When Dew wakes up, his head hurts. This is to be expected, because for some reason vodka always gives him really bad hangovers. He groans, rolling over. He stares at the ceiling for a long time. It's the first time he hasn't been woken up by Rowan in a while.
Rowan...
Dew shoots up so that he's sitting, then falls back with a groan of pain.
Fuck! Rowan saw him drunk! Dew hates it when people see him drunk—hates it. This is gonna be awkward.
Dew tries to remember what he did around Rowan. He remembers going to the kitchen, and eating strawberries. He dropped something, and Rowan carried him to the bathroom. Dew's pretty sure that he was injured, and one look at his foot proves that he's correct in that notion. Okay, so Rowan was his nurse, and...
Yeah, doctors are hot, you're hot, that's double hot.
And Dew called him hot.
Oh fuck. Oh no. No! Dew doesn't like Rowan like that! Sure, the guy is attractive, and he could be considered... in some circles, to be hot as fuck, but...
Dew! You like girls! You've fucked girls! Girls girls girls! What's wrong with you?! Pull yourself together! Dew sighs, then grabs his phone. It reads, 5:30 PM, which means that Dew has been asleep for over half the day.
Dew gets off his bed and walks to his shower, spotting Spikes on his bed. He cleans himself up, and brushes his teeth, then makes his way out of his bedroom. He walks over to the living room, and turns on the TV, then takes an Advil and begins making himself some cereal.
Two hours go by, and Dew is just lounging on the couch watching cartoons, before the front door opens. He looks up, and spots Rowan in his military clothes. He has some papers in his hand as well as his keys, and he walks in the door.
Dew ducks his head, regretting not hiding in his room all day. Ugh, Rowan probably remembers everything, too. Ew.
Rowan walks directly to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Then, he walks back out, and he's once again only wearing sweatpants. Dew isn't even playing this game, as he quickly averts his eyes and focuses on watching the TV. After the episode ends, he walks to the kitchen and takes his seat at the counter.
"How was work?" Dew asks.
Rowan doesn't even look at him, too busy cooking something. Dew can't even tell what he's making from where he's seated, although it smells a lot like chicken.
"Fine."
Dew rolls his eyes. Dew already knows Rowan's secret! He can get a personality now!
"Well what did you do?"
"Paperwork. Patrol. Meetings."
Dew hums, and against his permission, his eyes traveling down Rowan's back. Honestly, it'd be great if Rowan would wear more clothes, because then Dew would stop acting weird. It is his house, though, so it's not like Dew can do anything about it.
Does Dew want to do anything about it?
Dew sighs, watching Rowan's muscles bulge as he spices the chicken. Goddamn. He seriously must work out every day. Really, he has a fucking six pack, which is just...
Wait.
Dew's eyes snap up, and suddenly he's looking Rowan in the eyes.
Oh shit!
It's fine, Rowan didn't see that. Of course not.
An idiot would have noticed you checking him out just now, Dew, don't be fucking stupid.
Dew's face flushes, as Rowan places a plate of food in front of him. Rowan has this annoying fucking smug look in his eye, and Dew wants to disappear. Dew doesn't even make eye contact with the man as he starts eating the chicken. A minute later and Rowan is finished.
Rowan walks back to his room, and comes back out with a shirt on and his sunglasses in hand. He grabs his keys off the counter, and Dew knows what he's going to say before he says it.
"I'm going out."
For some reason, Dew is annoyed.
"Why?" He responds.
Rowan pauses. He's a few feet away from Dew, and he'd been making his way toward the front door. He stops at Dew's voice, though, and turns around.
"I think you know why."
Dew scoffs, hopping off the stool and going to stand in front of Rowan. He squints at him, examining the patient expression on the Captain's face.
"You know you have a soulmate, right?"
"Yes."
"So why don't you fuck them? Why do you go out all the time and pick up random people?"
"You don't want me to answer that."
"Yes I do! Fuck!" Dew runs a hand through his hair, glaring at Rowan. "Why are you so fucking cryptic? I already figured out your big secret! You might as well just tell me everything."
Rowan sizes him up, then takes a step forward. Dew's eyebrows raise as the man draws closer. Finally, he stops when he's mere inches from Dew, and leans down. Dew can do nothing but stand completely frozen as the man stops when his mouth is right beside Dew's ear.
"I like sex."
Dew blinks, cheeks coloring so much he probably looks like a freaking tomato. Why did Rowan... say it like that? His voice was so low, the words sounded almost sensual.
Rowan pulls away, but only minutely, until his face is but a few inches from Dew's. Due to their proximity, Dew can see his eyes in much more detail. Like he thought, you can't tell the iris from the pupil. They are pretty dilated right now, and Dew feels almost hypnotized as he stares into them.
"W-Well..." Dew stutters. Rowan raises an eyebrow. "You just... you could..." Dew's eyes flash down to Rowan's (very soft looking) lips, then back up to his eyes. "Stay here..."
