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Lucanis Dellamorte was a pragmatic man. He had always been, even before the Ossuary. Lately, this was the thing keeping him sane.
He kept track of his every hour, he planned his days ahead of time, down to the minute if possible. He focused on his exercises — after one year, he had a lot to catch up to — and he focused on the recipes he desperately wanted to try again. On coffee. On cleaning. On killing. He tried not to focus too much on Spite, though revenge was a topic they both agreed on and often mused about.
Sure, he was prone to overthinking, but there was no use in overthinking about things out of his control. Such as his grandmother’s fate, Illario’s behavior, or… Rook.
Illario had called Lucanis emotionally stiff, once. You need to relax a little, cousin. The way you are, if someone shows you any affection, you might break. Like a stick. He had demonstrated the gesture of breaking a stick and laughed. He had been perfumed with wine and wore lipstick marks around his neck. Lucanis had rolled his eyes at him. I’m too busy with work, he had said.
Illario had snickered at him. Work, work, work! We know death, Lucanis. Might as well know a bit of living too, while we’re at it, no?
Lucanis thought of him often, lately. He used to think about him often before, as well, about his words and his way of being. How could two people grow up in the same house, to the same rules, and turn out to be so different? He used to envy Illario, the ease with which he navigated all aspects of life. Lucanis knew work, and he knew it well, but everything else seemed to require rules people refused to share. Romance, for one. He had tried his hand at novels, the closest thing he had to studying it, but it always seemed to be unrealistic. People don’t talk like that do, they?
But that had been before, when romance had been a possibility if he so wished.
Now, with Spite, it was out of the question. So if he read romance novels now, it was as a way to pass the time at night, and to have things to chat about with Bellara, and nothing else.
Rook was… a complication to all of this.
He was chaotic, impatient, and unpredictable. He spoke his mind and stood his ground. He danced with his blades when he fought, and often laughed while doing it. Did you see that?! Impressive, right?!
He was, without a doubt, the worst Crow Lucanis had ever met.
It surprised him to learn Rook was a De Riva. It didn’t surprise him when he learned Rook was currently away from his house.
Lucanis asked Viago about Rook on one of his trips to Treviso. Viago’s long, tired sigh was a better answer than anything that came after.
And yet Lucanis found himself thinking about Rook more often than he should. It didn’t help that Spite seemed to like him, throwing tantrums to talk to him, to be around him. Sometimes Lucanis complied just to shut him up.
Some other times, Rook would ask to watch him exercise. He’d sit cross-legged with Assan half on his lap and absentmindedly pet the griffon while watching Lucanis. Sometimes he stared. Often, he was grinning. He had a playful grin, and it went well with his eyes, almond-shaped and honey-colored. They shone so beautifully when the light hit them just right…
But Rook’s attention was a distraction. It was hard to focus on his practiced moves when he knew Rook was staring, or when he heard Rook chuckling because Assan decided to peck at Rook’s hair and undo the knot he used to keep it in a bun, silvery blond hair falling over his shoulders and framing his face like a— Stop, no.
Inviting Rook to exercise with him proved to be a terrible idea as well.
Rook was an excellent fighter and would otherwise be a great sparring partner. He made some jokes and spoke too much, sure, but his footwork was nimble, his hands deft with the daggers.
Lucanis was a quiet assassin. He was known to get a bit carried away at times, especially now with Spite; it was hard to be discreet when one had purple demon wings… But he tried. He knew every angle a blade needed to pierce a body for a quick death, he knew how to jump his targets and end them quickly. Rook, on the other hand… had a different approach. He announced his presence, he shouted his regards, he teased and distracted the target. Being an elf, he was naturally shorter than most, and he sure knew how to use that to his advantage. He might be a bad Crow, but he was a good fighter, Lucanis had to admit that.
But that wasn’t the problem with sparring with him.
The problem was… The flirting.
It started harmless, as it often does. A compliment here, a playful remark there. Lucanis thought it was just the way he was. He’d seen Rook bantering with Harding and Neve, and it always sounded a bit flirty to him, though… his expertise on the matter was limited.
“Harding… You knew Rook from before this all started, didn’t you?” Lucanis wasn’t sure how to approach the question. He wasn’t sure why he was asking the question.
“Yes! We traveled together for around a year before Solas’ ritual. Why do you ask?” Harding held a potted plant against her hip. Her fingernails were dirty. She had an easy smile, but wary, trained eyes.
Lucanis hesitated. Why was he even asking this? “Just curious. You two seem very… friendly .”
