When Cass and the others arrived at the dining room, Lucian was nowhere in sight. That did not mean that they couldn’t hear him. He had to be throwing things in the other room for Cass and the others to be able to hear him.
Cass almost wanted to smile, but did worry he was potentially hurting the others or breaking things. He was about to go check when the door connecting the kitchen to the dining room opened and he stormed out, two plates in his hand. His expression was fierce, and it looked more like he was going into battle than serving a meal.
"You," he said, pointing to Cass with a plate, "over here." He put the plate down, glaring at Cass. He was fully expecting that Cass was going to argue with him, so when Cass went silently, his brows furrowed. He growled, but didn’t say anything more and turned to the next person. "You," he gestured to Edgar, "over here." With both Cass and Edgar’s places decided, the two looked at each other and shrugged.
Cass wanted to find it amusing, but knew that would make Lucian upset. So, he did his best to keep a straight face as he sat down and stared down at the plate before him. Edgar was a seat away from him and Cass could only assume that Lucian was going to sit in between them. Especially since he pointed at Gideon, scowling, and put him at the table across from Cass and Edgar before storming back into the kitchen.
Cass was certainly going to have to calm him down later.
It was only a few minutes later that Sam and Byron came back, and Byron looked a little flushed. Sam looked normal, but Cass didn’t trust that. The man could have a whole spectrum of emotions and then return back to his normal state. He had a feeling that was just...a full demon thing.
"Everything okay?" Cass asked, genuinely curious. Sam nodded, about to sit down when Cass waved his hand. He paused, his eyes wide as he stared at Cass.
"No?" Sam asked, sounding a little upset. Cass would understand why he was upset. He was the one who told him to join them and now he was telling Sam to not join them. It would be upsetting.
"Lucian has decided the seating. I would just wait." Cass clarified, and Sam swallowed, his eyes not quite as big anymore. Byron shifted closer to the other man and Cass watched as he carefully, gently, placed his hand on Sam’s lower back. The fact that the other man didn’t jerk him off or shift out of the way was a big deal.
Cass was pretty sure the fact that Cass, Edgar and Lucian had caught them in the hallway outside of Cass’ room played a big role in it.
Lucian came back out, two more plates in his hands and narrowed his gaze at the newcomers. He gestured, putting them next to each other next to Gideon before he huffed, puffed, and turned on his heel. He didn’t put the second plate in his hand in his spot, and instead gave it to Byron. That was reasonable since compared to the normal amount of meat and starches on everyone else’s plates, that one had been piled high.
No one dared to eat until Lucian sat, and the silence was loud between everyone. Cass was sure he would have been able to strike up a conversation to smooth out this awkwardness, but with Lucian in the mood that he was...it just felt a little weird.
Lucian came out of the kitchen for the last time with all of his attitude and full plates of food, placing them down before Sam and then storming over to the spot between Cass and Edgar. Cass was at least glad that he predicted that right.
Lucian slammed his body into the seat, huffing and puffing, a big, bad dragon with a temper and glared around the room.
"Eat!" He barked, and Cass ducked his head to hide his smile. He was sure that everyone else was terrified but Cass just couldn’t force himself to feel that way. He knew with just a touch from his hand that Lucian would become docile again. He just had to pick his moment correctly.
Cass was poking at the potato-like items on his plate, plotting when he found the plate taken out of his hands. Surprised, he turned his head and found a grumbling, annoyed Lucian taking to the meat on his plate like a madman. He was cutting it up, muttering angrily to himself in a language that Cass wasn’t able to understand. It sounded guttural, from deep within the chest.
Byron nearly choked at one point, and Cass had a distinct feeling that the language was one that dragons inherently understood. Cass narrowed his gaze, glancing between the two dragons but Byron was avoiding his gaze.
"Lucy, I can cut my own food." Cass said, trying to be gentle and calm. Lucian snarled.
"You weren’t. I can do it." He sounded pissed though, and Cass wasn’t sure the meat could handle it. Carefully, knowing that the man had a lot of force behind that knife and fork, he slid his hand to Lucian’s thigh. The man froze, and two monstrous eyes turned to him.
"What are you doing?" He growled and Cass gave a heavy sigh.
"I am capable of cutting it for myself." Cass started, feeling the other man prickle. "However, thank you for cutting it up for me." This was the beginning of stroking the ego. Cass watched in real time as the tension slightly shifted inside of the other man’s body.
