Chapter Text
“Did you seriously not check the weather?” Rosa sighs as she rushes in through the open door Marius is holding.
“I did!” He counters with a click of his teeth, but his voice soon dies down into a gulp, “I just… forgot to check the forecast after six…”
“And you forgot there was a hurricane coming?”
Marius huffs as the door to his studio closes behind him. The two are soaking wet from head to toe, having been caught in the beginning rushes of the freak hurricane hitting Stellis for the weekend. Dark clouds gather out the window, fervent splatter of rainfall continues its assault on the ground below while the wind soon loses its whistle and turns harsh. They only decide to take refuge in Marius’ studio out of pure necessity, him having blissfully been unaware of the storm until after it had started and had run home with Rosa’s hand slippery in his.
Rosa finds herself huddled by a vent, thankful for the heat. She’s soon on her phone, scrolling through news on the hurricane and how it's enveloped Stellis in mere hours since its start. She’s thankful there aren’t any serious injuries or disasters caused by the storm, mostly just deep flooding with a main warning given to all residents to stay home.
Tapping quickly at her phone, she sighs once again. “It doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon. I imagine not until Monday.”
“Of course a hurricane would ruin our date.” Marius grumbles under his breath and Rosa jokingly rolls her eyes.
She looks up at him slowly, her eyes narrowing into a tight glare. “So, Von Hagen . Got enough food to last us the weekend?”
Marius gulps, grabbing a wet piece of hair and twirling it in his fingers. “Y-yeah, don’t worry.”
Her expression soon softens and the girl smiles, shedding off the wet overcoat he had given her and lightly flinging it over one of the leather sofas. It isn’t the first time she’s been in his studio, having been invited over too many times to count (she was his muse , he claimed). The gloom of the main room however is all too prevalent. The lack of sunshine casts a long shadow over the gray carpeting, and the sketches and artworks on the walls seem to lack their normal beauty without the touch of light. Outside, the rain continues on, leaving heavy droplets clinging to the window. A flash of lightning flickers through the clouds and soon after a loud clap of thunder follows, jolting Rosa back to her senses.
She notices Marius behind her and gives a sheepish smile, half praying he didn’t notice her jump. His hands brush against her shoulders as he helps her to her feet, leaving a cotton towel in her arms.
“You should get warmed up.” He murmurs, “there’s a bathroom at the end of the hall. I’ll go find some clothes you can wear.”
Rosa nods and quickly disappears into the hallway. In the distance, she can hear the light clicking of a stove and running water. Marius never seemed like the type to make tea, but she can only imagine it’s another ploy to impress her, to which (while not impressed) she’s thankful.
At the end of the hall lies the bathroom, an average sized room with a sleek modern design. The gray carpeting from outside turns to a crystal white flooring that contrasts the deep black marble walls. A large mirror overlooks a majority of the space, under it a small sink and nearby toilet. At the end of the room lies a blurred-door shower in the corner with a detachable showerhead and lines of different soap brands, for aesthetics (Rosa assumes) more than actual use.
Rosa exhales sheepishly as she sheds her wet clothes. The life of the rich .
She jumps in the shower as quickly as she can, not wanting to waste time. She’s nothing but thankful for the way Marius dotes on her but she never can get through a day with him without feeling some twinge of guilt, chalking it up to her unfamiliarity of just being given such lavish gifts and attention.
The shower begins to steam as hot water pelts her once cold-touched skin. She can’t help but sigh at the feeling, her body warming up almost instantly and she nearly forgets how soaked she was earlier, her fingertips numb and her nose a harsh red. The day, prior to the storm, was beautiful however and if it weren’t for her having been keeping up with the news of the hurricane approaching, she would have never guessed it would hit Stellis in the lingering hours of the late afternoon. She thinks back on her date with Marius, where the man had wanted a simple stroll around the local park, stealing her away after she had finished her day at work. By the time the clouds had begun to roll in, he was too busy trying to woo her with some pickup line to notice and the first slaps of rain hit in fervently, leaving him pouty and at a loss for what to do.
Rosa chuckles softly to herself, recalling the way his lips curled as his hair began to stick to his face. Marius had gracefully donated his coat to her, pulling it over her head and grabbing her hand as they rushed out of the park. She hugs herself softly, swaying gently to the memory. His hands were much bigger than hers yet were soft to the touch, a gentle caress as his soft fingers gripped at her palm. At that moment, Marius almost looked like one of the protagonists from all the romance novels she would read back in high school. Gentle eyes, a joyful smile, a stupid, infectious laugh of “Come on, onee-san! We’re almost there!”
A crack of thunder broke her thoughts and soon the lights in the bathroom began to flicker until they cut out entirely. Rosa nearly slips, letting out a quick shriek as she reaches for the wall for stability. She immediately curses to herself, knowing full well Marius heard her from across the studio. And at the sound of his rushing footsteps, she sighs.
“ Onee-san!? Are you alright?” Marius calls out from behind the door.
“I-I’m fine, Marius!” She hisses back. “I just didn’t expect the lights to go out like that is all.”
“Do you want me to bring you a candle?”
“Please.”
She hears the footsteps fading away and tries her best to scrub herself down in the meanwhile. Better she ends this shower now before another thunder strike sends her actually falling and injuring herself, that would be even worse than the teasing she’s no doubt bound to get for her girlish shriek. She’s forced to use Marius’s soap but honestly doesn’t mind too much. It’s a subtle scent of cologne that makes her mind flash with memories of him. The two had only been acquainted for about half a year, Rosa having been appointed as his defense attorney during his brief accusation of murder around the beginning of the spring semester. Marius was certainly different from anyone she had met before, always carrying an aura of smug childishness and recklessness, fitting for his ripe age of twenty-one. As the CEO of PAX, and under the spotlight of the Von Hagen name, he was a surprisingly thorough businessman, though he made sure to keep up his reputation as the brainless, rich, pretty boy as much as he could. Rosa could never understand how he could be okay with his blatant mislabeling. Sure, he was dorkish and many signs of his age shone through the way he spoke and carried himself, but underneath that lay a sharp, tactful man always thinking ahead and never abandoning the chance to seize something in front of him.
Rosa doesn’t realize her mind’s wandering again. With a sigh, she steps under the showerhead, letting the warm water rinse through her hair. She would never admit aloud (hell, even to herself) how much she thinks about him.
Marius soon returns with a quiet knock on the door. She calls for him to enter and he does, a faint flicker of light peeking through the darkened room. Turning her body to the side and instinctively covering herself, she watches his head, tilted to one side as he sets the candle down on the counter. On the nearby toilet, he leaves a folded bundle of clothes.
“There’s a towel, a sweater and a pair of sweatpants in there. I made sure the sweater was long enough just in case the pants didn’t fit.” Marius mumbles his words and Rosa bites her lip.
“Thank you.”
As he turns, Marius clears his throat. “I made tea so whenever you’re ready, I’ll be in the main room.”
He disappears back into the hallway and Rosa swallows, focusing her mind back on her shower and quickly finishing up.
When she dries off, she reaches for the folded clothes. Grabbing the sweater first, she holds it against her figure, making a mental note of how it stops at just about her mid-thighs. It’s a black cotton throw-on with his old high school emblem on it. She doesn’t recognize it but writes it off as just some rich private school his father had paid for. As she slips it over her figure, a wave of Marius’s scent washes over her. Wafts of faint cologne and the old acrylic paint leave her closing her eyes and basking in the feeling. A light flush rushes to her cheeks as the sweater cuffs at her thighs, the sleeves a bit longer than her arms.
With a quick smack of her cheeks, Rosa centers herself, tidying herself up before heading out into the main room.