailing arms. From across the table, Yang has a donut held inches from her mouth. Her mouth is frozen in its open state, seconds away from biting into the pastry.
“There are other donuts, Nora,” Oscar says quietly from beside her.
“Not with sprinkles!” Nora cries.
Yang looks down at the donut before glancing back up. She takes a bite.
“YANG!”
The table erupts into chaos.
Clover sits back, narrowly avoiding a flying chunk of chocolate chip cookie to the face.
Qrow is not so lucky. He’s got frosting smeared across half of his face and a deformed slice of cake in his lap. Clover grins and drags a finger down Qrow’s cheek. He licks the frosting off of his finger.
“Wow,” Clover jokes, “I didn’t know you could be so sweet.”
Qrow scrubs his face with a napkin. “Whatever, man. Now I’ve got to do laundry.”
This was the second weekly ‘Family Dinner’ that Clover had been invited to.
The two young teams and Qrow make sure to all be free for dinner once a week in the cafeteria. From the outside, it had looked like an hour of friends swapping stories and making a mess. And while it definitely is that, it’s also more. It’s a recharge. The huntsman and huntresses arrive at the table weary and worn. They leave energized and smiling.
Clover’s not sure if he’s really a part of the family yet, but as he feels Qrow’s hand squeeze his knee under the table, he thinks that he would really like to be.