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Another day. Sun blazing. The air up here was crisp and clean.

Earlier that morning, the clouds were so low that the city in the sky just about scraped them. But now… a brisk breeze from the sea to the west had cleared all that away. Nothing but white below and blue above.

It was nice.

Not as good as flying.

Really flying.

But being in the airship wasn't all bad.

Qrow glanced over at Clover.

The Captain was deep in discussion with Ruby. Nerding out about some game maybe? They were both waving their arms a lot, anyway.

Clover noticed he was looking almost before he registered it himself. He got a little flex of the bicep for his trouble and a tiny hint of a grin.

Such a show off. No wonder he made captain so young, he would have practised everything until he was the best. Probably in front of a mirror.

Clover had decided to come with them. He didn't have to, which made it just that little bit nicer to have him along for the ride. He'd also brought Marrow. Qrow could see the kid was starting to form some strong bonds with his unruly brood. Maybe Clover could too.

It felt good to be out with the kids dealing with things that were more… normal, at least for huntsmen and huntresses. The missions challenged their skills without any real threat to life. They needed time to heal. It felt good to finally take the breath they all needed.

Ren and Nora were surprisingly quiet. They had suddenly become prone to getting lost in each other's eyes. He'd just about had to wave his hand between their faces that morning to get them away from the breakfast table. It was… kind of adorable really. His eyes flicked across to the sleeveless godbod and back.

Might have a little hint about how they feel…

They were just sitting slightly too close together, looking out the window. It made him almost uncomfortably happy to see them so full of joy after everything. Weiss, Jaune and Yang were arguing about something. Blake had a novel clutched to her chest, a slight crease of concern deepening between her brows. Must be a good book.

Ruby slowly wound down from another peak of delighted screaming about her game. Clover gave her a high five and some goofy fistbump thing. Since when did they have a goofy fistbump thing? Qrow smiled.

"You all ready, Boy Scout?"

Clover just looked at him with his trademark What do you think? grin.

"Ren? Nora?" Qrow asked, just to see if they could still hear him this time.

"Hmmm?" they both said without moving an inch.

It'll do for now.

"Jaune?" Qrow asked.

"Yes?" Jaune looked up.

"You got your landing strategy all sorted? I heard you were quite… creative at the Academy," Qrow smiled, remembering Oz showing him the footage. Should he really be here? Qrow had asked. I have a feeling about him… Oz had replied, his ever-present cup hiding his smile.

"That was so long ago! Give a guy a break…" Jaune groaned.

"I'll catch him!" Yang offered.

Jaune looked over the many amused faces turned to his, "Oh for… I'll use my shield ok? And if it doesn't work then you can all fight over who gets to catch me. Everyone loves Jaune."

"I'm good," said Ren, not taking his eyes from Nora for a second.

"I do love a good landing strategy," Clover mused.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed," Qrow shrugged.

"What's yours then? Do you have a favourite?"

Qrow looked at him dispassionately, "Tend to just fall until I hit the ground. Don't know why you need all the fuss."

Yang snorted.

"I have to make the uniform look good," Clover parried.

"I suppose you do that pretty well," Qrow looked him slowly up and down, "Not sure how sleeveless plus tundra equals anything except hypothermia."

"That's why I have you, Hot Stuff," Clover winked.

Marrow rolled his eyes.

"They do say no sense, no feeling…" Qrow shrugged.

"Huntsman Branwen!" Clover clutched his chest, "Are you questioning my ability to achieve mission objectives while also blessing the world with my spectacular guns?!"

Qrow coughed loudly *cough himbo cough*

Clover opened his mouth for yet another flirty reply when his stomach rumbled loudly.

"Skip breakfast, Lucky Charm?" Qrow asked, merrily pretending he didn't know.

"I might have run out the door a little hastily," Clover smirked.

"Really? Even I managed breakfast. Aren't you meant to be all military perfection? Isn't there some army marching empty stomach… thing?"

"Coffee isn't breakfast Qrow," Clover grumbled.

"Breakfast of champions," Blake said to her book.

"…but lucky for me there are always emergency rations in the med kits so I can just…" Clover lifted a small sealed bag off the wall, opened it up and began to rummage. "Ah. A single solitary stick of gum. Wonderful."

The team looked at the bag and then at Nora.

"Hey! Sometimes people get hungry!" she said.

"Oh well, better than nothing I suppose," Clover shrugged unwrapping the gum, "remind me to get this restocked when we get back to the Academy."

"Oh, I just remembered, we should…" Qrow started.

"Yes?" Clover turned, hand half-way to his mouth.

Qrow leaned over and plucked the gum from his outstretched fingers with his mouth, grinning wickedly. "Mmmm strawberry. My favourite," he said, chewing.

Marrow shook his head darkly, "So unprofessional," he muttered.

"Come on!" Yang said cheerfully, giving him a gentle punch on the shoulder, "I think they're cute!"

"Now, now Firecracker, no need to go all the way out to the C word," Qrow said, grinning.

"I for one welcome our new yaoi overlords!" Nora shouted. Ren put his head in his hands to hide his grin.

"What's yaoi?" asked Jaune.

Weiss coughed.

Blake giggled, "I'll tell you later."

"Alright folks, we're nearly there," the pilot called back.

Clover instantly snapped back to Mr Professional, "Ok everyone; I want you to seek high ground to start. We need to get the lay of the land. There shouldn't be any grimm this far out but once we enter the cave system we'll need to be cautious. Blake, Marrow, please use your hearing to keep us alert to anything that comes our way. Ren and Jaune, stay in the middle of the group. We might need your semblances if things go south. Weiss and Ruby out front. Nora and Yang take up the rear and don't cause a rockslide with any heavy hitting. Qrow will scout, I'll stick with the main group. If we get split up, keep your comms open. Any questions?" he paused for a heartbeat, "Good."

Qrow said something, and Clover leaned down to speak to him. A moment later he laughed, "Qrow!"

Qrow smiled and stretched back, hands above his head. He gave a flirty wink and Clover shook his head.

"I cannot wait to be out of this ship," Marrow huffed.

"We're at the drop," the pilot called, cutting off Clover's reply.

"Last one down has to cook dinner!" Yang shouted, leaping head first out the open hatch.

Blake sighed, "See you down there," and stepped out behind her.

Ruby flew out in a tornado of red petals and Weiss executed a neat single axel. Jaune tried to give a salute but his ankle wobbled on the lip of the door and he fell out into the sky with a slightly startled yelp. Laughing, Nora grabbed Ren by the hand and pulled him out, "Later!" her voice trailed away.

Qrow stood up slowly, "See you, gorgeous," he gave Clover a flirty little smile and then stepped nonchalantly out the door.

Marrow groaned.

"Oh come on," Clover smiled at him. "What's the problem?"

"Are you serious? I have been dealing with that for an hour now. Could you two be any more gay?"

Clover stood up and stretched out his shoulders, looking down at the annoyed faunus. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

Then he chewed twice, blew a nice big pink bubble, winked… and was gone.

Marrow rolled his eyes and tried to conjure up the last of his fucks from the deep well that was his long-suffering soul.

You just had to ask.

-xxx-