lucio thing idk (the arcana sickfic)

[Sitruuna]

I hope my phone doesn't ruin the formatting (I'll check that once I get on my computer!) of this but uhh I wrote a thing. This is set in a hypothetical world state where Lucio has fixed his shit and is living with the MC outside the Palace. Features  a lot of alcohol, drunk Lucio and some supressed feelings of anxiety or something along those lines. 

 

~

 

 

Lucio isn’t home when you return. It’s not odd and you didn’t exactly expect to find him there either but somewhere on the back of your mind you had hoped the word of your return would have carried all the way to him. You have been gone only for a week but Lucio does have a habit of welcoming you back in a fashion that makes it seem like every cell of his body had been yearning for you from the moment you set foot outside the city…

 

You drop your bag by the door and go get yourself some water. The place is less of a mess than you would have expected it to be, and you don’t even need to do the dishes just to have something clean to have a drink from. The pitcher you keep drinking water in is empty, though. You leave it be and go change your travel worn clothes and wash yourself in the bathroom. It’s refreshing to be dressed in clean clothes after a week on the road, and the weariness of travel starts to really set in. You consider working a bit on the house but you figure you have enough time to go lie down on the bed and rest for a bit before you tackle the tasks Lucio has clearly neglected to do.

 

The sun is starting to set by the time you wake up. You don’t remember having fallen asleep nor had you planned to take a nap. You still feel a little groggy as you get up and you can definitely feel the week on the road weigh down on you, but the nap did do some good. It doesn’t take you long to notice Lucio still hasn’t returned. That and the acute lack of drinking water in the house makes you put on your shoes, grab your jacket and make your way to the nearby tavern. Even after all that happened, Lucio remains his party-loving self and the people at the tavern don’t seem to mind that. Even if you don’t find him there, you might find someone who knows where he’s gone.

 

The tavern is surprisingly quiet when you enter. You can immediately tell Lucio isn’t there, but you also fail to spot some of the other frequent visitors.

 

“Where is he?” you ask from the bartender as you get a beer (you don’t trust their water as much as you trust their beer) and glance around you again. The bartender lets out a small laugh in response.

 

“You haven’t heard?” he asks. You shake your head as he hands you the beer.

 

“There’s a party at the palace. Rumour says Lucio’s behind that.”

 

Huh. That sounds like something Lucio would attempt to do with both Nadia and you out of the city, but you would have expected the palace staff to have more sense than to go along with his plans. Clearly not. You drink the beer slowly as you chat with the barkeep and other familiar faces. If Lucio is partying at the palace, a few minutes here or there won’t make a difference.

 

You can see scattered evidence of an ongoing party the moment you arrive at the palace gates. You are let in without a word, and as you walk past the mess Lucio and his guests have left outside the actual building (including some obviously drunk people passed out here and there) you get the feeling the party hasn’t just started… It doesn’t look any better inside but at least you don’t need to wonder where the party’s at. All you need to do is follow the stream of drunken people and party debris and, as you get closer to the heart of it all, the loud chattering and music. The party is still going hard, it seems, despite the state in which most of the guests you see are.

 

The door is open when you reach one of the smaller rooms the party is currently at. No one seems to notice your arrival and you stay by the door to take in the scene in front of you. There are some people dancing in the middle of the room and others chatting closer to the edges of it. A few of the more intoxicated guests seem to have passed out near the walls, or are slumped on whatever chairs are in the room. Lucio is among them, reclined on the fanciest seat present and clearly doing his best to stay conscious. He isn’t doing a very good job at that until something makes him stir and he suddenly snaps to his side with a drunken, haphazard sneeze. He sits up a little straighter and sneezes again, this time into his golden hand.

 

He’s trying to blink his drunken gaze into focus as you circle around the guests and furniture to get to him. He doesn’t notice you until you shout a greeting over the noise in the room but the moment your voice registers into his consciousness, he’s up on his feet and surprisingly steady.

 

“You are back!” he shouts, voice rough from partying for what you can tell. He looks increasingly shaky on his feet with every passing moment and he’s clearly having a hard time focusing his eyes on yours, but he’s trying. He looks like he’s been partying for days with his glassy eyes, messy hair and flushed face. Something about him seems off and you can’t tell if it’s all just due to the partying or if there’s something else weighing down on him.

 

“How long has this party been going on..?” you ask. He grabs you by your arms and his lips pull into a wide smile.

 

“Who cares, it’s a party! Parties are fun. We are having fun!” he says with drunken cheer, but something about his tone, or maybe his expression, seems off even before he pulls you into a very Lucio-like embrace and a hungry kiss. His lips are hot against yours and his body envelopes you with feverish heat. He has some trouble breathing through his nose thanks to apparent congestion.

 

“You are hot.” The words spill out of your mouth the moment he pulls away from the kiss, and you can tell from the grin on his face you should have chosen a different expression.

 

“And you only notice now?!” he exclaims in mock surprise. “My dashing looks should be known through the world by now.”

 

He strikes a pose and almost loses his balance. You grab him by his non-prosthetic arm and pull him against your side, holding him there to keep him steady.