"You’re welcome." His tone was a little less sharp, a little less rough around the edges.
"Thank you for preparing dinner for everyone again, Lucy. It’s very thoughtful of you." Cass told him. Edgar’s muffled agreement from the other side had Cass leaning around Lucian to catch sight of him. Cass hadn’t really looked at what his plate was, but when he did, he almost wished that he hadn’t.
Edgar had a plate of the more...bloody pieces of meat. Organs, things of that nature. Denser, richer foods. Cass was familiar, since they were usually sold for cheap, and he was glad he had different cuts.
"It is very nice of you to consider us and each of our needs, Lucy." Edgar said, ready to play along. The dragon was slowly deflating. He only huffed once a minute instead of every 20 seconds. Cass rubbed his hand against his thigh, feeling the man tense before he relaxed.
"Thank you for taking care of me." Cass told him and the rumble that filled his chest had nothing to do with anger. Lucian reached out, pulling Cass against his side for a quick moment, nuzzling the top of his head before he released him back to his seat.
"You don’t need to thank me for looking after you." Lucian told him, but his voice was softer, less harsh. He sounded like himself again.
"But I should. Showing gratitude is the right thing to do." Cass said.
"Thank you for looking out for us, Lucian." Sam piped up from where he was sitting, and Byron nodded. The look that crossed Lucian’s face was one that was very complex. It had a lot to it, happiness, grief, anger, and sadness.
"You don’t need to thank me either. Taking care of Cass’ people is my duty, but...thank you for thanking me." Lucian said. He turned his attention back to Cass’ plate before him and began cutting it up again. His motions were smoother, calmer. Cass smiled softly.
Lucian slid the plate back to Cass, his meat cut up into bite-sized pieces and Lucian huffed. "There. Perfect." He said gruffly and Cass gave a soft chuckle. Lucian was a better man than Cass because if he was upset for the same reason that Lucian was?
He would have let them all starve for a night.
Cass, now that all of his foot was cut up into bite-sized pieces, kept his one hand on Lucian’s thigh and ate with the other. Lucian seemed to not expect that, and kept glancing at Cass throughout the whole meal. Cass swore he was even blushing at one point, but Cass was rather casual about the whole thing.
Conversation wasn’t flowing amongst the group, but it was nowhere as awkward as it had been before. It almost felt peaceful.
"Edgar, are you and Gideon going to go over what he needs to know as a saint after dinner?" Cass asked near the end of the meal and Edgar sighed.
"Well, if Gideon is up to it." Edgar said, and both men turned towards Gideon. He had been rather quiet throughout the whole meal, and with so many eyes on him, he flushed.
"Uh, well, it’s not like I have any duties I need to do here." He said and Cass felt his lips curl up. That was certainly true. This place was pretty nice for that reason alone.
"Perfect. Then you won’t mind. Cass, may we borrow one of your rooms that has books?" He asked and Cass shrugged.
"You’re more than welcome to. I was planning to read the demon encyclopedia after dinner anyways. I need to, to get more knowledge on my side. Lucy, do you want to join me for that?" Cass asked. He felt the man jerk under his hand, his thigh flexing.
"You want...me?" He asked, giving Cass a rather surprised look. He clearly hadn’t anticipated that Cass would say something like that. Cass nodded.
"Yeah. You’ll make a wonderful seat cushion." Cass told him, a teasing smile to his lips. Lucian jerked, clearly not anticipating Cass’ words, before a slow, careful smile crossed his lips.
"Really?" He asked and Cass nodded. He squeezed the thigh under his hand.
"Or is this all for show?" Cass asked, narrowing his gaze at the other man like he was accusing him. Lucian let out a laugh, sounding a little breathless.
"If you want, you could sit anywhere you found comfortable on me. I don’t care." Lucian told him. Cass could almost hear the dirty thoughts trying to peek out.
"That’s very sweet of you, Lucian, but I just need these thighs for now. They seem comfortable enough. With that said, you can use my office, Edgar. I think I’ll do my reading in my bedroom and prepare to wind down for the night." Cass told him and Edgar let out a soft sigh.
"I’ll make sure we don’t make a mess." He promised. When Cass slid his gaze to Gideon, the man was nodding his head rather furiously. Cass grinned, squeezing the meat under his hand again.
"Perfect." It was now time to kill two birds with one stone.