Page 78 of Rookie Rules

"Vale?"

"He knows I am available."

Luca did not say that was not the same as fine. He had heard enough in the training room.

"Does it scare you?" he asked.

Rowan's first response rose automatically. No. Managed. Normal. Every word true in a way that protected nothing.

"Sometimes," he said.

Luca's hand did not change pressure.

The room remained intact.

Rowan looked toward the bookcase rather than at him. "Not this. The recovery is predictable."

"The clock isn't."

Rowan turned his head.

Luca's gaze was on the heat pack, not his face. He had understood without being given the whole history: the older player doing the same work more often, the difference between available and endless.

"No," Rowan said. "It isn't."

No confession followed. Luca did not ask for one.

When the heat cycle ended, the wrap clicked. Luca lifted his hand.

Rowan missed the contact before he sat up.

"Better?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Luca began coiling the cable.

Rowan caught his wrist.

The movement was faster than the decision, but the decision existed. He drew Luca closer until Luca knelt between his knees.

"Still recovery?" Luca asked.

"No."

Rowan kissed him.

Luca let Rowan choose the angle and pace. One hand settled at Rowan's shoulder, careful without treating him as breakable. Rowan pulled him closer. The kiss deepened, warmed by the practical touch that had come before it.

There was no need to prove desire now. What changed was Rowan allowing it to remain connected to need.

They moved to the bedroom without urgency. Rowan told Luca what felt good and what did not. Luca listened with the same concentration he brought to a changing route, but without turning Rowan into a problem to solve. Pleasure became another form of direct information, asked for and received.

Later, Luca reached for his shirt from the floor.

The old sequence began. Dress. Distance. Restore the room before tenderness developed consequences.