#ignore bottom left Melchior i tried to fix him for so long but i was tired 😭

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Riot Kings, page 193

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[where-the-wind-is]

A Little Birdy Told Me

The Arcana

Masterlist

Chapter 18

Your peers said nothing as you carried the jeweled dagger on you for the rest of the day.

Valdemar said nothing as you brought it to work with you in the morning.

No one said anything for the days that followed, it was refreshing.

Every time you saw it you thought of Lucio. He had truly put thought into this gift, where can you even find an unsharpened dagger? You had been convinced that the only thing that would cure the bullying was time, but here it was. The man was magic.

He was always doing that, giving you things sure, but also coming up with answers. He could help you out of any situation and just smile nervously like it didn't happen. It made you wonder how much he'd had to squirm out of for him to pick up such a skill. How much he'd smiled through.

He was always smiling, it seemed.

You were excited as you rode the magic elevator to your assignment. You had practically no work in the facility anymore and had moved to caring for Lucio full time. At his request of course. In any other circumstance this would worsen the teasing when you were down there, but remember the dagger. You practically threw open his door when you got there, Mercedes and Melchior trotted behind you. Equipt with their brand new mask-muzzles to keep them safe.

"Morning Beautiful! I brought you a surprise" You called cheerily. Despite it being a supposed surprise, Mercedes and Melchior were through the door and all over the Count before you'd finished your greeting.

"MY BABIES!!" Lucio squeezed the dogs tight around their necks, one dog in each arm. The borzois put up with it for a minute but eventually started squirming and whining to be released. He reluctantly let them go and moved to petting their long white fur as you set your stuff down. "I thought they were at risk of getting sick?"

"Check out their new threads, no more risk" you said smugly as the dogs pawed at their muzzles. Lucio was beyond happy, scritching them and cooing nonsensically.

"Babies babies babies, did you miss me huh? All alone without you, oh you haven't been hunting in forever. Poor pups."

"So today I was thinking we could take your vitals quickly and then maybe try some writing."

Lucio stopped for a moment, hesitant. He could read, and he wouldn't take criticism on that, but writing was not a skill he possessed. He had been left handed before...well he just never really was able to learn. You sit down softly on the bed next to him and hold out your hand. He knows the drill by now, putting his hand willingly in yours. You feel for a pulse and count.

Lucio's still making that concerned face. He hated confronting things he's bad at, you know that, but he should know by now you only mean to help. His brow pinches slightly as he absent-mindedly rubs Mercedes' ears. His unbrushed hair falls in his face, and his pale skin flushes just so lightly on his cheeks and nose. He stops petting Mercedes for a moment to tuck the fallen hair behind his ear, the ear with the freckle just below it on his neck. He almost looks like a painting.

You weren't counting, shit, how long had you not been counting? Heart stuttering in embarrassment you restart, hoping he doesn't notice the delay.

Reaching for the same metal cup you always use you crawl farther onto the bed to listen to his lungs. His breath hitches like always but he says nothing. It's almost worse, not knowing what he's thinking. His lungs sound worse, there's no getting around that.

Something presses the back of your neck so suddenly that you shiver and jump. Whipping around you see Melchior sitting behind you, trying to sniff you though the cloth covering his snout. You laugh lightly and give him several good pats before moving to continue your work.

Finally you sit beside Lucio with your notebook and offer him a quill. He eyes it like one might a poisonous spider.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," you say softly. He looks from the quill to you and his expression softens. Your face goes hot at the look. He takes the quill from your gloved hand, gingerly holding it in his metal one.

"What am I thinking" he mumbles to himself, but you catch it.

"Good question" you shoot back and he jumps, not expecting you to have responded. "What are you thinking?" He looks like he might make something up for a moment before seeming to think better of it.

"I was thinking...what am I thinking? You're not trying to embarrass me" he turns so red his hair stands out like strawberry leaves, but still he remains firm with his story.

"I want to help you because you said you regretted being unable to write. It's up to you" you speak frankly. The balls in his court. With a resolute shake of his head he responds.

"Yes I want to learn."

"Very good, which hand is your dominant?" You offer the notebook to him. He takes it, and you already regret the phrasing as you see a cheeky grin starting.

