Page 103 of Rookie Rules

"Video at eight?" he asked.

"Eight. Bring coffee for Eli."

"You said breakfast wasn't included."

"Coffee is accountability."

Mateo's grin returned, smaller and real. "Yes, Captain."

He left.

Luca remained at his stall. Most of the room had emptied. Finn was speaking with media. Nolan had gone to check on Eli's shoulder. Equipment carts moved through the corridor.

"You handled that well," Luca said.

Rowan tied his shoe. "He knows better."

"People often do."

The midpoint conversation entered the room without being named.

Rowan looked at him.

Luca had changed into a dark sweater and jeans. No jacket yet. Waiting, perhaps, though Rowan had given him no reason to.

"Come over," Rowan said.

Luca's expression did not soften. "For what?"

The honest answers crowded too close. Because the house had felt wrong since Luca left. Because Rowan wanted to try speaking before another silence hardened. Because accepting comfort no longer seemed separate from giving something back.

"Dinner," he said.

Luca held his gaze. "Okay."

The drive home did not loosen Rowan's back or his thoughts. He replayed the last eight minutes at every red light without needing video: the retaliatory glove, the power-play seam, the late rebound in the slot.

He had spent his career believing preparation could reduce chaos to choices. Tonight every choice seemed visible only after the wrong one had gathered consequence.

At home he set his phone on the kitchen counter and completed half his mobility sequence while the soup heated. When the doorbell rang, he stood too quickly. The right hip caught, then released.

Luca noticed from the doorway.

His eyes moved once to Rowan's posture and away.

Since that night, even care had become something Luca would not offer without evidence Rowan could receive the person attached to it.

Rowan wanted to tell him the restraint was unnecessary.

He had not yet earned that answer.

At Rowan's house, the game followed them inside.

Rowan heated soup while Luca found bowls. The domestic sequence returned without ease. Luca placed spoons on the island. Rowan checked a message from Vale. They ate while the television replayed league highlights on mute.

Luca tried first.

"Mateo will bring Eli coffee and somehow make it a hostage negotiation."