Chapter 49: Boyfriend

Author's note: Surprise second chapter for you guys today. This is one of the meatier chapters - roughly 3000 words. And it was a lot of fun.

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“It’s time to wake up, Arthur.”

Arthur didn’t have to be told twice. As deep as his sleep had been, the moment it was disturbed, his slumber state popped like a soap bubble hitting an apprentice librarian’s back. He threw off the covers and immediately sat up, ready to go.

“Oh, no. Not like that,” Milo said. “Stop with that hurrying. Doctors orders. Literally. And mom’s.”

“There must be something I can do besides sit around.”

“There is. Come downstairs. Mom made breakfast. It’s pockets.”

Arthur had no idea why Milo said the name like that, but the sheer culinary greed in his eyes was making promises Arthur wasn’t confident any food could actually keep.

“I don’t even know if I can eat.”

“Neither does she. That’s why she made pockets in the first place. This is a problem that takes care of itself now. Trust me. She said to hit the showers first, though. And to be fair, you are pretty ripe.”

“At least I don’t smell like coal and tortured metal.”

“The smith’s musk, we call it. Drives the girls wild.” Milo waved back over his shoulder as he left. “See you down there. And hurry. Mom won’t let me eat until you’re there.”

Arthur posted up in the shower, letting the magically heated water wash over him for a minute or so, trying to let the tension in his shoulders and neck melt away. It only kind of worked. He felt better, but not much. Soaping up and rinsing off, he threw on a clean set of clothes and went downstairs.

“Pockets!” Milo yelled. “He’s here. You have to give them up, mom.”

“I already have mine,” Lily said, sitting in a corner of the kitchen chewing on something bready.

“Don’t taunt the boy, Lily. You only got yours because you’re cute.”

“I’m cute!” Milo yelled. “I’m plenty cute. Now feed me.”

“Fine.” Ella plated up a few of the pockets, which looked a lot like good-sized fried calzones. “Here you go.”

“What’s in these?” Arthur asked.

“Everything,” Lily said. “Everything good that has ever been are in these.”

“She’s not wrong.” Milo’s mouth was already full, and he was talking through a mess of eggs, bread, and other stuff Arthur couldn’t identify on the fly. “Meat. Cheese. Eggs. Syrup. Spices. Other stuff. Pockets are… the universe.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Just take a bite first and say that same thing again. I dare you.”

Arthur felt oddly sick sitting in a happy kitchen with people he loved while Mizu wasn’t doing well. But in an odd way, he didn’t have a choice. Everyone who knew better than him had told him to rest. To eat. To relax if he could. That this was the best chance he had to make a difference. So as backward as it may have felt, he lifted the pocket up and took a bite.

It was like tasting the birth of a galaxy.

“Well?”

“Shut up, Milo. I’m eating.”

“That’s what I thought.”

If Ella wanted to trick Arthur into eating 5,000 calories of bread, protein and sugar, she had picked the right deception. By the time she ran out of dough, he was bloated. Guilty, yes, but also swollen up with food like a horse that got into the oats.

“So now what? I can’t just sit around here all day. I’ll go crazy.”

“No, Arthur, you can’t. Milo, would you please show him what you’ve been working on with the others? Your project?”

“Sure. You good, Arthur?”

“Yeah.” Arthur just about rolled out of his chair and headed to the back, towards Milo’s shop.

“No, not there. It’s somewhere else.”

“I helped! I did the hard parts!” Lily chimed.

“She did, too. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Milo led him through a labyrinthine route of streets, side streets, alleys, and even a person’s back yard. It took so long about it that Arthur had begun to think they were trying to walk him around in circles when they finally made it to a nondescript backdoor behind a row of shops.

“Ready?”

“I doubt it. Am I going to get ambushed in there?”

“No promises.”

“Just go!” Lily screeched. “I’ve been waiting forever!”

Arthur frown-smiled and reached for the door, entirely unsure of what he’d find inside. Just as the door swung open entirely, Milo used his superior strength to thrust Arthur through it, sending him off-balance that took several stumbling steps to correct. By the time he did, he was deep in the shop. And once he managed to raise his head and look around, his jaw dropped.

“You did this?” Arthur looked wildly around the space, trying to take it in. “All this?”

“I can’t believe that worked. You didn’t recognize your own shop, Arthur?”

“I told you it would,” Lily said. “He never went out the back door.”

There were tables, chairs, and even little lamps set in the center of each table, casting gentle light on their own individual areas. The floors had been cleaned, sanded, and repolished to a dull matte shine. The countertop had been… something? It was different, at least.

“Is that paint?”

“It’s like paint. They call it rockwash. It’s something bricklayers and masons can do.”

Arthur ducked behind the counter and took a look. It was like a bar. All of his smaller equipment was set up behind a little concealing wall, just like he had envisioned but never told anyone. His larger brewing equipment was nestled under the counter itself, where shelves had been cut out to accommodate the bigger equipment.

