Comfort in the Uncomfortable

Mavis walked over to Lutesio who was slumped over his desk. It didn't take much to know that the elf had fallen asleep - Mavis had noticed as soon as he had stepped into the room.
Gently taking around Lu's shoulders, Mavis nuzzled him.
"Lutesio?", he softly murmured to see if Lu would wake, which he did not. No reaction came at all, in fact.
Hah, Lu had to be exhausted then.
Mavis let go of him to instead move into a position where he could carefully move Lu a bit out before lifting him out of his chair. Lu laid limp in his arms like a corpse, his head dangling and first coming to rest as Mavis moved it to lay against his chest.
He looked onto the desk, onto whatever Lu had been working on. The usual, neat pile of papers stood as tall as always with one that Lu had been looking over laying ready to be signed in the middle of the working space. Lu's usual pen laid beside it and slightly over the paper in a diagonal turn. Spots of ink stained the table, though luckily not the paper.
Had Lu fallen asleep right before signing it? He didn't dip the pen else. Well, that was for the better then, Lu would be in no headspace to sign anything right before falling asleep.
Mavis carefully carried Lu over to the large bed and tugged him neatly in. He made sure that Lu laid in a comfortable position and that the blanket was tugged over him properly before he sat down at the edge of the bed beside Lu.
Lingering his eyes at Lu's face, he moved one of his hands up to gently caress his cheek.
How utterly gorgeous Lu was. Utterly stubborn and stupid too, to not go to bed and instead pass out from exhaustion. Mavis supposed that was why he was here, to take care of Lu when he did such things.
His fingers trailed up and circled one of Lu's eyes, gazing at how the make-up laid when Lu's face rested. Trailing his fingers down and brushing his thimb over Lu's lips, he noticed how a light frown rested on them.
Ah, shit, he was likely disturbing Lu's rest, wasn't he?
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself", he murmured silently as if Lu would hear and leaned down to place a soft kiss onto Lu's forehead.
He'd like Lu to rest more. To care for his own needs more, not just his responsebilities.
He sat back up, rested his eyes on the elf for but a moment longer, before he got completely up from the bed and moved back to Lu's table.

Mavis took his time to tidy up the space, cleaning the stains, putting things back where they belonged, and admittingly reading the paper laying at the center.
He frowned softly as his eyes scanned it. It wasn't that the contents were unreasonable, in fact, it was well-written and quite fair but it was... Disturbing. It contained things that he didn't want to think about.
He picked it up and turned it around so that the contents would cease facing him, only to be greeted by different writing. In large, bold lettering stood a short message, one he was incapable of reading.
Lu was surely able, he could ask him, but did he really want to? There was something deeply unsettling about it.
Deciding that he'd rather face the original writing, he turned the page once more before taking another random page and putting it on top.

He didn't want Viel to see this. Surely he'd be distraught if he did. It was no longer in his hands either, he didn't need to know.

With a final glance at the now tidy workspace did Mavis turn back to look at Lu, finding himself surprised as Lu was looking back with barely open eyes.
"It's a good deal", the elf groggily mumbled.
"...", Mavis wasn't sure if he agreed morally, but else it was, surely. He moved over, sat down beside Lu, and gently took his hand in his.
"It will help us a great deal", Lu continued and closed his eyes again.
"Is this from the wahrwahn?¹", Mavis asked slowly and began caressing the hand in his.
Lu didn't answer and instead began to ever so slowly return the gesture. The gentle feeling of Lu's soft fingers brushing over his brought him a slight sense of solace.
Nothing was fine right now. He wasn't going to lie to himself about it. But sitting here, having Lu return even a slight gesture of affection, calmed his nerves.

They had gotten through worse. They'd get through this as well.

"Ektava ko kes², Lutesio", Mavis murmured, letting the other topic be. It wasn't important.
Lu opened his eyes ever so slightly, laid them onto him, and observed him for a bit. The hand in his removed itself to instead seek up towards Mavis' face, laying onto his cheek and gently caressing his face.
"... Sa'ev mi amore³, Mavis", he answered. "Miva, mi amore, fa mi avalian⁴"
Mavis paused, opened his mouth slightly, and ultimately closed it again. He instead frowned and laid his hand over the one Lu had at his face. He squeezed it, keeping it pressed against his skin, and shook his head.
"... Sa'ev mi amore", Lu instead repeated as he closed his eyes once more. It didn't take long, before his hand went limp as he fell back into sleep.
Mavis kept holding Lu's hand, kept it pressed to his face.
"You're not- you're wonderful, Lu, you're not incompetent", he mumbled and moved Lu's hand up to kiss its knuckles. If there was one thing that Lu wasn't, it was incompetent. Lu was many things; gruesome, cruel, an asshole - but he was never incomepent.
He didn't like hearing Lu call himself as much.
"I love you, ektava ko kes, Lutesio", he lingered Lu's hand at his lips for a while more before finally laying it down at Lu's side, underneath the blanket. He stood up, lingered his eyes at Lu, then left the room.

They would... Get through this.

It would be fine.

It had to be.