CYOA – Life And Death Situations (Patreon)

Chapter 4 – warnings: none

Rather than following the scientists, we waited a few days to see the meeting between Jesse and Lúcio...

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Lúcio is smiling brightly at him when he finally catches Jesse’s eye at the little table next to the bar. He does not quite fit into the atmosphere here, but he sure is a welcome sight anyway.

The surroundings of the place are a bit murky and dubious, though not downright sinister and filthy as some other establishments. Still, when Lúcio walks past some old patrons, they do turn their heads to glance after him and check him out.

He looks a good five years younger than his actual age, and by the time he is sitting with Jesse he has already pulled out his ID to show together with ordering a drink.

He’s a good sport about it. Jesse always feels a lot better hanging around him; even now when his life has taken a definite turn for the… weird.

“Hey there, buddy. So good to see you again.” He feels himself relax when Lúcio sits down next to him, his limbs unfolding from what he hadn’t even realized was a tight, nervous clench.

Beneath the sleeve of his leather jacket he can vaguely feel his left forearm pulsing.

It’s been almost five days now and the wound hasn’t shown any sign of starting to heal. Quite the… contrary.

Today he’s found the starting of black creeping up at the edges, as if the weird oily substance that had sunk into his skin had just been biding its time and is now coming back to haunt him and remind him that nothing of it has been a dream.

“You look good,” Jesse tells him when Lúcio has settled down and his order is on the way. Lúcio smiles at him, and beneath the table, his booted feet are gently nudging Jesse’s calves.

“You look good, too, cowboy,” he says with a grin that shows off his dimples. Jesse has to laugh despite himself, hiding behind his glass of beer as he takes a sip. “You haven’t exchanged me for any new playmates, have you?”

He likes the gentle flirtation coming from Lúcio – and he likes responding in kind. After all, their friendship has started with the two of them fucking.

He waves him off with a rough bark of a laugh.

“Don’t even start… The last few dates were so damn bad. I can’t remember the last time I got my dick wet.”

He groans exaggerated and Lúcio makes a soft sound of commiseration, reaching out and patting his shoulder.

“There, there. You’ll get it sooner or later. Don’t you worry.” Lúcio’s smile fades a bit as he watches Jesse intently. “But… there’s something else, isn’t there?”

Jesse looks away to the side and lifts a hand, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Jeez. That obvious?”

Lúcio just shrugs, his dark eyes keeping a tight watch on Jesse. 

“I’ve never seen you look like this before. Like… I feel like you’re getting wrinkles there or something? You just look… worried.”

Jesse’s eyes flick to the waiter who is putting Lúcio’s order in front of him before leaving the two of them in an awkward silence in the general rumbling of the pub.

Jesse sighs deeply and puts his chin on the palm of his hand. He is nervously tapping his foot against the floor, looking for something to deflect the attention from himself so he won’t have to think about the dull ache of his arm.

“But you got your own worries, don’t you?”

Lúcio shrugs. He is quiet for a while. They are watching each other, slowly taking sips from their drinks. It is an awkward situation – they’ve never had any problems striking up conversations, but this time the usual natural flow simply does not want to happen.

Whatever is weighing down Lúcio, he wants to talk about it enough to have started all of this. Even if he might not have admitted that to himself yet.

“I just have a… roommate, you could say,” Lúcio says suddenly with an air as if he just has to say it now and get it out. “And he’s worrying me.”

Jesse feels alarmed as he leans in, one hand on Lúcio’s forearm, squeezing gently.

“I can come and get him out of you want. Intimidate him a bit. I’m sure Reinhardt’d help.”

Lúcio looks at him in surprise, then smiles slowly, albeit sadly.

“That’s not what I meant, but… thank you. No… I don’t want him out. It was me that took him in in the first place. He… kind of didn’t have a choice about it.”

Jesse is frowning now, and Lúcio, seeing his confusion, shakes his head and rubs one hand across his face.

“Listen, it… it’s a really long story, alright? The thing is that… the important thing is that I think I…” His dark eyes slide away from Jesse and he knows what he’s about to say even before Lúcio is finally making himself say it out loud. “I think I’ve fallen in love with him. And… I don’t think that’s a good thing. It’s more like… A doctor-patient kind of relationship?”

Jesse shakes his head slowly.

“I’ll be honest, buddy. I don’t understand a damn word you’re saying. Or trying to say.”

Lúcio nods slowly. He is smiling, but it looks brittle, and the corners of his mouth are trembling as if he is about to start bawling any second now.

Alarmed at the prospect, Jesse hastily shoves Lúcio’s glass into his fist, and the kid snorts and obediently takes a drink. When he sets it down again, a good quarter of the liquor is gone and he seems a lot less prone to breaking out into tears in the middle of the pub.

Jesse breathes out a sigh of relief. He’s… exceptionally bad with tears.

“Thanks,” Lúcio murmurs and leans back with a deep sigh, eyes closed and seemingly just gathering himself.

