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Rook presses her lips together, arms firm behind her back and gloved fingers interlocked. She stands, stiff as a board in the far side of the room, observant. Only its eyes move, a golden yellow that travels across the room with one specific subject in its headlights.
Cecilia travels through the room as if she walks on air. It’s aided by her feathered clothing, which follows her movements, angelic and ethereal. She’s speaking to the other contestants, at the moment, a tiny quirk at the sides of her lips that entices Rook like nothing else. There is something magnetic about her. Its fingers tighten until its nails can bite its palms, even though its gloves, as Rook forcibly tears her gaze away.
She is not Rook’s to observe. She is not Rook’s to rein in. She is free as a bird, flitting throughout the room, speaking to people like second nature. Rook is not blessed like that. She stands in the corner and waits for someone to approach, and hopes, more than anything, that heels will click and sparkling blue eyes will meet her own with intrigue.
Unfortunately, it's the clunk of boots that pricks her ears first. It doesn’t look over to greet the person approaching. It has no reason to. She knows perfectly well who’s walking up to her with the flick of a lighter and fizz of paper catching fire, the instantly recognizable smell wafting over until it can make her nose scrunch.
“Must you?” it bites. “Don’t you know that secondhand smoke causes over 41,000 deaths per year?”
Bones huffs out a laugh, smoke billowing from the side of their mouth. “Well, good thing I do it firsthand.”
She sniffs. “No regard for my lungs, then.”
“You’ll be fine,” he dismisses easily, taking another long drag. “Just wanted to tell you that you look creepy.”
“Pardon?”
It’s quite rich coming from the man who dresses as if his goal is to frighten young children. Bones only gives her a close mouthed smile, letting smoke escape his nostrils. “You look like you’re trying to kill everyone Cecilia has talked to with your mind,” they say.
Heat descends on its face. Rook ‘hmph’s, turning her head entirely away from the smug looking man. “Ridiculous. I’m merely observing. It could be dangerous. Any of you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Being her ‘knight’, aren’t you?” he chuckles, leaning languidly back against the wall. “Well, whatever. Just wanted to tell you.”
“No, you wished to taunt me. Entirely separate issues.”
Bones doesn’t give her the dignity of an answer to that one. Its face is still turned away, but it can already visualize the smirk on his face. The silence is just long enough that another sentence is forced from her mind. “I only want to speak to her. At her convenience.”
The other only chuckles under their breath, another sharp inhale of smoke audible. “Really. She seems to be having fun, so it might take a bit.”
Having fun? Rook’s head snaps back to the front, eyes seeking the familiar blonde. She lands on her in an instant, body stiffening at the image that greets her. Cecilia, giggling to herself as she pinches Benny’s cheek. The redhead is struggling in an attempt to get away, mouth open in a loud complaint, but Cecilia is treating him like only a disobedient dog, adorable in his resistance.
A sour feeling floods Rook’s chest. It’s pathetic to be jealous of this. She’s aware. It has no right to even feel this way, honestly, but it’s not stopping the thought that dominates her mind. She wants it to be her being touched. Being cooed over.
Benny eventually rips himself away, hand pressing to his cheek as he scans the room. As soon as he spots black hair, he’s ducking behind Eddie like he’s trying to hide. Eddie seems entirely uninterested in protecting him, sharing a couple words with Cecilia instead.
Rook exhales, dragging her eyes away. Bones hums, a strange tightness to it, before he straightens and lifts his boot, putting out the stub of his cigarette on it. “I’ll leave you to it, I guess. I’m not interested in watching people pine.”
“Good. Begone.”
He snorts at her for that, though it wasn’t an attempt to be funny, and stalks off elsewhere. Rook keeps its eyes set forward, flicking over to Cecilia like clockwork. If she does it with ample time in-between, surely it won’t be noticed.
On her fifth attempt to look over, her eyes meet curious blue. Rook inhales in surprise, body tensing, but Cecilia only smiles at her, heels clicking as she approaches.
“There you are,” she says warmly. “I’d been looking around for you.”
She was looking for her. Rook’s fists tighten before she can make a fool of herself worse than she’s already done in front of Cecilia. “I have been here.”
“Then you should have joined me socializing!” Cecilia titters. “I would have felt better with you at my side.”
Warmth flushes Rook’s face in only a moment. She grips the back of her coat. “I-I see. Yes, I’ll keep that in mind, then. For the future. However,” she needs to shut her mouth now, “it appeared to be going well.”
“Going well?”
Rook swallows the jealousy that threatens the back of her throat. “You seemed comfortable,” is all she manages.