"You want me to stay?" Rowan asks, tilting his head.
Dew feels like his brain has been sucked out of his ears, as he blinks several times. Suddenly, he seems to get his wits about him, as he jumps back. Glaring at Rowan, he says too loudly;
"N-No! Go fuck whoever you want, I don't care!" Then he turns around, storming back to the counter where his food is waiting. He hears some soft chuckling, and makes the executive decision to ignore it. A minute later, and he hears the front door open and close with Rowan's exit.
Dew, you need to get your shit together. Please.
Dew sighs, and before long he finishes up his food and follows his new routine of doing the dishes. Then, he locates a vacuum in the closet by the doorway and begins vacuuming all the carpet in the house. He really needs to ask Rowan what kind of rent he's charging, since at this point Dew is basically just a live in maid.
It's after Dew is finished with his cleaning, and he's setting up his art supplies to draw all night, that his cell phone begins ringing.
Dew reaches over and picks it up, pressing the green button. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Marley." The king greets. Dew's eyes widen. Oh shit, there is no way this is good. The king? Calling him? Uh oh.
"Oh, hi." Dew responds, putting the phone on speaker and continuing to draw the girl in a sunhat on his canvas. He decides to put a little bow on the hat simply because it's cute. He also gives her closed eyes.
"Hey, I was just wondering if you've found anything new on the Origin?"
Dew pauses. Shit. So, here's the thing, it is literally illegal to lie to the king. The only times where it is illegal to lie, are when you are speaking to the king or when you are under oath. If caught in a lie during either of these situations, you can face up to five years in a federal prison.
Oh, Rowan, this better be goddamn worth it.
"No, sorry." Dew replies. There is a moment of silence on the other end.
"Okay. It's just, Rowan has been acting strange. Usually I ask him for updates, but he seems...different."
Yeah, because I figured him out.
"Also, the other day when we investigated him, you seemed like you had some ideas."
Dew winces. This is going to be a lot harder than he thought. That's it, tomorrow he's going to grill Rowan for some answers. He needs to know that he's on the right side of this.
"Yeah, uh, that turned out to be a dead end. We're sort of back at square one."
"Okay," Marley replies, voice sounding a bit off. Dew sighs, mixing some paint. He really feels like shit for lying to his king. "Well, can you keep an eye on him for me? I heard you two are living together now."
What the—Why did he put it like that?! Living together! That makes it sound like this is going to be permanent. Uh, no thanks. Dew would actually love to get out of here so that he can stop having these weird freaking thoughts. He just needs a job first.
"No—I mean, yeah." Why is Dew's face flushing? "I just got kicked out of my apartment so he's letting me stay for a little bit. But I don't live here! Hah."
Why does Dew sound so suspicious? Jesus.
"Alright." Marley replies. "Well, have a good evening."
"Okay. You too."
They hang up.
Dew sighs, running a hand through his hair and closing his eyes. He sets the paint brush down so that he can take a minute to himself. Okay, so he just broke a law. It's okay, not a big deal. You're gonna be fine, Dew. Marley will never know.
But, god, Dew really wants to tell him. Guess what, Marley?! I found him! I found the Origin all by myself!
Dew shakes his head, thinking about how he'd really like a break from this mess.
Suddenly, Dew hears buzzing. He glances down at his phone and finds that an unknown number is calling him. Frowning, he picks up the phone and presses the green button.
"Hello?"
"Hi! Am I speaking with Dewey Price?"
Dew blinks. Then, he puts it on speaker and goes back to drawing. Again. He begins to paint her sun hat yellow, right as he responds. "Yes."
"Okay! My name is Sandra, I was calling about your application to be a stocker at Food Town."
Oh. Awesome! Somebody called him back! That's great, the sooner he gets out of this condo the better.
"Okay," Dew responds.
"So is there a time that we can set up an interview?"
Dew blinks, thinking through his schedule. Sure enough, he has no plans for the future. Honestly, when it comes down to it, Dew never really amounted to much of anything. It's sort of sad. Honestly, he could probably get into show business through his mom, but that's never interested him. Also, he hasn't spoken with her since he was 18. So.
"Yeah, does Saturday work for you?"
"Sure! Is 12:00 okay?"
"Yeah."
"Okay! See you then!" The lady hangs up.
Dew continues painting, thinking about his new job opportunity. Good. He really needs this job so he can get away from Rowan. This man is making him feel weird things, and he refuses to look into what exactly those things mean. Even when he gets the job, though, he'll need to wait a few paychecks before he feels comfortable looking for a new home.
Rowan's house is really nice, and a very suitable living environment. Dew would love to live here permanently, to be Rowan's roommate, if he didn't feel so strangely. Also, Spikes seems to love it here. Rowan has several windows that she can sit at and watch the birds, which is very important to Spikes.
Still, Dew needs to find a way out.
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