Dew is late getting off that day, and he's not entirely sure why. He just knows that Dr. Sanchez wouldn't let him leave for whatever reason, and he wound up being driven separate from Rowan.
Once he arrives at their condo, he finds Rowan unsurprisingly in the kitchen cooking them dinner. Dew follows his normal routine after work, changing his clothes and rinsing off and such, before joining the captain.
He sits in his regular spot at the counter, while a question burns in the back of his mind. Honestly, he's having a hard time processing what he found out today. He wants to know if Rowan was already aware of the relationship between Alexine and Theodoric. He wants details. He wants to understand it all.
He also needs to inform Rowan of the fact that he's pretty sure Dr. Sanchez is sabotaging their research. That's probably the most troubling revelation to come out of today.
"Soooo... I saw Theodoric today." Dew says conversationally. The atmosphere immediately gets a bit tense, as Rowan's eyes snap to his.
"What? I told you not to go in the dining room."
Dew rolls his eyes. "Seriously? I couldn't even find the kitchen."
Rowan just goes back to cooking, and Dew can tell the captain is not very happy about his disobedience. Oh well. This guy needs to stop getting so pissy when Dew doesn't listen to him, especially if it's an accident. Sure, he may technically have the authority to boss Dew around, but they're basically in a... sort of relationship now. They're supposed to be equal.
"Anyway, do you know anything about how he feels towards Alexine?"
Rowan pauses for a moment, before continuing. This gives Dew all the answer he needs.
"How do you know? Why does Alexine hate him so much? Why is Theodoric in love with him? How does that even happen?"
There's a silence, then, "it's not really my business to be spreading personal information."
Dew rolls his eyes. Who cares? Seriously, Dew would feel no guilt telling Rowan just about anything about anybody. Then again, Dew and the Captain are extremely different. Rowan clearly has more respect for privacy than Dew could ever dream of.
"Not even to me?" Dew asks, frowning. Isn't he supposed to be special to Rowan?
Rowan actually stops what he's doing, and looks over at him. The man looks troubled, and it's then that Dew realizes he just said all of that aloud.
"Of course you're special to me." Rowan says, visibly displeased. "I just don't..."
Dew lays his head on his arms. He doesn't understand the point of the two being in a relationship if Rowan isn't going to treat him any differently. Isn't Rowan trying to convince him to give the two a chance? Or at least supposed to be? Dew also might be overreacting. Okay, Dew's probably overreacting.
"Alexine and Theodoric used to be... together." Rowan gives in, and Dew can't help but to feel surprised. Honestly, that makes a lot of sense. It explains why Theodoric is clearly still in love, and the sheer extent of Alexine's hatred. The only way to hate someone that much, to feel that much emotion towards someone, is if you once loved them too. Or at the very least, deeply care.
Dew's a little confused about how they even made that work, though, since they live nowhere near each other. Complete opposite sides of the world.
"Like, dating?" Dew confirms.
"Yes."
Dew honestly has so many questions. What break up is bad enough to start an entire war over? Especially one that could literally destroy the world?
"Is that what caused the war, then?" Dew asks, even though he knows Rowan doesn't know that. Oh well.
"It's possible their break up had something to do with it, but I'm not sure." Rowan responds, and Dew kind of figured that. He wonders why Rowan never said anything. Who cares about privacy?
Dew sits there in silence until Rowan is finished cooking, then watches the guy bring him a plate of nachos. Dew smiles, and as soon as the plate is in front of him, begins eating. He really loves Rowan's nachos—actually, he loves all of Rowan's cooking.
Dew has several things he should probably be telling Rowan right now. For one, he still hasn't told the man about running into White Eyes the one time. Then again, Rowan would probably tear the castle apart looking for the guy. That's not really something Dew thinks is necessary, unless it comes up. Also, he's pretty sure Dr. Sanchez is compromising them somehow, considering the fact she wasn't even working the one time Dew had checked her screen.
Rowan is just so... stressed, though. The man hides it pretty well, but Dew has known him long enough to tell when there's something wrong. Dew hasn't seen Rowan smile in a long time, and he's very obviously not been sleeping. The guy is overworked and visibly having a hard time.
Dew doesn't want to make it worse. If he tells Rowan about the recent events, he will only hurt Rowan's health more.
So, he stays quiet. Dew wants to help Rowan, especially since the man goes so out of his way to take care of Dew. Rowan finishes his food after a while, and immediately walks over towards the couch. He sits down, spreading himself out a bit, and begins searching for something to watch.
Dew eats the majority of what's left of his meal before joining Rowan on the couch. He's prepared to sit on their respective sides of the sizable couch, but then Rowan grabs the empath and pulls him into his lap.
They cuddle like that until Dew falls asleep.
-
Dew is usually a somewhat patient person.
Okay, so not really. It just depends on the situation. Typically, if he really needs to, he can dig up a pretty decent amount of patience within himself. However, there are some situations where no matter how hard he tries...
He just can't.
