Chapter 719: A nice surprise

Cass, Eddie and Giddy were waiting outside of the dining room. Cass had his arms crossed, a bemused smile on his face, while Eddie and Giddy watched the door, a bit worried. They could all hear what sounded like terrible crashing and smashing inside the room and nothing else.

It felt a bit like a bit that someone would do in a cartoon, but Cass just held his own, smiling.

"Do you think skinning the beast he caught took a while?" Cass asked conversationally to Giddy, who glanced at Cass, confused.

"Skinning? No? Lucy’s a beast himself. He’s a pro at these kinds of things. I’ve watched him do it before. You have too, Cass." Giddy pointed out. Cass shrugged.

"That was a before I injured my head Cass thing." Cass told him casually. Giddy paled slightly.

"Right. My apologies." Giddy muttered. He sounded embarrassed, but Cass thought it was fine to reference that time. He wasn’t doing it maliciously.

"I’m just worried about the state of the dining room once he’s done. It sounds...like he’s destroying it." Cass’ amusement faded at Eddie’s comment.

"He better not. Building this place cost an arm and a leg, and while we have no need for money, he should value everything that I built." Cass said, his gaze narrowing at the door. He wasn’t sure if Lucy heard what he said or not, but it was shortly after that that the door opened.

A rather out of breath Lucy answered, his hair a little all over the place, his clothes askew, and his cheeks flushed. It looked more like he’d been intimate with someone then he’d been making a meal, and Cass’ hackles were raised immediately. He trusted Lucy, he did, but to have anyone but those present see him like that currently?

It soured Cass’ mood immediately.

"Come in, everyone. I just finished getting the table setup. My apologies that it took so long, but I was having some issues with the table cloth. It wouldn’t lie straight and I nearly lit it on fire." He said, smiling. Eddie snorted, then covered his mouth as he realised that it was a rather inelegant thing to do, while Cass moved to enter the room.

Annoyance, and a little bit of anger motivated his movements, which meant that he was halted in his steps as he caught sight of the room.

It was a gothic dream.

Candles hung in the air, suspended not by string or chandeliers, but by pure magic. They sparkled like stars in the sky, the darker stained wood of the ceiling making it even prettier. Lucy had changed the curtains to a dark, rich black tone, and had layered it with a richer red shade as well. Closer to a deep merlot colour then bright blood red. The layering added a rather interesting effect, and was something that Cass didn’t know Lucy could pull off. He had to have roped the staff into helping.

The chairs had been swapped out for even more sinister-looking, but Cass knew comfy, chairs. The same merlot colour was used on the cushions, the carving done on the chairs that of a craftsman at the top of his mastery. The table was covered in a thick, heavy black tablecloth. Table placings for four were set near the end of the table, with no one sitting at the head of the table and instead two on either side facing each other.

The cutlery was gothic, twisting and bright silver in colour. They shimmered even from where Cass was, quite a distance from the end of the table that was set. Goblets and glasses were set at each place setting, candles and deep, ruby red roses and other flowers were set in black vases.

Cass swallowed, overwhelmed, his hand rising to his chest as he stared in shock. Eddie and Giddy, when they entered, did the same. Freezing in place as Lucy stared at them, a little worried.

"Well? Is it okay?" He asked. "I was hoping to decorate the space, but I’m not that talented. I suggested it to the maids and they asked for my opinion and let me help, but it seems a lot of them were trained by Sam." Lucy joked, but his big, orange eyes were scanning them, worried. "Well? Is it terrible? Did I mess up?" Lucy was showing that he was obviously concerned about their opinion, but Cass just couldn’t find his tongue.

This was...oh god, he was getting emotional.

Cass felt his eyes water, the scene before him blurring and he raised his hand from his chest to his eyes, covering them.

"Cass?" Lucy asked, concerned, as Cass hunched his shoulders, trying to keep himself together.

"No one’s done anything like this before." Cass whispered. He felt Lucy approach, a gentle, but large hand landing on his shoulder.

"What do you mean, sweetness?" Lucy’s voice was soft, sweet, but that kernel of worry was still deep in there. Cass sniffed.

"No one’s ever done anything like this before." Cass sniffed. "Set up dinner like this. Or planning something like this out." Cass tried to speak past the knot in his throat. He didn’t want to cry, truly, but when another, softer hand landed on his back, he almost folded.

"We had a picnic before." Eddie spoke up softly, and Cass shook his head.

"Sam planned that." Cass muttered. "I didn’t, and you didn’t." Eddie made a soft noise of agreement, his hand patting his back.