 

“Sure they are, but that is not what I meant”, you say and lock your eyes with his, giving him a stern look. His smile doesn’t falter but you can clearly see the poorly masked discomfort under his cheeriness. “I’m pretty sure you are running a fever.”

 

For a second he looks almost hurt, maybe even scared. He blinks his eyes slowly a couple of times before recovering from your shocking words. Even though his expression goes back to normal, the chuckle he lets out is oddly nervous.

 

“What? No! No, I just… I’m bh--bursting wh--with p-hh...” Lucio’s voice trails off with hitchy breaths. His nose has ironic timing. You watch as he struggles with the itch, clearly unsure whether or not he wants to will the impending sneeze away or to bring it out and be done with it. His drunken or otherwise intoxicated sneezes tend to be like this when they don’t hit him with no warning at all. You wait patiently for the situation to resolve itself and finally he snaps forward with a small fit of sneezes. He manages to cover maybe half of them. He sniffles deeply and pinch-wipes his nose before lowering his hand. He looks irritated, presumably with his own lack of control and grace.

 

“...bursting with party spirit”, he finishes his sentence in a subdued voice.

 

“Clearly you are”, you say as you turn him toward the door and start guiding him out of the room.

 

“I think this party’s gone on for long enough.”

 

Surprisingly, he doesn’t put up a fight. You consider your options as you walk down the hallway; the idea of getting a nearly too-drunk-to-stand Lucio through the city and to your shared house sounds like more trouble than you have energy for, but you also have a feeling Lucio threw the party for his own distraction. You aren’t sure if waking up sick in the palace would bring up too many bad memories for him. In the end you stop the first member of the palace staff you see to ask if there’s a room the two of you could use for the night. In the current circumstances you doubt permission to stay is a problem, but you aren’t sure if the guests have had access to the bedrooms or if they, or Lucio himself, have left them in a useable condition.

 

You are in luck. Not much later the same servant returns to tell you a room is ready for the two of you. They look nervous as they guide you to the guest bedrooms, stealing glances at Lucio as they walk and as they dig out their keys to unlock the door to what is to be your room. Lucio hasn’t said a thing since you left the party and he’s avoided looking at any people you pass by. He’s party mood is clearly gone, replaced by both drunken and sick weariness. You consider elbowing him on his side to get him to thank the kind servant but decide against it, thanking them yourself instead. You guide Lucio inside and close the door behind you.

 

Lucio has started undressing on his own. His trousers lie on the floor next to him but his shirt buttons seem to give him a little too much trouble. You walk up to him and push his hands aside to unbutton enough buttons for him to be able to pull the shirt off. He looks at you dazedly, swaying on his feet enough to make your job more difficult. Once you are done with the buttons he raises his arms instead of grabbing the shirt, and looks at you with what you assume is an attempt at a seductive smile. With his eyes puffy from the alcohol and presumably lack of sleep, lips parted for easier breathing and a general look of intoxication, the end result is not very seductive. Regardless you humour him with a smile of your own as you pull the shirt over his head and push him toward the bed. He’s still looking at you with the same expression but a sudden coughing fit makes him grow more serious. The fit itself isn’t bad but the cough sounds wet and uncomfortable. This isn’t the first time you see him sick after all that went down and you know how badly he tends to take it.

 

“How are you holding up?” you ask after a while of silence. Lucio’s sitting on the bed with his elbows propped on his legs and face buried in his hands. He presses his fingers against his eyes for a moment before giving them a rub.

 

“Drunk”, he says without looking up.

 

Lucio flops down on the bed and you move to sit next to him. His voice sounds different in the quiet room, the roughness more obvious and congestion more pronounced. You watch him in silence as he lies there, his chest moving along with his drunkenly heavy breaths. His brows are furrowed under his non-prosthetic arm which covers most of his forehead and eyes, and from this angle you can see how he definitely needs a handkerchief... You should also get him to drink some water, his partying rarely involves any non-alcoholic liquids.

 

There’s a pitcher full of water and two glasses on the nightstand and a stack of handkerchiefs on another table. Either someone has known to prepare the room for your current needs or the staff has taken to stocking the guest rooms with a large supply of handkerchiefs. Regardless of that, you thank the servant from before in your mind as you move the stack next to the bed and pour a glass of water for Lucio. He seems to have dozed off on the bed and you shake him awake to hand him the drink and a handkerchief. He startles back to consciousness, eyes darting from one thing to another before he catches up with what’s happening. You help him sit up and make sure he doesn’t spill any water.

 

“We’ll have a talk about all this tomorrow”, you tell him when he hands the glass back. He makes a face of displeasure but doesn’t try to argue. “You need to sober up first.”

 

He snorts with laughter, then hastily wipes his nose with the handkerchief.

 

“You think I’m going to be sober tomorrow?” he chuckles and leans closer to plant a kiss on your cheek before ducking away to cough. It’s another small fit but this time it doesn’t lower his spirits.

 

“I’m far from being sober tomorrow.”

 

“Sure you are”, you say and push him back to a lying position. He obediently lets you pull the covers over him. He’s drunk and exhausted enough to pass out almost immediately but you sit beside him just in case for while longer before leaving to room to see if you can do something about the still ongoing party...