"Care to find out?" He hums tauntingly. Tongue darting out to lick at his teeth-baring grin. You watch, mesmerized, as his smile splits open and his teeth take hold of his bottom lip. His eyes skim you indecently.

Get ahold of yourself man, he's made jokes before.

"Another day," you choke, but it isn't convincing. He looks elated that he was finally cracking you. "You know what I meant, Lucio"

"Yeah…" his face goes serious again, eyes fixing on the quill held clumsily in his prosthetic hand. "My left…"

Oh.

You look from the quill all the way up his arm to where the prosthetic supposedly connects. Could that work? He'd had it for a long time, and it acted like a normal arm. Maybe he could pull it off?

"Alright" you say after a moment, you take a quill of your own and demonstrate the proper way to hold it. He copies well enough and your confidence grows higher.

"So you just scratch the paper?"

"No" you laugh slightly "the ink in the quill stains the paper in whatever shape you choose" carefully you lower the quill to the paper and write something in loopy script.

"Ooh pretty, what's it say?"

You blink for a moment.

He doesn't know what it says? In all the time that he's been trying to learn to read, of all the things he's picked up, this was unfamiliar? You shake your head in disbelief but try to take it in stride.

"Why don't you copy it and I'll tell you."

It takes many many tries and a lot of explanation on how to form each letter, but finally he produces something legible.

"That's gotta be it, it looks just like it!" He exclaims, eyes skimming over his page of failed attempts.

"Yep, this one's good. If I read it in a sentence I wouldn't look twice." You say warmly. He visibly puffs up at the praise, no doubt thinking himself the most gifted writing student ever.

"So?" He asks. You decide to feign ignorance for a moment longer.

"'so' what?" You ask innocently.

"What does it say?" He practically explodes in curiosity. The dogs react to their masters yelling by getting up and tromping around the bed. Bouncing the quills and ink bottles onto the carpet.

"Oh great, I'll get it–"

"Forget it just tell me!" He grabs you dramatically and shakes you. "It's eating me Birdy!"

"Ok ok calm down!" You placate. You suppose if you put it off any longer he'll start begging.

Carefully you tear the paper around where he copied the word, separating it from the rest and placing it gently in his hand.

"It says Lucio"

He gets very quiet at that. He stares at it for a solid ten minutes. Eyes wandering from one end of the word to the other. Looking at each loop and curl as his smile grew wider with each passing minute.

"I wrote my name," he says finally. "How did I not know how to read my name?!" He smacks himself.

"That's what I thought!" You laugh, and he laughs with you at the strangeness of it all.

"You're the best you know" he leans in close, fingers closing around the piece of paper.

"So I've been told…" you pretend to examine your fingernails as he snickers at your response.

"I'm serious Birdy, when I get better I'm going to make you the most spoiled lover in the city." his voice drops as his lips drip promises. You always thought his words were a trap, trying to make you stay. Now your heart beat faster and your limbs grew warm. He was saying it because he wanted to, and he said you were allowed to like being spoiled.

"The whole city?" You say tightly, and his eyes light up at the response.

"No Birdy, I'll make you the most spoiled lover in the whole world . I could make you my Viscount." He wraps his arms around you and before you even know what's happening he pulls you smoothly into his lap. "Whaddya say?"

He could very well make a recovery, you firmly believe he could, but something else made your face fall. He said Viscount…

He was the Count…

There was a Countess.

You don't know if it hadn't occurred to you  before, or if it was just relevant now that you'd begun finding him unbearably attractive. But there was no overlooking the fact.

"Lucio...you have a wife"

Lucio starts suddenly, as if he'd forgotten for a moment as well.

"So?" He smiles nervously. "It's not like Noddy and I are exclusive." You shake your head and rise from his lap, standing over him for a moment with one leg planted on either side of his.

"You have a wife Lucio, I am your doctor " you shake your head again slowly as he looks helplessly up at you. "There's no way you spin it where this will work."

You feel like a fool, you couldn't pursue this. There were so many things wrong, so many factors. Lucio doesn't respond, but he doesn't look upset either. He looks decided.

What was he planning?