Even better, everything was where he would have put it himself. Every lesson from the efficiency expert metal-elemental assistants was in play here, putting everything he’d need exactly where he could reach at any given moment in his process.

“Who did this? You?” Arthur bent down to Lily.

“Yes!” She smiled excitedly, before a hint of doubt bled into her expression. “Did I do it… good?”

“It’s perfect. You paid attention to how it was set up during the wave, right?”

“Yeah. I did all the parts you said you liked.”

He mussed the feathers on the top of her head. He couldn’t help it. For once, she didn’t squawk about it.

“You did great. This is perfect. Milo, this must have cost a fortune. Who…”

“Nobody. Well, everyone, kind of. The city paid for it. You remember that allowance for materials you used once and then forgot about? It’s been piling up. Ella told Pico to give it to the entire class to use, and we voted on how.”

“Oh, you found him?” Rhodia said, pushing through the door with a huge crate. “Well, help me with these. There’s a bunch of them.”

“What’s that?”

“Less talking, Arthur. More crate-moving. I haven’t got all day,” Rhodia said.

Milo laughed. “You do have all day now, you know. He’s your only customer and his order is filled.”

After Milo was shushed, the three of them made quick work of the crates, and Rhodia moved to the nearest one and cracked it open to reveal the straw packing.

“Now, this is just a first try, you understand? These are the first glasses I wouldn’t be embarrassed to show people.” She cleared some hay from the top of the crate, then slowly and gingerly lifted out one of the glasses.

“Oh, Rhodia. Those are perfect. I actually love them.”

The glasses were about the capacity of the ceramic cups from before, but sacrificed width for height to make an overall taller glass. The material itself was far from perfect and uniform, with little waves and distortions here and there. The glass itself had bubbles throughout it, which might have been intentional, for all Arthur knew about glassblowing. But whatever the flaws, they were perfect in their imperfection, each a little tiny bit different from the last.

“We couldn’t get the mural done in time. That should happen tomorrow.”

“The mural?”

“Milo’s idea,” Rhodia said. “Don’t ruin it for Arthur. It’ll be better as a surprise when he sees the complete version of it.”

For the next few hours, Arthur was truly distracted. They organized glasses on the shelves on the wall behind the counter, running out of space well before they ran out of vessels. The rest were stowed behind the counter, ready for big rushes or as to-go cups. Then, as a team, they went and started moving Arthur’s equipment from the house to the store. That took longer, especially when it came time to move the mechanical boba press and the latest, most improved version of Milo’s juicers. The former moved to the workshop area below the shop, and the latter was mounted to the wall, ready to pull the essence and pulp out of as many different fruit varieties as Arthur could imagine.

And all of a sudden, it was a shop. And it was also time to go.

“That’s a long enough of a distraction,” the doctor said, walking into the shop. “Arthur, thank you for doing as I said and resting up. It couldn’t have been easy.”

“I had help.” Arthur turned to the group and smiled, loving how they looked in his perfect, beautiful store. “Milo, I’m on my way. Can you close up?”

Milo nodded, and Lily looked ready to protect the shop with violence if that was needed.

Arthur breathed deeply as he walked behind the doctor, trying not to let the tension sink back into his body. He’d need to be at the top of his game for this.

“How is she?”

“Frankly? Not well. She has a fever, and she’s in and out of consciousness. The good news is that if her fever breaks, she’ll be set. I’ve never had a case where the patient’s fever broke but they didn’t recover from whatever was ailing them. But if the fever doesn’t break…” The doctor pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and from behind it was hard for Arthur to say whether he wiped his forehead or his eyes with it. “That’s why we’ve pulled out all the stops. And the last piece is you.”

“And if I fail…”

“No. Listen to me carefully. There are a dozen people working on this, Arthur. You’re the last piece, but not the only piece. If the worst happens, it’s not one man’s fault.”

“I guess.”

The doctor turned. “No. You know, and you’re also going to acknowledge you know it. Because it’s true, and because you are too young to carry an undeserved weight like that on your shoulders. The health of a patient is the burden of their doctor. Not anyone else, and certainly not the people close to her. Do you understand?”

Ella was the toughest person Arthur knew, in the sense of demanding other people rest or acknowledge things. But behind her, this doctor was turning out to be a close second.

“I understand. And thanks.”

“It’s part of the job,” the doctor said. They had arrived, finally, at the building. “Are you ready?”

“As much as I’ll be. Let’s do this.”

Arthur walked through the hallway towards Mizu’s room with the doctor, yet feeling very alone. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, he could feel the pressure crashing down on his spirits.

How can I do this? He felt a creeping, near-forgotten terror as the worst stress he had ever felt in either of his lives filled his chest, squeezing at his heart and choking down his lungs.