“Oh!” Harding giggled. “It’s not like that. I mean… I thought it could be, some months back, but… He’s not into, you know…”
Lucanis did not know. “... Dating in the workplace?”
Harding laughed. “Women!”
“Ah. I see.”
“Yep. So, well, he’s all yours, nothing to worry about.”
Lucanis shifted his weight uncomfortably as Spite screamed in his head. “What?”
Harding raised her eyebrows at him. “Is that not what this is about? Rook told me you two are, uh… talking.”
Lucanis wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean and he was afraid to ask. And it bothered him. He knew how to handle problems one way, and talking wasn’t it.
He tried to rationalize why Rook would be interested in him. He could see the arguments: He was the grandson of the First Talon, and Rook himself wasn’t in the greatest standing with the Crows, so it’d make sense for him to want to approach Lucanis, for favors… Rook didn’t need to flirt for that, though. Lucanis was already indebted to him, he already had the right to any favors he might need. Besides, if that wasn’t in question, if the reason was simply… something else, there was still the demon. The demon was a big factor. It didn’t make sense to Lucanis that someone aware of the demon would be interested in him. He was an abomination. Why? Spite had several wordy suggestions, but he tried to drown him out.
Lucanis thought of his cousin again and sighed. I am already broken.
He concluded it’d be best to let Rook know that whatever it was he was after, it was best to leave it be. However, doing so would require an extremely uncomfortable conversation, and Lucanis wasn’t good with those.
Instead, then, he tried… hints. He stopped agreeing to have Rook participate in his exercises (mostly by changing his schedule to do them when Rook was sleeping or busy somewhere else), started to prioritize the recipe requests of the other team members… and even “forgot” to buy him chocolate when he went shopping.
Rook didn’t mind or didn’t notice the hints, though.
“We should go shopping in Treviso again, me and you,” Rook suggested with a smile as he walked into the kitchen. He sat on the dining table and moved his feet lazily in the air.
Lucanis gestured to the plates he was holding to set the table for supper. “Please don’t sit on the table.”
With a grin, Rook jumped off and took the plates from Lucanis’ hands. “Let me help with that. But anyway, as I was saying.” He put a plate down and looked up to Lucanis. “Trip to Treviso? Tomorrow?”
“Are we missing anything? I already bought supplies this week,” Lucanis asked, grabbing the cutlery as well.
“Well, I need to check on Viago—”
“Or does Viago need to check on you?” Lucanis couldn’t resist.
“Very funny,” Rook grimaced. “He was looking into a lead for me. But! Also, I noticed that we are suspiciously out of chocolate…”
“Oh. I forgot. Sorry.”
“Not a problem! We can go buy more… Together? And maybe stop by Café Pietra on the way… Have some coffee over sunset? Walk around, feed the crows? The birds, I mean. I love Viago, but he’s a terrible company for dinner. I don’t know how Teia does it.”
“What do you mean, about Teia?” Lucanis focused on the last part, the part that didn’t require him to focus on the implications of the rest of what Rook said.
“Teia and Viago?” Rook raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t you notice? They’re like a couple of bickering old people.”
Lucanis frowned. “That doesn’t mean they’re a couple, just that they’re stubborn.”
“C’mon,” Rook laughed. “The way they look at each other? It’s the same way I…” he slowed down and looked away. The grin never left his lips, but it was shadowed by a lock of hair. “... look at… you.”
Lucanis froze, blinking slowly. Spite threw another tantrum, screaming in his head things he’d much rather not hear. He dropped the forks and knives Lucanis was holding, which snapped Lucanis back to himself. He got down to one knee to pick them up.
“Rook, I—”
“Treviso tomorrow, then? So you’ll see for yourself what I mean.” Rook reached down to grab some of the forks as well, and stared deep into Lucanis eyes as he said it.
Lucanis held his breath as he watched the almost gold hue Rook’s eyes took under the fireplace’s light. His cheeks were pink, and his lips were— Shut up, Spite, shut up, shut up.
“Yes, that… Yes.” Lucanis stood up stiffly, unsure.
“Great! That’s a date, then!” Rook grinned. “I’ll tell everyone food’s ready!”
Lucanis sighed. The worst part was he didn’t… hate it. Rook and… whatever it was he was doing. He didn’t hate it, but he should, because it’d be easier to deal with it if he didn’t care for it. But he did. So what should he do? Whatever game Rook was playing, Lucanis didn’t know the rules. He couldn’t play it. He… shouldn’t. He shouldn’t want to play it. But he wanted to. Mierda. He really did.