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When Alka arrived at the manor, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Rowan was back home. His first stop was the kitchen where he saw Lucien adding vegetables to an aromatic broth that was bubbling merrily on the stove. Rowan was beside the redhead, looking into the pot and measuring out a spoon of salt from a colourful clay container. Dinner was still a long way off so they were making lunch. 

"How domestic," the plant mage remarked with a small smile. 

"Yep, uncle Rowan and I are having a bonding activity since he is my brother in law," Luci happily replied.

Alka blinked in surprise. "Uncle... Rowan?" 

"Yep!" 

Rowan was expressionless. When the redhead smiled up at him, Rowan cracked a smile for the happy child.

"Oh," Alka replied. "Um, carry on. I\'ll go look for Syryn."

[Poor Alka.] Red was laughing in their shared mindscape. [He looked like someone had just force-fed him a spoon of warm oil.]

(He didn\'t.)

[What do you know? You were busy cultivating a brother-in-law relationship with the uncle. And the worst part of it is that you\'re actually doing this unironically.]

(Is that bad?)

[Haha! No. Rowan is so discomfited by it. You aren\'t acting so you\'re doing a better job than I am!]

Luci was a little sad. Red was basically saying that Rowan didn\'t like being part of a bonding activity with them. 

[You, what\'s wrong?]

(Nothing. It\'s fine.)

Luci\'s happy smile had wilted. He felt as if he was forcing Rowan to participate in something unpleasant. 

[Come on, tell me.]

(It\'s okay, Red. Don\'t worry!)

Rowan was worrying about the amount of meat that was going into the pot. According to his estimates, there wasn\'t enough meat for a robust tasting stew. The anti mage was about to ask Luci to get more meat from the pantry when he saw the boy\'s downcast face. 

"Hey, What\'s wrong, Luci?" Rowan asked. 

The boy glanced up and away, smiling, but the anti mage could tell it was fake. 

"Nothing, Rowan. Why do you ask?" 

Blue eyes regarded Luci. Rowan turned down the heat and bent low so he was eye level with the redhead. 

"Do you know what I like most about you, Luci?" He told the child. 

Red eyes went wide and he shook his head quickly. 

"Your honesty," Rowan told him quietly. "Your eyes are like a spring of clean water. And when something bad falls into it, it\'s impossible not to see the ripples. So, Luci, what\'s causing the ripple?" 

[For fuck\'s sake.]

The redhead bowed his head, hiding his face from the anti mage. 

"Luci, I need you to know that you can tell me anything. But if it makes you uncomfortable, we can get back to cooking and I\'ll tell you a story about the time I put a frog under my aunt\'s pillow." 

Luci immediately brightened at hearing that. "Did she yell at you?" 

Rowan nodded his head as he smiled at the boy. "Aunt Lisanne chased me around a tree while screaming and threatening to feed me to her piglets." 

The redhead laughed at the image of Rowan getting chased by an older woman. Seeing Luci laugh, the anti mage responded with a handsome smile, his bright blue eyes crinkling at the corners.

[He\'s a charming bastard, isn\'t he?] Red sounded annoyed but also resigned to their fate of being charmed by Rowan. 

(It\'s why Syryn fell for him.)

[Of course, it definitely had nothing to do with that blessed face and tight body.]

(It doesn\'t?)

Red had a feeling that Luci was acting dumb to annoy him. 

"Rowan, lunch is getting late," the redhead said to the blond after his laughter died down. 

"No more uncle Rowan?" 

Luci shook his head, still smiling. "Something tells me you don\'t like being called that." 

[You\'ve ruined it.]

"Not entirely, no," Rowan said after a beat. "When Red calls me uncle, he says it to annoy me. But if you, Luci, want to call me uncle, I\'ll be happy to have you call me that because I know it makes you happy." 

[Fuck....]

(Red, I\'m in love!)

[That\'s your brother in law, Luci.]

(I know!)

"How about we stick to just Rowan?" Luci replied, feeling like he was floating on air. If Syryn dared to leave Rowan, Luci decided he would chain his brother to this brother-in-law.

"Just Rowan it is," Rowan responded. "Now let\'s get back to lunch preps since Syryn will get hungry soon." 

_____

While Rowan and Luci had been having a heartfelt conversation, Alka had been looking for Syryn. He hadn\'t seen the need to ask Rowan about whether Syryn was back or not because the relaxed atmosphere in the kitchen indicated that Syryn was safe and back. This also meant his older brother, Artemus, had returned. 

"Syryn?" Alka asked when he saw the mage wandering around aimlessly. Syryn still hadn\'t found his room because he didn\'t know which one it was. 

Syryn whipped around when he heard his name being called. A young man with dark hair and features reminiscent of Artemus\' was standing at the end of the corridor. Alka, he guessed. 

"Alka, you\'re here?" Syryn replied. He hadn\'t meant for it to sound like a question. 

"Yes, I don\'t sleepover at my mother\'s these days. I\'m glad to see you back safe and sound, Syryn." 

The plant mage walked over to Syryn who was starting to feel anxious. This young man had known him for a long time but Syryn couldn\'t remember anything about him or their interactions of the past. It felt like he was playing a game whose rules were known to everyone but him. 

"Alka," Syryn said to the plant mage. "I have to tell you something." 

"Yes?" The plant mage responded. 

"Can you take me to my room first? I don\'t remember where it is." 

Syryn sounded strangely subdued to the green-eyed mage. 

"Oh, okay. Come with me," Alka replied after getting over his surprise.. He already knew that whatever Syryn was about to tell him was not going to be pleasant news.