Sitting in his usual spot, at the table in Dr. Sanchez's office, while the woman herself is on her computer doing God knows what, Dew is slowly starting to lose it.
Why? Because he now knows that this lady isn't doing anything to aid him at all. She's actually hurting the research, since she told Dew not to do anything as well. Dew has been staring at her for a good five minutes now, and she hasn't noticed—clearly focused on whatever she's doing, which is probably not work.
Dew was honestly kind of losing his mind before he even figured out Dr. Sanchez's incompetence. Now, though? Sitting in this room and knowing for a fact absolutely nothing is getting done, he and Rowan's lives in more danger with every minute? This is torture.
There's a possibility that Dew's wrong on this, but he highly doubts it.
He snaps.
"Alright, I quit." Dew states, standing up and beginning to gather his things. Dr. Sanchez looks up in minor alarm.
"What? Why? We haven't found the cure yet." She responds, standing up as well. As if that isn't obvious, and the exact reason Dew is leaving. Dew barely has a week left to figure this shit out, and he knows he probably won't have any success if he does this on his own. However, he will absolutely make more progress than he is now.
"Yeah, obviously." Dew says, not looking up. "You're clearly wasting my time. I'm done."
Dr. Sanchez begins to look annoyed. "You just don't understand the process. You need to be patient, Dewey."
Dew raises an eyebrow, not believing her for a second. He starts to make his way over to her, and she seems curious about why. He rounds the corner of her desk and peeks a look at her computer. She exits out of the page almost immediately, but not before Dew sees a social media site pulled up.
He turns his gaze back on her. "You're obviously screwing this up on purpose. Are you working with them?"
She looks kind of nervous. Dew really doesn't have the patience for this.
"Who?" She asks, not making eye contact.
"You know who."
She won't answer, which gives Dew all the answer he needs. He doesn't entertain conversation any further, before beginning to make his way out of the room.
"You're gonna regret this! When you don't find the cure, they'll ruin you."
Dew reaches the door, and as he leaves, "I'll take my chances."
As Dew walks down the castle hallway, ready to go home, he can't help but to brainstorm. He needs to find this cure, he and Rowan's lives are literally counting on it. He hasn't really thought much on it so far, but he really needs to do some research on abnormalities and history and whatever. He can't afford to be this vulnerable anymore.
It would be a lot better if he had Rowan's help in this. However, the man is very busy and Dew can understand that. Doesn't make this any easier or keep him from wishing, though.
Dew gets one of the drivers to take him home, and upon arrival, he just goes to his room and sits down on his bed, feeling stressed. He seriously doesn't know how he's going to get out of this.
So... how do you cure an illness?
Dew frowns. This is such new territory to him. He's never had to do anything remotely like this, especially in such a limited amount of time. He's starting to realize these people set him up for failure. This is something that shouldn't shock him, but he can't help but feel kind of stupid for thinking he had any chance at all.
Dew grabs his laptop and starts to surf websites, mostly ones that talk about the science behind abnormalities and stuff like that. He really doesn't know a lot about them, but he does know where—or how—they originated. With Rowan. So could the cure have something to do with him?
That gives Dew a little hope. Sure, nobody has been able to cure abnormalities for the last several decades, but they also didn't have Rowan. Dew has quite a bit of access to the captain, and the more he thinks about it... the more plausible it seems. It is very likely that Rowan is the key to this.
Dew won't ask for the man's help, against his better judgement, but it does feel like he's made some progress.
Dew moves his laptop to the side, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling as he thinks about this. Okay, so he knows how abnormalities originated. That is, historically. What causes them in individual people, though?
To Dew's knowledge, abnormalities are formed by genetic mutations. This means that it definitely has something to do with genes. It's also a disease.
So... a genetic disease? Do those exist? Dew is pretty sure they do, and he can also say somewhat confidently that they would be pretty difficult to cure, if at all.
Okay. So he's stuck again.
Dew sits up and grabs his laptop again, typing genetic diseases in the search bar. The only thing that pops up are genetic disorders, and abnormalities are definitely not a disorder. So, he clicks on the search bar again, and types;
Cell mutation diseases
He hits enter, and finds a list. This is good, because he'd love to have things to compare this to. The only disease that comes up that he recognizes, however, is color blindness.
Which is incurable.
Shit. Okay.
Dew sighs, frowning.
Can cell mutations be cured?
This time, Dew actually gets somewhere.
Reversions genetically reverse the effect of a mutation. This occurs when one mutation's effects are counteracted by a second mutation.
Okay. That makes a lot of sense. There is no cure, but he can reverse the effects. By using another mutation.
Can Rowan's biology be counted as a mutation? It would make sense, because the guy has to fit in here somewhere. Okay, so somehow Rowan is capable of reversing the effects. That has to be it. He's the cause, so it's the most plausible explanation. Almost like antivenom.
So... Rowan's DNA, maybe? That's what the doctor had Dew originally retrieving for her. However, she quickly convinced him that she changed her mind and not to worry about it. This makes Dew wonder if she may not have been corrupted in the beginning, considering she'd ordered him to do things that would actually help them at first.
