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Lucius didn’t take his role as the Revenge’s social glue lightly, so when Izzy returned to the ship after a raid and slipped below decks, not even stopping to claim anything, well, Lucius immediately decided to follow him.
The door to Izzy’s room was already shut, so he raised his hand to knock before pausing, first clenched in midair. Did he really want to start a talk with Izzy of all people? Before he’d even finished the thought, he knocked anyway.
“Go away,” Izzy grumbled.
“I just wanted to check and see if you wanted anything from the raid! You disappeared so quickly.”
“Fuck off, Spriggs.”
“Okay, I’m coming in!” Lucius said, brightly. It wasn’t like he was going to get an invitation. He gave Izzy a second, relishing the muffled cursing that came through the door, and then threw open the door. He gave a cheerful, “Hello!” before he glanced around the room and his eyes caught up with his mouth.
Izzy was sitting on his cot, shirtless, hand pressed to a piece of cloth over his stomach, and he did not… look great. His skin looked pallid and flat, a thin sheen of sweat across his brow.
“Are you… alright?”
“I’m fine,” Izzy growled. “Can you just get out?”
Lucius glanced down at the hand on Izzy’s stomach. “Are you injured?”
“Wow, so even the whimsical Spriggs can notice things!” Izzy says, rolling his eyes. “I thought you were too busy playing make believe to notice anything.”
Well. Izzy would have to try a bit harder than that if he wanted to get under Lucius’s skin. “I really am whimsical, aren’t I?” Lucius said, giving Izzy a mocking bow. “But also, don’t be a dick. I just wanted to check that you were alright.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re clearly not. Let me help.”
“Fuck off.”
“Izzy.”
They sat in a silent battle of the wills, Lucius waiting for the crack in Izzy’s face when he realized Lucius had no intention to leave. He was pretty sure Izzy was trying the same game, but Lucius was pretty confident that he could win this one.
And then.
“It’s really not that bad,” Izzy sighed. “They barely even got me, someone just caught me across the stomach when I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Let me see,” Lucius said.
“Oh yeah, like the scribe is better at triaging a wound than I am.”
“Let me see,” Lucius repeated.
“Fine,” Izzy spat, pulling away the cloth that he had pressed over his stomach.
Oh, that was. A lot of blood. No wonder Izzy looked pale. Lucius stepped closer to the cot and dropped to the floor to take a closer look. Izzy was right, it didn’t look particularly deep, a shallow gash that stretched from the left side of his ribs down to a spot above his right hip. It was a long gash, though, one that required pressure to prevent too much blood loss, but not one that was likely to cause anything deadly as long as it was kept clean and covered. Speaking of…
“Have you cleaned it yet?”
“Does it look like I cleaned it yet?” Izzy spat.
“Okay,” Lucius said, “let me help.” He glanced around the room, looking for some alcohol he could use as disinfectant.
“I don’t need your help.”
“Maybe not,” Lucius said, “but you deserve it. You deserve to be taken care of.”
Lucius didn’t notice the heavy silence that had fallen over the room at his words, not until he grabbed a bottle of alcohol from Izzy’s desk, and turned around to see Izzy, nearly frozen where he sat on the cot. He was working his lips, clearly searching for something to say.
And well, Lucius was many things, but he was not impatient -- He could wait.
As the silence lengthened, Izzy eventually spoke. “What do you mean I deserve it?”
Lucius raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Why would I deserve your help?”
“You’re part of this crew, aren’t you?”
“I’m part of Blackbeard’s crew.”
“We both know that there hasn’t been a difference between the crews in a while.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“So what… you snuck down here, so you could lick your injuries like some kind of cat, and then hide your injuries from the crew? Why?”
“Injuries are a weakness, Spriggs,” said Izzy, and wow, that was more honest of an answer than Lucius was expecting. And from the look on Izzy’s face, it was more honest of an answer than he had planned to give. “Don’t tell the crew about this.”
Lucius nodded. “I won’t,” he stepped closer to Izzy, taking the cloth that he still had clenched in his fist. He knelt down next to him, so that he could start wiping away the blood. He also poured a generous amount of alcohol over the wound -- It had to burn, but Izzy barely reacted, sitting frozen under his touch.
“You know,” Lucius said, “if you told the rest of the crew, they wouldn’t like… use your injury against you or anything. They’d just be concerned for you.”
“The fuck they would. The crew hates me.”
“No, we don’t!” Lucius paused as Izzy gave him a disbelieving look. “Okay, maybe we hate you a little,” he amended. “But we don’t hate, hate you. We haven’t tried to kill you recently, have we? Not since Stede has been back!”
That actually got a small chuckle out of Izzy. Lucius marveled at the sound of it -- He didn’t think he’d ever heard Izzy laugh in a way that wasn’t bitter.
“Okay, Spriggs, I’ll give you that one.”
Izzy’s face was more open than Lucius had ever seen it, and he would swear Izzy was leaning into his touch as he cleaned his wound. Maybe the burn of alcohol wasn’t so bad after all? Or maybe that was just the point.
“How did you even get hurt anyway?” Lucius asked. “You’re the best sword fighter of all of us.”
“It’s this stupid toe,” Izzy said, voice softer than Lucius had expected. “Still off-balance since it happened. And the sudden pain there, it’s almost like the pain of losing it all again.”
“I get that,” Lucius said. “My finger still hurts like that sometimes.”
Izzy looked surprised by that admission, but then he hummed in acknowledgment, waiting for Lucius to finish cleaning his wound. Lucius was almost sorry to pull away the cloth.
“Okay,” Lucius said. “Bandage next.”
This process was quicker -- Lucius just needed to wind the cloth tight around Izzy’s midsection, and then tie it tight. Izzy could’ve done it himself, of course, but it was easier with Lucius’s help. It was still pretty difficult for Lucius to understand why Izzy was so intent on refusing to ask for help -- Sure, Izzy had said he didn’t want anyone to be aware of a weakness, but not even Fang? Not even Ivan? He was pretty sure Izzy would trust Ed with knowledge of his injury, but then, Izzy probably considered that request an imposition. How does someone make it so long on a crew where they refused to rely on anyone? Lucius supposed that was a question for another day.
When the bandage was secured, Lucius gave another glance to Izzy’s face. His expression was still surprisingly open, and well, maybe it was worth seeing if that tenderness could extend past injury. So Lucius decided to risk it.
He reached a careful hand across to Izzy’s, settling his fingers against the bones of Izzy’s wrist. For a moment, Izzy stiffened, but then he exhaled and relaxed into the touch. Lucius rubbed his thumb in gentle circles over Izzy’s inner wrist.
“Listen,” Lucius said. “If you want, I could… stay for a bit.”
There was a moment where Izzy seemed to consider it. Like this was a thing that he wanted to pursue. And looking at Izzy’s face, well… Lucius was intrigued that he could inspire this response in Izzy just through gentle touches. Touches to his hands, no less. He wondered what other touches would be like. He wanted to pull Izzy toward him, to let Izzy rest his head on his chest. He wanted to run his fingers through his hair and to kiss the hollow of his throat.
But before Izzy could answer, a call echoed through the ship. “Izzy, I need your help with this!” Blackbeard called.
Izzy’s expression changed immediately, locking into place. He pulled on his shirt in a way that Lucius thought had to pull at his stomach, and within seconds, he was at the door. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” he said, glancing back at Lucius with hardened eyes. But then, for a moment, his expression changed. “But thank you.”
Before Lucius could decide what to answer, Izzy had spun around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.