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Rook wanted it to be perfect. She bit her tongue while carefully arranging the beautiful blue flowers on the small glass vase she'd bought especially for this. Freshly wet soil rested on the bottom of the vase and held the flowers in place—she had asked Harding's help for that, wanting them to stay healthy and thriving as long as possible.
The light of Rook's aquarium in her meditation chamber made the petals gleam, and she smiled sheepishly, feeling the familiar butterflies in her stomach. To the happiness of Lavendel and the Grey Wardens, Rook and her companions had successfully stopped the blight eruption in the Hossberg Wetlands. A feat that came with the most enchanting reward; little nooks and glades housing several of Brona's Blooms, once hidden, had returned.
Upon discovering the hidden wonder of a nature that had a chance to thrive anew, Rook couldn't help but notice the gleam in Neve's eyes as the detective took in the blue flowers all around them.
It all enthralled Neve, her fingertips brushed over petals in wonder. It made Rook question, for a moment, how rare such things were in Minrathous—for all the beauty of the blooms, however, Rook hadn't been able to take her eyes off of Neve.
The idea came instantly, and Rook ended up returning to the Wetlands not long after. She had picked up—most carefully, she wanted them to remain alive, after all—the most beautiful Brona's Blooms she could find. The ones where the blue of their petals gleamed brighter than a sunny sky and flowed gentler than a butterfly's wings.
Everything was, indeed, perfect. The only thing left for her now was to work up the courage to leave her room and carry the glass vase to the Lighthouse's study. She was, for lack of better words, incredibly nervous.
There had been a few stolen kisses, a couple of what could be called dates; but it's not like she and Neve were official. It's not like there was a label on what they were to each other.
Would this be too much? Is gifting her a vase of flowers crossing the line?
Rook figured she would regret it more if she didn't take that bet.
Her hands felt a little slick with perspiration as she held the flower vase, thumb tapping the edge with each step she took across the Lighthouse courtyard. Her heart sped up as she stopped just in front of Neve's door. Rook didn't give herself too much time to hesitate, soon Neve would notice her presence lingering by—she always did, somehow.
With a long breath in, Rook hid the flowers behind her back with one hand, and knocked on the door with the other.
"Come in," Neve's melodic voice called from inside.
The familiar warmth of Neve's room engulfed her as soon as Rook stepped inside. Soft golden light seeped in through the tall windows, several books and notes lay scattered across the floor and desk, wisps floated about and thrilled with Rook's new presence, and Neve sat by her desk, writing something down on a worn piece of paper.
"Hey, Trouble." There was more of a purr to Neve's tone when her eyes raised and found Rook standing in front of her desk. A soft smirk fought its way to Neve's lips, and she laid down her pen, "Always nice having you around."
A tingle ran up and down Rook's back, causing her cheeks to flush. "Hey… Neve." It was a breath, all she could manage when her detective took the air from her lungs each time she batted her eyelashes. Perhaps it was time Rook came up with a nickname for her, too.
"Did you need something?" Neve asked easily, before her smirk grew bolder; "Or did you just want to see me?"
Rook pursed her lips, giving an innocent shrug. "Who says seeing you isn't a need?"
It got a low chuckle from Neve, and Rook felt a twinge of pride. Her attention got robbed, however, when a wisp got a little too curious about what Rook was hiding behind her back. It floated closer, gently ruffling the blue petals.
"Hey, no." Rook grumbled, shooting a halfhearted glare over her shoulder, "None of that, this isn't for you." The wisp thrilled and grew brighter for an instant, paying no mind to Rook's complaint as it went back to join its friends on the ceiling. The other wisps became more animated, almost as if gossiping. Rook scrunched her eyebrows at them.
"Alright Trouble, what have you got there, hmm?" The sheer amusement in Neve's voice was unmistakable, and Rook realized the mage had kept eyes on her the whole time.
Neve got up from her plush green chair at last, she rounded the desk slowly, fingertips brushing the wooden surface. Until she came to stand just before Rook, their personal spaces mingling. Neve's perfume was all Rook could feel, and for an ice mage, her body radiated quite the warmth.
The golden light coming from the windows highlighted Neve's freckles magically, kissing her skin in a way that Rook envied.
"So," Rook cleared her throat, averting her gaze for just a moment or she wouldn't be able to form proper words, "You know how we helped with the blight in the Wetlands, right?"
Neve hummed, lips still quirked, "It rings a bell, yeah."
"And how the flowers came back after?"
With bewitched eyes slowly darting lower on Rook's face and then back up, Neve nodded.
