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luke was getting worried; which wasn’t uncommon, because he tended to overthink a lot, but this was justified. he hadn't heard from rosa in days. days - which was definitely something that rarely happened. she only ghosted the agent whenever she was working on a busy case, or was annoyed at him (barely ever, he was proud to admit).
but the thing was, luke could rule out the theory that rosa was working on a case because artem had mentioned her taking some leave. he had forced her to, in order to relax after winning a major case she had been working on for months. luke also knew for a fact that he hadn't done anything to annoy her.
right?
after sending her another concerned message, luke sat at his desk, foot tapping impatiently at the silence. he tried a phone call. minutes passed by and he still remained in silence.
he bit his lip. was…was rosa still talking to the other nxx boys? he ran a hand through his tousled hair.
the thought was like lead in his stomach, heavy and uncomfortable. luke shouldn’t feel jealous. he didn’t deserve to feel jealous, but here he was:
jealous.
and worried.
the two were not a good mix.
after an hour of silence, luke decided to be bold. picking up his phone, keys and wallet, the private investigator slipped out from his shop and began jogging to rosa’s apartment. it was about a 25 minute jog to her place from his, minus the stop at the convenience store on the corner.
an additional iced coffee in his hand, luke easily made his way up the apartment complex’s stairwell two steps at a time and rounded the corner to rosa’s apartment. he felt his stomach flip.
“christ,” he muttered, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm his nerves.
after a few minutes of breathing exercises, luke craned his neck and brought his ear to the door, only to be met with silence.
it was 3pm. there was no way rosa was asleep. normally she would be watching netflix on her tv, or cooking at the stove, hell, maybe even playing the guitar marius gifted her. but no. dead silence.
this was worse than her ghosting him.
luke knocked on the door softly, hiding how his knuckles had turned white from gripping onto the iced coffee.
“c’mon rosa,” he insisted desperately after a few seconds of silence.
but finally. the sound of muffled footsteps sent his ears perking up. the rattling of locks and the gentle creak of the door opening had luke soaring. his watson was there.
“luke?” she croaked, squinting up at him.
he had gotten lost in observing every inch of her face, especially the dark bruised bags under her slightly bloodshot eyes. she stood at the door in her oodie (luke had especially chosen the sherlock design), hair dishevelled and pulled tightly into a crazed bun.
“rosa,” he breathed, almost like he couldn't believe she was there. “are you okay? have you been .. crying? did - did something happen? shit, rosa, i’ve been worried sick, is everything okay?”
rosa seemed surprised. she blinked up at him and without any warning, grabbed his wrist and pulled him into her dark apartment (which he thanked god it was dark because his face flared up almost immediately at the contact).
“rosa?” he tried softly, “i haven’t heard from you in days…i’ve tried calling and texting … are you- are you...mad at me?” it hurt to ask that. but he needed to know.
rosa whipped around in shock, enough to knock her hoodie off her head. “god no luke! i’m not mad at you!” he let out a relieved sigh. thank god.
“o-oh. thats good then.” he chuckled awkwardly. “well… uh, you must be busy then. i’ll let you go. i just, um, wanted to see if you were okay, because i was worried i hadn't heard from you- but you're fine, so…i’ll- i’ll get out of your hair,” he rambled. he felt so dumb.
of course rosa was fine. of course she wasn't mad at him. he was just overthinking. he was always overthinking.
luke offered a smile and turned to leave. “oh, and i also bought you your favourite iced coffee…so i’ll just put it in the fridge before i leave. see ya rosa, uh, message me if you need anything. sorry, i’ll leave you alone.”
his face was burning. he felt so dumb. this was a mistake. maybe rosa was ignoring his frequent texts because they were annoying her. yeah, now that he thought about it, that was probably the case. luke reached for the door handle.
“wait! luke,” rosa exclaimed, running around him so that she was blocking the door in front of him, hands held out in front of her. he blinked.
“god i really gotta knock that head of yours some time. i should be the one apologising! i’ve just been so distracted i haven't had time to reply to anyone. i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to worry you.”
“rosa...you don’t need to apologise… i understand if you’re busy. i shouldn't have stressed out about it. i know you're an adult and you have your own life and problems but…i just tend to worry about you a lot and i know it might make me annoying and i'm sorry, but i won’t message you now unless you message me.” he rubbed at his neck with a slight wince. luke needed to zip his mouth shut.
“lukie,” the shorter girl frowned. she sighed exasperatedly but a gentle smile was on her face. “you’re so silly. please don't apologise. truly. it’s my fault. i promise. please don’t stop messaging me or distance yourself, i love your messages and they are in no way, shape or form annoying and neither are you.”
luke felt his heart swell.
“…to be honest, luke... i've been holed up in my bed the past few days playing a game…so thats why i haven't…called or replied to anyone. i think i’m addicted to it.”
“a game?” luke asked, head tilting. rosa only ever played games when she came over to his apartment.
“remember that game you introduced to me like, three weeks ago…”
“oh no rosa,” luke murmured, feeling his face breakout into a hopeless grin.
