#rheaco

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Cassandra Palmer Series - Karen Chance Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rhea/Rico Characters: Rhea, Rico Additional Tags: Valentine's Day Fluff, Romance

i know, i know, this is a million years late but it’s longer than expected?? so…there’s that, i guess haha

She was staring again.

Rico had come swaggering into the penthouse just moments before, eyes dancing, devastating smile firmly in place, and absolutely dripping wet. But before she could open her mouth to question him, she noticed something else: instead of his usual ensemble of black jeans, black leather jacket, and black t-shirt, he’d inexplicably substituted the black shirt for a white one. It added a nice bit of contrast to his look. And it was soaked completely through. She could see…a lot.

So, Rhea was staring again. Possibly her mouth was hanging open, too, but higher brain function had ceased by this point and she didn’t bother checking.

He caught her, of course, because she was about as subtle as a hammer, and his smile widened, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he stripped off his leather jacket (slower than strictly necessary, Rhea thought) and draped it over the back of a chair, never once breaking eye contact.

Rhea jumped when Fred made a disgusted noise next to her, startling her out of her ogling stupor.

“Show off,” he grumbled. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s obscene.”

“Who - what do you mean?” Rhea asked innocently, though she knew exactly what. In fact she rather agreed. She felt the heat creeping up her neck and began tugging on the collar of her shirt. Why was it so hot in here? The AC was blasting, same as always. Fred caught her eye and sighed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air as if in defeat.

“You two are ridiculous. And frankly, this dance you’re doing is getting boring.” He rolled his eyes and walked off into an adjoining room without another glance. Rhea frowned at his retreat, sure she should be indignant, but not sure exactly why.

Sure, Rico was attractive. She was mature enough to admit that. And sure, when he looked at her and did that stupid slow smile she felt a little like throwing up, but also like she was flying. And sure, when he read stories to the little girls, or chased them around making monster noises, or brought them treats or pretty gifts she felt this bright, expanding, nearly painful burst in her chest. But none of that mattered. Vampires were vampires, and acolytes were acolytes, and that kind of thing just didn’t happen. Any more.

Rico was just flirting, anyway. He’d seen Rhea stare, and blush, and stammer nervously, and he was just having fun at her expense. She nodded to herself, even as she knew the words rang false. Rico wasn’t cruel like that. At least, not to those who didn’t deserve it. So what was it, then? She narrowed his eyes at him, and he looked a question back at her. She looked away and began sorting through a pile of missives to the Pythia that she’d already organized. In the space of a blink he was standing in front of her, dripping all over her neatly arranged stacks. She hovered over them protectively and looked up at him in disapproval. He grinned and took a step back.

“You already sorted those.”

“Well, I thought they could use another - how did you know that?” She looked up at him in surprise.

“Because I watched you do it. You know, you keep yourself so busy around here, tending to the children, running the household, trying to anticipate everyone’s needs before they do. When was the last time you went out?” He absently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and Rhea felt her face bloom. “I bet you didn’t even notice it was raining today because you haven’t looked out a window. There are other people that can do this stuff. Come outside with me.” For once Rico looked serious. And sort of intense. It was…a good look on him.

“But you said it’s raining!” She protested weakly, even as she knew she wanted to say yes. Technically there were other people that could do this work. But she felt such a strong sense of obligation to these girls that had been her charges for so long, and this Pythia, her friend, whom she admired so deeply. Even wanting to go out was always accompanied by a guilt so acute she ended up giving herself twice the work to atone for her selfishness. But that was crazy, right? Cassie encouraged her to take time for herself, to be independent, to have fun. She looked at Rico and he was smiling again, with that familiar twinkle back in his dark eyes.

“Yes. In Las Vegas. Do you know how rare that is? We might not get another chance to enjoy it for a while. Besides, it’s not the rain you’re used to. It’s warm, and it smells sweet, like creosote and dirt and sunshine.” Rico smiled and grabbed her hand, tugging it a little, encouragingly but not forcefully.  

“We don’t have any umbrellas,” Rhea said, smiling and letting him pull her toward the door. Suddenly her excuses didn’t matter, and the expectations didn’t matter, and nothing mattered but the hand in hers and the promise of warm desert rain outside.

“Careful,” Rico said, glancing back at her.

“Sorry.” Marco looked up at him sardonically. “Didn’t mean to step on any toes.”

“Just as long as you don’t step on hers.”

“He looked like every woman’s dream, and I caught Rhea staring.

Rico did, too, and dropped her a wink.

Rhea did not appear to know what to do with that. Maybe because the only men at the Pythian Court had been about eighty. And because the initiates did not appear to have learned normal social skills. Like they’d been trained to be stoic and serene, but not how to interact with regular guys.

Or not-so-regular ones.

Rhea finally solved the problem by awkwardly winking back, which caused Rico to burst out laughing.”

someone else asked casskin so rheaco it is! thank you anon for knowing my trash heart. 

Send me a ship and I’ll tell you…

- Who is the big spoon? rico!!!! the cuddliest snuggliest biggest spoon ever!!! 

- Who initiates sexts? again, rico. he loves how it makes her blush and also that she has NO idea how to respond. she’ll type back something like, “that sounds nice :)” and he bursts out laughing every time.

- Who is the better cook? rhea, obvs

- Who always suggests pizza? rico. he tries to tell her that denying him pizza is denying him his italian heritage. she knows he’s full of shit.

- Who hogs all the hot water? rhea takes the longest showers but rico hogs the bathroom mirror like no one else rhea has ever known.

- Who initiates hand holding? rico. again, because it makes her all flustered and bashful.

- Who is the first to apologize? rico. he’s usually the only one needing to apologize for anything lol

- Who gets drunk and wants to declare their love? rico, naturally. he’s the stand-on-a-table-in-front-of-everyone-and-sing-her-love-ballads type.

- Who is the worst when they’re sick? rico doesn’t get sick and rhea is a badass so neither? but, as we’ve seen, rico takes excellent care of her.

- Who cries over romcoms? neither, but every time a couple gets cute on screen rico says, ‘that’s us’ and it makes rhea smile every time.

- Who insists they don’t need directions? rico, of course.

- Who screams when they see a spider? neither

- Who has their partner as their phone background? rico!!!

- What do they argue about the most? probably rico’s slightly skewed moral compass.

- Who gets the most jealous? i wouldn’t say jealous exactly, but rico is definitely protective.

- Who is the most competitive? rhea, surprisingly

- Who never remembers to hang up their towel? after one stern look from rhea, rico has become much better at cleaning up after himself.