Oh well. Rowan's DNA? Dew feels like it may not be that simple, but there is definitely something Rowan has that can cure abnormal people.
Unless it has nothing to do with the human aspect of Rowan? Perhaps it's something to do with his Phoenix capabilities? His ashes? His wings? His fire?
There is only one way to handle this. He has to ask Rowan. He knows that he said he wouldn't request Rowan's help, but he feels as though he's made enough progress to be onto something here. Rowan doesn't have to do much, just pitch ideas.
Dew assumes that the other scientists probably got as far as he did, but couldn't find a reversion. This has to work.
Rowan comes home a few hours later, and Dew wastes no time running to the front door to greet the man, hardly able to contain his excitement.
Rowan looks at him, caught off guard. This is understandable, and the captain begins taking off his shoes before heading to his bedroom. Dew follows him the whole way, not wanting to overwhelm the guy. He tries to start off with normal conversation.
"So how was work?" Dew asks, unsurprised when the guy doesn't even answer his question.
"Why did you quit?"
Dew blinks, not particularly fond of Rowan blatantly changing conversation topics like that. He watches as Rowan walks into his closet and begins taking off his gear. Dew just leans his back against the doorway.
"Because I was being sabotaged." Dew responds simply.
"How?"
"How do you think? She wouldn't do any work and kept misleading me."
Rowan is putting his things away. The only response he offers is a hum. Dew rolls his eyes.
"But I think I was able to figure things out pretty well on my own. I think you have something to do with the cure. Like your DNA maybe."
Rowan glances over at him, before beginning to take his clothes off. Dew is basically dating the guy, and they've literally had sex. He's seen everything, but he still feels shy. He glances away, ignoring the fact that he's probably blushing a bit.
"My DNA? How would that do anything?"
Dew crosses his arms, staring at the floor. "I don't know if it's for sure your DNA. You know antivenom? I think it could be like that."
"I'm not venomous."
Dew snorts, even though Rowan is dead serious. Dew glances over at him, completely caught off guard when he finds Rowan naked. Okay, that was not expected. Not unwelcome, but not anticipated by any means. Dew immediately snaps his gaze back to the floor. His cheeks are bright red now.
"I mean, I don't know for sure. It could also have something to do with whatever your phoenix abilities are."
"So basically there are a lot of things it could be, but you think I'm probably the cure?"
Dew keeps his eyes on the ground. "Yeah. Do you have any ideas?"
Rowan walks over so that he's standing in front of Dew, crowding him against the doorframe. Dew is now staring at dick, and he immediately looks up to meet Rowan's eyes. The guy is looking down at him in amusement, though Dew has no idea why.
"No."
Dew scratches his neck. "Well what can you even do?"
Rowan blinks, thinking about this for a second. "Well basically anything with fire. Also, bird things. Like talons and wings. Strength, too."
Dew blinks. "What? You can grow talons?"
Rowan lift up his normal looking hand, and Dew watches the tips of his fingers. The base of his finger is his regular skin color, but it fades into a pitch black at the end. His fingers are at least several inches longer, and they're also pointed. Dew's pretty sure that the tip isn't even finger anymore. It's just... claw. He watches as the pitch black takes over Rowan's whole finger, stopping when it reaches his palm area. Yeah, Rowan has talons.
"Holy shit." Dew says, grabbing Rowan's hand to examine it. Yeah, his fingers aren't fingers anymore. They feel like claws, and they are sharp like them too. This is really cool, it reminds Dew of cats. Dew continues examining the hand. "I thought you said you can't control your wings."
"I can't."
"And fire? So you could set me on fire right now?"
"Yes."
"Anything else?"
Rowan seems to be trying to remember what all he can do. This gives Dew the impression that the guy hasn't used his abilities in a while. "Does night vision count?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then that. It's more like echolocation though. I think that's pretty much it. My eyes are just generally good, but that goes with the bird thing."
Dew nods, feeling impressed. He knew Rowan was powerful, but damn. The guy can literally control an element, among the other several things he listed.
Dew plans on thinking about this, but his head kind of hurts. So he basically just zones out for a while. He'll think more on this tomorrow.
"I'm taking a shower." Rowan says, but he doesn't move. Dew glances up to see Rowan studying him, and it takes him a second to catch on.
"Okay. Me too."
Showering with Rowan goes about as you'd expect. There is arguing over the water temperature, as well as some scandalous activities, and when Dew exits smelling like Rowan he can't help but feel content. The rest of the night goes as per their usual routine, and Dew makes plans to visit his research more tomorrow.
So far, Rowan hasn't been super affectionate, which is typical in a relationship. However, during their nightly TV time, which is a new thing, they cuddle and Dew falls asleep. It's early for him, and is caused by a mixture of all the thinking and emotions he's had to deal with today—as well as not getting much sleep lately anyway.
That night, he sleeps in Rowan's bedroom.
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