“Well, look who forgot again. I told you he would. He thinks he’s alone, Itela.” Ella walked up to Arthur, flicking him hard in the center of the forehead. “And you said he’d get it by now. Look at him. He’s shocked.”

Standing around a table already set up with all his equipment were people he recognized and people he had never seen before. Besides Ella, there was Itela, Nico, the owner of the alchemist shop, the restaurant supply owner, and the wolverine among those who knew. A few other adults were there that he had never met, smiling at him through faces that looked just as nervous as his.

“What is this?”

“This is help, Arthur. Buffs, alchemical and magical. Commander stat-sharing.”

“Better cookware. My own, in fact. You can’t keep it, but every little bit helps,” the restaurant supply owner said.

Another person could supplement Arthur’s majicka, which was apparently something people could do. Ella and a beverage shop owner were standing by, as well as someone they said was the very best assistant in the city. Between the three of them, his skills would be as focused as possible.

And, as always, there was still Karbo.

“Is this the one?” Karbo extended his hand and showed Arthur the vibrant blue flower. To the big lunk’s credit, he appeared to have treated it as gently as he would have treated an infant. There wasn’t a mark on the flower. For once, Food Scientist was almost completely silent. It didn’t suggest the flower would turbocharge anything, or ruin anything, or have much of an effect at all. To the extent he got anything from the skill, it was just a slight sense of warmth and rightness.

“That’s the one, Karbo. And thank you. All of you. I can’t repay you.”

Ella stopped him there.

“Repay us? I have told you before in a dozen ways, Arthur, but you are never alone in this city. Never.”

Arthur stole the handkerchief from the doctor’s shirt pocket, wiped his eyes, and got to work. It didn’t take long to make the tea. Something inside of him was saying that his product was good, but not great.

But he had one last trick. Plucking the petals from the Blue Star flower, he slowly lowered them into the drink and watched as they swirled in the liquid.

And it was done.

Medicinal Boba (Anti-venom, Minor)

You processed monster venom in a venom-resistant monster, forcing antibody production like you wouldn’t believe. You’ve now imbued that concept into a specially crafted edible container, one optimized to lock in every ounce of poison-resistive power the bark has to offer.

You’ve bridged the gap between plausible and attainable using a combination of majicka, a newly minted level 10 Medicinal Brewer skill, and the unconditional assistance of others. This drink is much improved, if still substantially weaker than a fully realized version would be.

And while you will not be allowed to remember this bit, know that I’m rooting for you, Arthur. I rarely get guests, and the few that came before you were all joys, people who made my world better, not worse. People who helped rather than conquered. So far, you’ve lived up to every inch lof the precedent they set. I only regret not being able to tell you that in a way you’d remember. I’m rooting for you, friend.

Effects: A more than slight anti-venom effect is produced when these pearls are consumed as part of a complete Boba Tea beverage. As with all your medicinal teas, this product will not interfere or interact in any way with alchemical products.

Reverently and with the utmost care, Arthur handed the drink over. The doctor took it into the room, then came out a few minutes later.

“No good. I can’t wake her up. She’s delirious. She doesn’t understand.  And if she can’t wake up to drink this… I’m sorry, Arthur.”

Arthur’s shoulder slumped, and he felt as if he might faint.

“He doesn’t get it, Itela,” Ella said.

“No. He never did. A very good doctor, usually, but a bit academic,” Itela responded.

The doctor glanced from face to face, confused.

“Send the boy, Doctor,” Ella said, taking the drink from the doctor and handing it back to Arthur. “That boy in her room, with a gift? If anything will wake her up, that will.”

—

It turned out Arthur’s presence didn’t break her delirium, exactly. She was flushed the darkest shade of blue he had seen, still beautiful but clammy and burning up as he brushed the hair out of her face.

“It’s me, Mizu.”

“We flooded your temples with… with…” She paused as she lost her thread of thought. “Hi, Arthur.”

“You need to take this. I made it for you.”

And, like magic, she did. He wasn’t sure she’d remember any of this, or that she even really knew he was there in any substantial sense. But only a short time later, the drink was drained. He tried to take the glass, and found he couldn’t. She locked it to her chest like a kid with a teddy bear, keeping it close with an iron grip.

“What now?” Arthur asked once he was back in the hallway.

“Now? We wait. We wait, we pray, and we hope.” The doctor took a seat in one of the three chairs in the hallway, next to Onna, who Arthur was just now noticing was there. “And the rest of you go home. I’ll get word to you soon.”

Slowly, everyone filtered from the room but the doctor, Onna, and Arthur. Onna, the lizard demon, patted the chair next to her, and Arthur took it thankfully.

“You’re going to wait? The whole time?” Onna asked.

“Yeah, I think so. I couldn’t do anything else right now, even if I tried.”

“Arthur? I think you might be a good boyfriend. I approve,” Onna stated.

“Boyfriend?” Arthur said, scratching his head. “You think she thinks…”

“Arthur? Don’t be stupid.”

And they waited.