When Dew shows up to work the next day, Sandra immediately leads him to the back. She gives him a uniform, which he changes into in the bathroom, then she tells him to follow another girl, Chelsea, around.

She fills out a log quite frequently, and otherwise just gives him goods to stock the shelves with. He's allowed to listen to music, which he's thankful for. It helps the time go by quicker, and pretty soon it hits 6 o'clock and his shift is over and he's making his way back to Rowan's house.

Upon entering the condo, Dew finds a plastic package of ear plugs on the counter. He pockets it immediately.

Dew basically just cleans up the condo until Rowan gets home. He hears the front door open as he's in the middle of mopping the hardwood floor in the living room. He's basically a housewife at this point. Rowan enters the room, then follows his routine of changing into his relaxing clothes and cooking the two of them dinner.

Dew finishes mopping right when Rowan is done cooking dinner, and the two sit at the counter together. It's pretty silent, seeing as Dew can't seem to get rid of the blush on his cheeks and Rowan just doesn't ever start conversation.

Rowan finishes quickly, and lets Dew know that he's 'going out' before leaving the empath alone.

Dew sighs, sitting at the counter. He stares down into the chicken salad Rowan had made for him, then a frown takes over his face. He dumps the rest of the bowl's contents into the trash, washes his dishes, and goes back to his room.

He walks over to his desk and takes a seat, flipping to a new page in his sketchbook. Immediately, he begins drawing Rowan. He's not sure where this newfound obsession with drawing Rowan Lux came from, but he's not going to deny himself the simple pleasure of creating what he wants. Rowan is fun to draw, for whatever reason.

After finishing his umpteenth sketch of Rowan's face, Dew sets his pencil on his desk and leans back, running a hand through his hair. The way he sees it, there are two ways out of this. One, he can wait a few weeks for a steady income and finally move out, hopefully leaving these stupid feelings here. Or, two, he can fuck Rowan and get it out of his system.

Only the first of those sounds achievable. Also, Dew would feel pretty guilty if he somehow actually did end up having sexual relations with the captain, since the guy has a soulmate.

Dew sighs, staring at the drawings. He basically just zones out at them for a few minutes, until his phone begins ringing.

Dew frowns, glancing at the time.

1:00.

What? Who in the world is calling him so early in the morning? Dew grabs his phone, and a glance at the caller ID has him answering immediately, putting the phone to his ear.

"Marley? Is everything okay?"

There is a silence on the other side, and what sounds like some muffled speech in the background. Then, Marley's voice rings through the line.

"Dew? I need your help with something."

Dew scratches his arm. Help with something? Isn't Dew already 'finding the Origin'? What else could Marley need him for?

"Okay, what is it?"

There is some shuffling on the other end, then, "I think I know who the Origin is."

Dew freezes.

"W-Who?"

"I think—I'm not sure, okay, but... I think it may be Captain Lux."

Dew literally falls out of his chair. Coincidentally, at the same time, he hears the front door open. He hears two voices, both male. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Marley is apparently way smarter than Dew gave him credit for. How in the world did he figure it out? Or maybe he's just suspicious? That's right, he probably can't prove it... so maybe he really just suspects Rowan? And Dew could change his mind? Maybe?

"Oh—Um, really? Why?"

"Listen, I'll tell you about it, just—when is the soonest you can get to the castle?"

Dew runs a hand through his hair, thinking through his schedule. He has tomorrow off, miraculously.

"Tomorrow?"

"Okay, I'm sending a car—7 o'clock sharp. Can you do that?"

Dew gnaws on his lip, before responding. "Yes."

"Thank you," then Marley hangs up.

Uh oh.

Dew grabs the side of his desk, hefting himself up so that he's standing. He sets his phone down on said desk, and crosses his arms over his chest. This is really bad. Marley has figured it out. Of course, there is a good likelihood that Marley is going off clues. He hasn't found a way to confirm it! Dew can still convince him otherwise.

However... well... should Dew? How does Dew even know he's doing the right thing? Maybe he should tell Marley that he's right? Yeah, he could let Marley know that Rowan is in fact the Origin, but maybe tell him not to make it public? Then again, how long would that last? Marley's made it abundantly clear he doesn't like to lie to the citizens.

Dew scratches his arm. He needs to talk to Rowan about this—now, actually, since Dew is going to be occupied first thing in the morning.

Fuck. Wait. No. He can't. Rowan clearly just brought someone else home, so if Dew interrupts... then...

Don't interrupt again unless you plan on finishing what was started.

You know what? Fuck it. This is an emergency, Rowan will get over it.

Dew sighs, a little ball of nerves curling in his gut. He exits his room and makes his way down the hallway, turning the corner and reaching Rowan's door. He hears a sound from the other end, a voice that isn't Rowan's yet male all the same, and some shuffling. Dew is less angry this time, so he does his best to respect their privacy and actually knock on the door.

No answer.

Dew knocks again.

Still no answer.

Okay, whatever. Dew reaches up and covers his eyes, before opening the door. He immediately hears all movement stop. Whatever, this is their fault for not answering the door.

"Okay, I don't know who you are, but get out."

There is a silence, before, "what?" From a male voice Dew doesn't recognize.

"Get out, please. I have to talk to Rowan."

"Seriously?"

Dew peeks through his fingers, and finds a brown haired guy sitting beside Rowan, with his legs resting on the captain. He's a bit smaller than Rowan, yet bigger than Dew, and he seems irritated. Rowan isn't wearing a shirt, but the other man is fully clothed.

"Yeah, sorry, but you gotta leave." Dew states, taking his hand fully off his face.