"Well, I…" Rook adjusted her grip on the flower vase behind her back, stalling for a second and building braveness. "I noticed that you seemed to like them. So I went back and…" With a timidness she wasn't quite used to, Rook finally brought the arrangement of vivid blue flowers forward, keeping the glass vase in her hands between her and Neve, "And made you this."
In an instant, the easy confidence Neve exuded faded away, giving room for a small gasp of surprise and an evident flush to her cheeks. Neve kept quiet for a long moment, her lips hovering open while her eyes shifted between Rook, to the blue flowers, and back to Rook. Almost as if unbelieving, as if it was the first time she'd ever been gifted a bouquet. Maybe it was.
Rook's heart thundered inside her ribcage, and she didn't dare breathe when she reached for one of Neve's hands. The touch was delicate and all too careful, but Neve let her; allowing Rook to guide her hand to hold the glass vase.
Rook kept her hand atop Neve's, thumb gently brushing over knuckles.
"Rook…" It sounded a lot like a warning. But it was so quiet, almost broken. Neve's eyes were shining with a sheen layer of what could be tears, but still, Rook was pleasantly surprised when the detective didn't pull away—instead, raised her other hand to take the flowers from Rook.
Neve simply looked at the blue petals for a few beats, reaching to ghost a touch over one of them, feeling their softness between her fingers. "You didn't… have to."
And Neve's eyes shifted up to Rook, all big and vulnerable and scared. Neve hid her heart behind lock and key, but right now, Rook had a feeling she was being allowed a glimpse into Neve's very soul—alone for too long, for even amongst fear, it longed to be loved, cared for. She didn't know she could fall even deeper in love with the detective, but Neve did always surprised her too.
"I know, I wanted to," Rook spoke, words rolling easily off her tongue. "A pretty flower for a pretty girl, and all that." She thought about how Neve called her sunshine for believing in happy endings, and wondered if Neve would someday be willing to take that gamble with her.
A quiet laugh escaped the detective, she tried to hide the smile behind her hair. There was a moment of consideration. Neve always had awful luck in games of chance. But she pursed her lips and closed her eyes, before carefully placing the vase with Brona's Blooms on top of her desk—that's where it would stay, she had decided already; a good place with good light, right beside her.
She turned her gaze back to Rook, those intense coffee-and-amber eyes moved over Rook’s features, drinking her in as if she were a daydream Neve wanted to remember forever. She raised a hand, fingers hovering beside Rook's cheek, yearning but not touching.
Rook waited, she'd always wait for Neve.
"I could kiss you right now," Neve whispered, near breathless and filled with what sounded dangerously close to adoration.
Near the blue flowers on Neve's desk, Rook moved to intertwine their free hands; unhurried and timid, as if approaching the stray cats of Dock Town. "Why don't you?"
Neve's lips parted in a shaky exhale. Her touch finally found Rook's cheek. Palm to jaw, fingertips sliding up to tangle in the soft strands of Rook's hair, pulling her closer as if it were second nature.
Their noses brushed first, even the wisps had quieted down for once. Neve closed her eyes when her upper lip touched Rook's. This wasn't anything like their first kiss; it wasn't hurried or charged with both anxiety and passion, under the rain and beside the waves on Neve's favorite dock. This was intimate, overwhelmingly so; warm and slow touches, two souls dancing around each other in their own little corner of the fade.
Neve was the one who fully closed the gap, her hand pulling more intently on the back of Rook's head while her lips pressed almost desperately to the other woman's. Neve felt Rook take hold of her waist, tightly, as if she knew Neve could second guess all of this at any moment. And the detective pecked her lips once, twice, before lingering longer.
There was a soft crease to Neve's brows when she brought both hands up to hold onto Rook, her body couldn't be closer if she tried, as if afraid Rook would slip through her fingers.
She only pulled away when her lungs started to complain about lack of air. Neve allowed herself to be held close, wide eyes searching Rook's face for something. Yet Neve couldn't help but smirk when she spotted the swollen lips she had caused.
Rook refrained from words, instead brushing strands of Neve's hair behind her ear with a tender gesture. She drew closer, laying a small but lingering kiss on the corner of Neve's lips.
There was a promise there. One too dangerous to be spoken, but Rook knew Neve had heard her loud and clear.
A beat passed, and then two. The detective held Rook's gaze. Under the soft golden light seeping through the windows and the distant thrill of the wisps, Neve knew she was doomed. But she leaned in, capturing Rook's lips again, anyway.
Neve never did turn down a good gamble.