"Do you not like it?" Giddy asked. He wasn’t crowding Cass like the others were, giving him a little space. When Cass glanced in his direction, he had his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall, but his green eyes were warm as he looked over the trio.

"I like it." Cass rasped. "I know that I complain about being dressed like a villain in dark colours, but it suits us, whether I like it or not." Cass admitted. "I’m sorry. I don’t know why I reacted like this." Cass sounded confused even to his own ears. Lucy sighed, then pulled him into his arms tightly.

"It’s alright, my sweet, silly fairy. You’re allowed to cry. I’m just sorry I’m the one who did it." Lucy murmured, the feel of his voice rumbling through his chest only made Cass’ head spin a little more.

"He’s happy, Lucy, not sad. He’s just also overwhelmed." Eddie said sweetly, coming in to wrap Cass up in his arms as well. "Come on, baby, let’s get you seated. That way you can wipe your tears with your napkin." Eddie’s words made Cass let out a wet laugh.

"I’m not crying, not yet, at least. I’m just...I am happy." Cass admitted. Lucy shuddered, his grip tightening around Cass before he relaxed a bit.

"You are worthy of this kind of treatment. In fact, you should get very familiar with this kind of thing. Now that I know, I will not stop doing this." Lucy warned. It sounded a bit like a threat, but that actually only made the small thread that Cass was hanging on by, snap.

The tears came silently, Cass pressing his face against Lucy’s bountiful chest. If there was anywhere to bury his face to hide from the others, it was here.

Lucy let out a soft, strange cooing noise, his hands rising up to stroke Cass’ hair as Eddie settled against Cass from behind, his hands slipping between Cass and Lucy to squeeze him in his grip.

"You silly, sweet thing." Giddy murmured. "How are you going to handle us being public when you cry at this much?" It would have sounded condescending if Giddy’s voice didn’t hold so much concern. "I had so many things planned, but if you can’t handle this much..." He trailed off. Eddie pressed a kiss against the back of Cass’ neck.

"Be nice, Giddy. Cass is allowed to be overwhelmed. He didn’t get a reprieve as soon as we did from the pain of our childhoods. Don’t you remember how much of a mess you were when we first met Fiona and she gave us a place to rest?" Eddie spoke softly, reminding Giddy of how this strange relationship even began. "Though, I am worried, like Giddy suggested. How are you going to manage being open when you’re weeping like this already?" Eddie squeezed him gently and the warmth that was pressed against Cass’ back and his front only made his eyes water more.

"I’ll just be known as the crying Duke." Cass mumbled, his voice muffled by Lucy’s chest.

Lucy let out a bark of laughter, before he growled.

"Hilarious, but absolutely not. The whole world will fall head over heels for you if they see how sweet you are when you cry. You’re too pretty with glassy, wet eyes, Cass. Didn’t you learn from the sunglasses and why you’ve been confined for the last while?" Lucy asked. Cass sniffed, the wet spot he was making on Lucy’s shirt growing.

"Don’t I want them to fall in love with me? They’ve all hated me until now. Plus, you, Giddy and Eddie are going to be around so no one would dare approach. If they did, I can still use magic." Cass mumbled. Eddie’s lips pressed against Cass’ neck again, the warm wetness making Cass shiver.

"You’re going to make us work for it, hmm?" Lucy murmured. He let out a sigh. "Well, I can’t say I didn’t expect it." Cass flinched, not sure why he sounded like that. "Our Cassy Baby is a sweet man who just wants to be shown that he’s worthy to be fought over. If you tell me that’s what you want, that is what I will do. Do I have to fight them as a human?" Lucy asked.

Cass finally raised his face from his chest, blinking.

"What?" Cass asked, his cheeks damp and flushed. Lucy smiled, his fingers still stroking his hair.

"It’s an honour to be able to fight for you, and I will do so if that is what you ask of me. Just let me know how, and how far I’m allowed to go." Lucy said.

"Come on, Lucy, you know Cass’ rules already. Yes, as a human, and no, you can’t kill them. He’s trying to build a better reputation, a suitor killing people isn’t going to help him." Giddy warned. "I won’t be as violent, Cass. I promise only to use my sword that you got me if they use a sword as well."

"Enough fighting." Eddie snapped, speaking up before Cass felt like his head was going to explode. "Let’s eat, alright everyone? I’m sure Cass wants to get to the good parts already." Eddie muttered. "And we have work to finish after dinner."

Cass laughed, a light breathy thing at the reminder that Eddie was thinking about the date hung over his head, while Giddy and Lucy were thinking about the fights hung over their head. They were all so goofy and Cass’ heart had never felt this whole.