“It’s just pretty overwhelming, I guess. The whole situation is a bit fucked up, but my… friend… it’s not his fault. I don’t know what I wanted you to do by telling you this. Maybe I just needed to say it to make it real or something? I dunno.”

Jesse slowly rolls his bottle of beer between two palms, thinking about Lúcio’s words.

“I can’t tell you much, buddy. I feel like I don’t know even half of the situation, but… I know you wouldn’t hurt anybody. Just… take it slow, I guess? You got all the time in the world.”

Lúcio nods along slowly, his eyes looking like he’s gathering some kind of determination; as if Jesse actually helped him and hasn’t just been spouting empty bullshit.

“Yeah… You’re right. Thanks.”

“Uh… you’re welcome.”

He should feel better, but he kind of… doesn’t. His hand keeps trying to wander to his left forearm to clasp it, and the more he refuses to do it, the more he feels like the scratches are starting to… itch.

Lúcio also keeps watching him with a shrewd kind of expression that makes Jesse feel exposed.

He chews on his tongue and finally leans over. Lúcio follows suit immediately, like he’s been waiting for this the entire five days leading up to their meeting.

“Can I show you something?” Jesse says slowly, eyes flicking around to stare at their surroundings. Nobody gives a shit about them but it still feels… not right to do it here.

“In the restrooms?”

“No… outside. I want… Not in here.”

Lúcio nods slowly. He looks worried again, and his voice is pitched in a way that is designed to calm down a scared animal as he assures Jesse that they can go outside.

The vague anxiety of the situation suddenly crystallizes into something… stressful. They’re quiet, not talking any longer as Lúcio flags down the waiter and pays for both their drinks before they make their hasty retreat.

They haven’t been sitting there for more than half an hour, and Jesse vaguely wonders if they think they just met to hook up.

Lúcio looks at him askance, and Jesse, after looking around briefly, pulls him into the alley next to the pub. 

“You’re… kinda starting to scare me, not gonna lie,” Lúcio says with a nervous laugh in his voice. As he talks, Jesse rips off his jacket and thrusts his forearm towards Lúcio.

The light coming from the mouth of the alley is enough to illuminate the scene. Lúcio breathes out explosively. He reaches for Jesse’s arm, and he almost snatches it away. He grits his teeth, forcing himself to stay put.

Lúcio very gently takes his forearm and leans in to look at the gashes and the black edges of them.

“What happened?” He asks softly. He looks like he wants to touch the wounds but doesn’t.

Jesse swallows hard, gathering himself, then starting to tell Lúcio of his encounter with the… creature.

His tail is disjointed; he can’t find the right words most of the time which is frustrating because he feels like Lúcio just won’t understand otherwise, but Lúcio is quiet and very interested.

When Jesse has come to a stop, breathing deep and agitated, Lúcio looks down at the wound once more. He hasn’t let go off Jesse’s forearm.

“That’s… pretty big, Jesse,” he says finally. “Those creatures, these… people – are… super rare.”

Jesse swallows down his first reaction of a derisive bark of a laugh. Instead he squints down at Lúcio.

“So you’ve… heard of them before?”

Lúcio is nodding slowly, not taking his eyes off of Jesse’s forearm.

“Yes. We… had some at the lab. We were studying them.”

Jesse’s nostrils flare as he heaves a quiet sigh of relief.

“So you know what this is?” he says softly, gesturing with his free arm to the wound. His hope is instantly dashed when Lúcio shakes his head.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. And you say the black had been gone?”

“Yeah… until earlier today…”

“Hmm… It does not smell rotten… or looks like it, really…”

Jesse can feel his knees go a bit weak at that and he has to slump back against the rough bricks of the wall while Lúcio is thoughtfully prodding at the wound.

“Does that hurt?”

“No…”

“Have you been to a doctor yet?”

“No.”

“Good… then… I’ll see when I’ll be alone in the lab. Do you think you could come in so I could do some tests? I don’t think this is toxic…”

Jesse is dragging a hand across his face. He does not know if he feels lighter now that there is someone who knows and actually believes him. He’d half thought he’d end the night in a psychiatric ward, but Lúcio does not look perturbed at all.

“Yeah… sure. Why not.”

Lúcio smiles and looks up, grin dimming a bit when he sees Jesse’s expression.

“Hey… don’t worry about it, okay? We’ll figure this out! Don’t you think this is exciting? You’ve been in contact with a different lifeform!”

Jesse nods slowly but he can’t bring himself to be super enthusiastic. He can’t stop thinking about the cool, calculating gaze in the murderous eyes of the man.

“You’ll tell me if you see him again, won’t you?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

“Great!”

.o.

“So? What was the problem?”

“I dunno… everything seems to be intact. There’s not even a single scratch on his chassis. I can only try to reinforce the signal that he won’t try to go out of range again…”

Louis is nursing a vicious slash to his arm still. It has been a good five days but it hasn’t even begun to heal yet.

“This fucking animal… give your robot some weapons, won’t you? I’m not gonna try this again unarmed… fucking shit.”