“yeah…i'm addicted to genshin impact. s-stop smiling like that! anyways…you know the new archon’s banner? i've spent days trying to pull her- doing quests to farm primos, doing my dailies. hell, i even spent like, 100 dollars and she still hasn't fucking come home!” the attorney exclaimed, the frustration of the past few days finally settling in.
luke couldn't help but laugh at the girl’s dilemma. his laughed bubbled in his throat and spilled out like sunshine. “you spent over a hundred dollars?”
“dont laugh at me! and yes! i did! maybe a bit over 200, but that’s not the point. the point is, she’s very pretty and i need her. desperately.”
luke laughed even harder, but at rosa’s glare he quickly tried to calm himself down. “okay okay, i’ll stop. i just can’t believe my dear watson developed a gambling addiction!”
“it’s not a gambling addiction if i get the character - which i will - because i have her guaranteed. which was also because i lost the first 50/50 to diluc at hard pity.”
“so what’s your pity at now?”
the attorney looked away and mumbled something.
“come again? sorry, i couldn’t hear you.”
“…one hundred…”
“rosa…is-isnt that like, way past hard pity?”
rosa walked into her kitchen and slumped across her island in defeat. she hummed out a sad tune in reply.
“the banner ends in like 10 minutes. and i don’t even have any primos, nor am i willing to spend anymore money.”
“i can give you some?”
rosa straightened and shook her head. she sported a serious frown- eyebrows knitted together with the corner of her lips tugging downwards. it was cute.
“no luke, i would feel horrible spending your money. especially on a game.”
“i don’t consider it spending money if it makes you happy,” luke blurted out, credit card already in hand. he grinned as rosa’s cheeks bloomed. “c’mon we only have nine minutes to get her!”
luke gently took rosa’s phone from her hand after convincing her to unlock it in 30 seconds.
“think of it as an early christmas gift or something,” he had said.
“christmas is in 4 months, luke.”
“it’s still early, isn’t it?”
luke sighed in relief as the payment went through after 5 minutes of incorrectly entering details and game crashing. the sound of genesis crystals popping up on the screen sent rosa jumping up next to him.
“okay, you have enough for a ten pull i think,” he informed quickly as the banner’s timer ticked down to three minutes.
“you should pull, luke. i don’t feel very lucky and plus it’s your money.”
“rosa. i don’t know how to tell you this but i’m the unluckiest person alive. plus, it should be you, you’ve worked so hard for her.”
the time ticked to 2 minutes. panic swam in rosa’s lime eyes.
“luke. i swear. just pull for her. please.”
“but-“
“luke!”
the boy pressed on the the 10 wishes button immediately. rosa snatched it and spun it over so that they couldn’t see the screen.
“why did you do that?” luke yelped. he went for the phone but winced when rosa batted it away.
“i’m too nervous.”
after a few seconds of silence, rosa picked up the phone warily, almost like it was a dangerous creature and tapped. one by one, the winnings popped up on the screen.
“oh nice,” luke murmured when a picture of the new character popped up. kujou sara- he liked her crow design.
rosa tapped a few more times until they reached the last pull.
“this is the last one,” she whispered with bated breath. luke could feel his heart rate pick up. he could feel rosa shaking next to him so he put an arm around her shoulders.
“okay…here we go.” rosa tapped the screen and suddenly, a silhouette surrounded by gold appeared before the pair- and right before their very eyes, five stars and an array of violet was unveiled.
they were stunned into silence.
rosa was the first to break. she let out a scream and began jumping up and down in glee. her arms punched the sky, as various curse words left her mouth. then she started punching luke as tears formed in her eyes.
luke just laughed, rubbing at his throbbing arm. his heart filled with the warmth of rosa’s joy, so much that it dulled the ache from her punches. he stared at rosa, eyes filled with affection as she danced around the kitchen in her oversized oodie.
god, he loved her so much.
rosa stopped her dancing and turned to lock eyes with luke. he shifted under her burning gaze.
“r-rosa?”
he didn't get an answer. rosa dashed towards him, arms outstretched as she crashed into him, sending him toppling into the ground with a thud.
rosa’s arms wrapped around his torso and she squeezed. luke could feel his ribs shatter (holy shit rosa was strong) but it was okay. he giggled at the girl’s affection, even if it sounded at bit strained.
“what was that for-“
once again, he was interrupted when a pair of soft lips met his own in such a gentle way that luke almost cried. he instantly melted into it, eyes fluttering shutting as his hand closed on top of rosa’s, which was cupping his cheek softly.
she pulled away quickly, leaving luke to chase the kiss, and smiled sheepishly, despite her burning red face.
“s-sorry.. i’m not sure what came over me. i'm sorry luke, i shouldn't of done that but i was just so so happy to see you after so long and you helping me get raiden shogun…”
luke was in a daze. he just blinked. and then it registered. soon, his face matched rosa’s.
holy fucking shit.
did that just happen?
rosa’s fingers carded through his mess of hair, pulling him out of his daze. “wait. luke, did you hit your head? oh shit, i’m so sorry. i didn't mean to knock you over that hard. god, luke are you-“
“can i...kiss you again?”
rosa paused her rambling to stare down at a lovestruck luke - eyes dilated and face flushed red. she giggled as grin broke out on her face, turning her eyes into beautiful crescent moons.
“of course you can, my lucky sherlock.”