The man raises an eyebrow, before glancing at Rowan, whose eyes are trained solely on Dew. It makes him nervous.

"You know what? Whatever." The guy says, standing up and grabbing his jacket and phone off the floor. He then brushes past Dew, who can't help but to be glad that this guy wasn't as upset as the girl yesterday.

Rowan leans forward, resting his elbows on his legs. "I hope you have a good reason for that."

Dew rolls his eyes, then enters the room, closing the door behind himself. He walks so that he's standing directly in front of Rowan, who is running a hand through his hair. Dew does have a good reason, but what would Rowan do if he didn't?

"I do, actually." Dew replies, crossing his arms over his chest. "Marley just called me and said he thinks you're the Origin."

Rowan's gaze snaps up to his. "What."

"Yup!" Dew replies. "He's picking me up in the morning to tell me about it. I don't know what to do."

"Deny it." Rowan replies. "Convince him it's not true, by any means necessary."

Dew frowns, orange eyes staring right into black. "I don't even know if I should." He admits. Rowan frowns.

"What? Why?"

"Because you aren't telling me anything! Other than the fact that these groups want to torture you, why else shouldn't we tell everyone you're the Origin? It could bring about world peace."

Rowan narrows his eyes. "No it won't—I don't even understand how I could possibly do that."

"You're the only thing all four nations have in common." Dew replies, raising an eyebrow. "And so what if there are people that want to torture you? You've been in the military for like 200 years, I think you can take care of yourself."

"Going public about my origin status could just as easily throw the world into chaos, and that's not it," Rowan replies. "They will go after... an important person to me as well."

"Who?"

"My soulmate."

Dew frowns. Crap, he forgot. "What, can you not protect your soulmate, too?"

"I don't want to risk it."

Dew crosses his arms, now in an eye lock with Rowan. He's seriously thinking about this, because he wants to tell everyone! Also, he really doesn't want to lie to his king any more than he already has.

"Who the fuck even is your soulmate, anyway? Why can't we just lock them in a room or something so they're safe? Do they even know that they're your soulmate—do they know that they're in danger?"

Rowan is staring up at Dew, deadpanned. After a moment, he responds, "you ask too many questions."

Dew rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well if you weren't so fucking secretive—"

Dew squeaks—yes, he actually squeaks. Again—when his hips are suddenly being grabbed. Before he can even comprehend what just happened, he's being yanked down to a straddling position... on Rowan's lap.

Woah.

Dew freezes, and he realizes that even seated like this Rowan is taller than him. Their faces are incredibly close as Dew stares up at him, owl eyed. Consider him silenced, holy fucking shit. Dew realizes that he's currently holding Rowan's bare shoulders in a death grip, which he probably did to brace himself just now. He really doesn't know what to do, now that he's in this...position.

What in the world is Rowan thinking?

"I'm secretive?" Rowan replies, maintaining their eye lock. "I don't know anything about you either, Dew."

"Contrary," Dew immediately objects, argumentative nature suppressing his sudden nerves at their proximity. "You know more about me than I do you."

Rowan's arms encircle Dew's waist, and he can't help but to glance down at the action. Seriously, where is this going?

It delves into silence for a few moments, before Rowan states, "you're still not telling Marley."

Dew rolls his eyes. "You know what? I'm sick of you and your fucking games. I've had to lie to Marley so much for you, and I don't think it's worth it. We can fight off a few people that want to capture you and your soulmate, okay? I'll help, but there is a war starting and you are the only person that can stop it."

"Again, how am I supposed to do that?"

Again, that is a good point, and Dew sort of sits back and thinks about it for a moment. After a considerable amount of time contemplating, Dew finally concedes. "I don't know."

Rowan raises an eyebrow. Dew sighs in frustration. "But it doesn't matter! We'll figure it out, okay? We really need to tell Marley."

Rowan sighs, before, "if you believe that you can convince Marley not to tell anyone, then be my guest."

Dew frowns, because he really doesn't think he could do that. "You know Marley hates lying to the people."

Rowan thinks for a moment, and it seems to occur to him that this little secret is going to get out at some point, whether he likes it or not. Marley knows. "Convince him to keep quiet about it for the foreseeable future, while I figure something out."

Dew beams, unbelievably excited. Honestly, this will make everything so much easier. Dew really did not like lying to his king, and he's pretty sure that if asked, Marley can keep a secret—although temporarily. He'll probably want to know why, though. "Okay! Thank you."

Dew starts to get up, but then he realizes that with their position, that won't be very easy. After a moment of strategizing, Dew finally looks up at Rowan. "Question: why am I in your lap?"

Rowan examines Dew's face for a moment. "What did I say would happen next time you interrupted?"

Dew's eyes widen, as he momentarily forgot about that. Holy shit, is he gonna have to fuck Rowan? Not that he's particularly against it, but...!

Dew is at a total loss, as a flush takes over his entire face, while he stares at Rowan like a deer caught in headlights. After a second of Rowan staring at him like Dew's reaction is the best thing to happen all day, Rowan lets go of him. "You should probably get some rest."

Dew immediately stands up, backing away from him, stumbling a bit. He hates how flustered he feels as he responds, "u-uh, I mean... y-yeah, you too..."

The last thing Dew registers is Rowan's amused expression before he turns around and hastily leaves the room, cursing how transparent he is. What in the world is Rowan thinking? Why does Dew like it so much?! Ugh! He needs to get a handle on his emotions before he fucks everything up.

Sadly, that's easier said than done—Dew's never exactly been an expert at keeping his emotions in check, after all.