Cecilia observes her quietly. It’s long enough Rook is certain she’s said something wrong, but the other woman only glances around before she leans in closer. Rook freezes, but she merely brushes a bit of its hair away to murmur into its ear. “Would you like to come aside with me?”
“P-pardon?”
She presses her fingers together and smiles, gentle and welcoming. “Just for a bit of privacy. Would you?”
It stares for another second, brain racing to comprehend, before she straightens further. “Yes.”
It’s a shock it managed to even say that without a stutter, but Cecilia giggles, turning with a sweep of her boa. “Follow me.”
Rook does, without complaint. It’s a much smaller room, tucked to the side with only a couch. But it’s a place to rest between games- and more importantly, in this moment, it’s a place for Rook to stand, stiff as a board as the other woman turns to face her.
“So, then. Much better here, yes?”
Rook nods, sharp. Cecilia smiles. “I do tend to come here sometimes for a moment to myself. It’s pleasant, isn’t it?”
Rook can only nod, again. Cecilia watches her for another quiet moment. The air feels warm and static on Rook’s cheeks, and it glances away in a feeble attempt to save face. “I apologize. I’m not being good company right now, am I? I should. Be on my way, perhaps.”
The other woman stops her with a hand on her wrist. It’s certain its heartbeat is rapid and unforgiving underneath the touch of her fingers. “No, no. Stay. Would you?”
Her mouth is dry. She is loath to deny her anything. “I would.”
Her concession escapes so quickly that Cecilia giggles at her, a light thing that she hides under her free hand. Rook tenses, but it doesn’t sound malicious. Just tickled. Cecilia guides it with a small tug to sit on the couch beside them, though she doesn’t sit next to it. It leaves Rook looking up at her, dumbfounded, as those sparkling blue eyes meet her own, lined with blonde lashes turned white in the lowlights. She taps Rook’s nose playfully.
“Were you jealous?” she asks, simply. It’s blunt enough Rook sputters something that’s almost a denial, but another little chuckle cuts off any attempt. “You’re very funny, Rook.”
It doesn’t try to be funny, necessarily, but it would become a jester if it meant she kept laughing like that. Any coherent thought that could possibly follow that one is quickly silenced as Cecilia takes a small step forward, slotting herself between Rook’s legs. Something explodes in Rook’s cerebrum that leaves it slack and motionless as she settles herself there, raising her hands and gently sliding off her gloves. They peel from the pale flesh like unwrapping a present, forearm-wrist-palm, systemic revealing of soft skin. Even her fingers, eternally visible from her fingerless gloves, seem new and foreign after the seconds they were blocked from view. She lays both slips of fabric against the bench, chuckling again at Rook’s burning red cheeks, and brings her hands up to cup her face.
The world slows. Air freezes in place. Her palms are soft where they’re pressed to its face, slightly cold from the heat of its own fluster. But Cecilia just presses her hands a bit firmer to her cheeks, smiling. There is something mischievous in the curl of her lip, painted a soft pink, inviting yet teasing. Rook can’t seem to breathe.
“You have nothing to be jealous over,” she murmurs, low and soothing. Her thumb pinches the fat of her cheekbone gently, eyes locking on the light imprint of pressure that must be left. She looks satisfied by the mark in a way that makes Rook’s entire body buzz. “You’re the cutest here by far.”
Rook swallows. Her lips part, words on the very edge of her tongue, but she’s not sure what they are. Cecilia only watches her, eyes tracing the line of her mouth, before she smiles when words fail. “Would you care to stay out here, for a bit? Have a little privacy?”
“Yes.”
It’s another thing blurted out with no thought, autopilot directing Rook correctly for once in its life. Cecilia smiles, before she leans down and plants a kiss directly on the spot of her cheekbone she had just pinched. There’s steam rising in the air from how hot Rook’s face is, there has to be.
“Very good,” she murmurs, hands still gentle on her face. Rook is helpless to do anything but lean into the touch. “You know, as much as I do enjoy speaking to others, I think this is just as nice. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Rook still feels loose and unguided, brain and body uncertain of her movements, before she gently inhales. It takes no small amount of courage, but she has tamed far worse beasts than this. It can manage as small and as massive a feat as this one. She tilts her face into Cecilia’s palm and places a gentle kiss against the soft skin. It’s warmer against her lips. Cecilia’s eyes widen, a pretty pink flush covering her face.
“I do.”
Her face melts into a pleased smile, something even softer than usual. Less niceties, more truth. “Then perhaps we never need to go back.”
What an idea. The two of them, tucked away together, unharmed and unable to be harmed. Lips and hands. Rook exhales shakily. “For some time, at least.”
“For some time.”
The feeling of her hands on her face linger for long after.