A/N: 3/6
[Third Person Pov]
Once Luke was done with his meal, Calypso quietly took the plate from his hands and stepped away. A moment later she returned, this time carrying a small bowl filled with what looked like a pale green ointment, along with fresh strips of cloth.
"Come here, this should be much easier now that you're awake," Calypso said as she sat at the edge of Luke's bed. She leaned in slightly, reaching toward the bandages wrapped around his torso and neck.
"What are you doing?" Luke asked, his hand snapping up to grab her wrist before she could touch them, stopping her in place. His grip wasn't overly tight, but it was firm enough to make his hesitation clear.
Calypso let out a small sigh, her expression softening rather than reacting to his resistance. "I've been applying this to your wounds so they wouldn't get infected and so they heal properly without leaving much scarring," she explained, keeping her tone calm and even.
Luke studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly as he searched her face. Then his gaze shifted down to the bowl in her other hand, then to the bandages wrapped around him. After a brief pause, he released her wrist and leaned back just enough to allow her to continue.
"Where did you even find bandages?" he asked, his tone edged with suspicion. "Aren't we supposed to be on an island or something?"
"You'd be surprised by the amount of things that end up washed up on shore," she replied, a faint teasing note slipping into her voice as she began carefully unwrapping the bandages from his neck. "You, for example, being one of those things."
Luke scoffed quietly but didn't argue further. As the layers came off, his attention dropped to the exposed wounds that Thalia had left behind. His brows slowly furrowed, his expression hardening as he took them in. He was supposed to have a healing factor. Injuries like this should have already begun closing, if not fully healed by now.
But they hadn't.
Thalia's lightning had done more than just tear through him. It had burned deep enough to disrupt his ability to recover, leaving the wounds raw and stubbornly open in a way that didn't sit right with him.
"Brace yourself, this is going to sting," Calypso warned, dipping her fingers into the ointment before gently pressing it against one of the wounds.
Luke didn't react.
Not even a flinch.
Calypso paused for a second, her fingers still as she looked up at him, a slight crease forming between her brows. She watched him more closely this time, expecting at least some sign of discomfort, but his breathing remained steady and his expression unchanged.
"Can't you feel anything?" she asked, concern beginning to seep into her voice. "Are you actually in a worse condition than I thought?"
Luke exhaled through his nose, the sound quiet but deliberate. Seeing the worry on her face, he answered without much emotion, "I can feel it. I've just gone through worse. This is completely minor and manageable."
"I see…" she murmured, her voice dropping as she resumed applying the ointment, slower this time.
A few seconds passed in silence before Luke noticed something off. He shifted his gaze back up to her face and saw the faint shine in her eyes before the first tear slipped down her cheek.
He frowned immediately, confusion replacing the earlier tension in his expression. "Why the hell are you crying?"
Calypso didn't answer right away. She kept working, carefully spreading the ointment across the remaining wounds, though her movements had grown more delicate. After a short pause, she finally spoke.
"I can't imagine what you must have gone through for you to become so accustomed to pain," she said quietly. "No one should ever be used to the feeling of pain. Your life… it must have been difficult."
Luke clicked his tongue, clearly irritated as he turned his head away from her. "I don't need your pity."
"I'm not pitying you," Calypso replied, letting out a soft sigh as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to steady herself. "I'm giving you my sympathy. And if you can't tell the difference between the two, then I'm sorry."
Luke didn't respond to that. After a moment, he turned his head back toward her, his gaze settling on her again, quieter now but no less guarded.
The room fell quiet after that, the tension between them settling into something less sharp but harder to define. Calypso continued her work without speaking, her fingers moving carefully as she spread the ointment across the remaining wounds on his torso.
Luke stayed still, his earlier resistance gone, though his body remained tense out of habit more than anything else. His gaze drifted down, following the movement of her hands as she worked. The contrast wasn't lost on him, the gentleness in her touch compared to the violence that had caused the injuries in the first place.
Calypso's fingers slowed as she reached the center of his abdomen, hovering for just a moment over the firm lines of his muscles. She hadn't meant to pause, but she did, her hand lingering there as if she had suddenly become aware of how close she actually was.
Luke noticed.
His eyes shifted up to her face, catching the brief flicker of hesitation in her expression. For a second, neither of them moved. The usual edge in his gaze softened slightly, replaced by something quieter, more uncertain.
Calypso felt it too. The awareness, the stillness, the way the moment stretched longer than it should have. Her fingers remained where they were, no longer applying the ointment, just resting lightly against his skin.
They looked at each other.
Not with suspicion, not with irritation, just… looking.
Then it hit her all at once.
Calypso's eyes widened slightly before she quickly pulled her hand back, as if she had just realized what she was doing. A faint flush crept onto her cheeks as she turned her head away, breaking the moment abruptly.
Luke looked off to the side as well, his jaw tightening slightly as he exhaled. Whatever that was, it wasn't something he felt like dealing with.
A few seconds passed in an awkward silence before he spoke again, his tone returning to something more grounded.
"Just give me the bandages," Luke said, holding his hand out slightly. "I'll do it myself."
Calypso shook her head almost immediately, not even looking at him at first as she reached for the clean cloth. "No, I can do it."
Luke frowned, glancing back at her. "I'm not helpless."
"I never said you were," she replied, finally looking at him again, her expression steadier now even if there was still a hint of earlier embarrassment lingering in her eyes. "But you're injured, and I've been taking care of this until now. I can finish it."
He looked like he was about to argue, his brows drawing together slightly, but the words never came. Instead, he let out a quiet sigh and leaned back just enough to give her space again.
"Do whatever you want," he muttered.
Calypso didn't respond to that. She simply moved closer again, her movements more deliberate this time as she began wrapping the fresh bandages around his torso. Her fingers brushed against his skin occasionally as she worked, but there was no hesitation now, just quiet focus.
Luke kept his gaze averted, staring off to the side as she worked, though he was very aware of every movement she made. The earlier moment lingered in the back of his mind, unspoken and unresolved.
When she finished securing the bandages, she sat back slightly, checking her work to make sure it was properly in place. Only then did she pull her hands away completely.
"There," she said softly. "That should hold for now."
Luke gave a small nod but didn't say anything right away.
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