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Luca winced, blood dripping from his fingers falling onto the table. "Fuck", he muttered, quickly getting up to find a towel somewhere and covered his injured hand to avoid more blood dropping on the floor.
Luca was trying to cut a wire on the machine he was working on with, needless to say, the wire sparked with electricity that shocked and almost burnt his hand.
The machine was still yet to be done but the electricity was strong enough to wound him although instead of feeling paranoid, he was amused that his small invention produced a powerful wave of energy even just for a short while.
Though, he would have to fix it later after he cleans up.
It wouldn't be good to make a mess in his mentors lab now wouldn't it?
The burn hurted alot. He tried to take it off his mind although to no avail. It's aching was sharp and he couldn't help but wince everytime he moves his injured hand.
Sighing, he made sure to clean up the blood on the table. Even double checking just in case. The burn stung due to his movements and his hands would unconsciously shake because of the pressure but nonetheless he managed to clean everything up before Alva could come back.
He didn't want to go upstairs to treat his wound as it only would lead him to get caught and waste time, plus he sorely believed it would go away as time passed. He would just hide it from his mentor for aslong so he can to avoid being scolded, or worse, kicked out as his student because of the small mess he made.
Luca sat silently, slowly tinkering with the machine again, simultaneously trying not to trigger the electrical shock and not hurt his injured hand even more.
A few moments later, footsteps filtered the lab, "Luca, I have found the blueprints that you wanted to see," Alva said looking up from the papers he was carrying to look at the said student.
"Oh! Thats great then, I'll check them later when I'm done with this." Luca replied, casually hiding his injured hand away from Alvas sight.
Alva walked towards the table his student was sitting on, and placed the papers on the table, just beside Luca.
"Alright then, I'll put them here for you to work on later."
"I will, thank you Mr. Lorenz." The young man responded, his voice shaking slightly but doubts his mentor would notice it. He hissed in pain when his hand ached once more.
"Is something wrong?" Alva asked, raising his eyebrow at the young man in front of him.
"It's nothing out of the ordinary, don't worry about it Mr. Lorenz." Luca chuckled, trying to keep it lighthearted.
"Are you sure?" Alva eyed Lucas hidden hand, slightly humming in amusement.
Amusement of what? Luca thought at the back of his mind.
"I'm sure."
"You've been hiding your hand from me ever since I got here," His mentor started, "Did you somehow hurt it?"
Oh.
"No, ofcourse not. I'm very careful with myself haha!" Luca chuckled, beads of sweat running down his forehead.
"Then why are you hiding it?" Alva pursued.
Luca was silent for awhile, unable to say anything. If he were to lie then he's gonna have to lie again for a lie can only be solved by another. He was contemplating whether to just tell the truth or not, Alva will find out eventually anyway because for some reason, he always does.
Luca slowly dropped his head low and sighed again. He has been sighing so much for the past hour it was starting to actually bother him. There was nothing he could do now, he had been cornered and lying would only make it worse.
"Because I injured it." The student muttered, looking at anything but Alva's eyes. At this point, he just wanted the ground to eat him whole to get away from his mentors piercing gaze.
Alva wordlessly left the room right after he said that, giving Luca time to recollect his thoughts.
"Let me look at your hand," Alva pulled a chair next to Luca and sat on it, placing the medical kit on the table along with a hot compress.
Luca carefully lend his injured hand letting the older check it.
"You are lucky it is only a minor injury," Alva said, making Lucas shoulder tense. Luca grunted in pain as Alva putted the wet compress against his injury.
"Hold this." He instructed, Luca quickly obliging.
"You do know that hiding and not treating an injury immediately can cause serious infections-"
"I do know that! It just wasn't worth the time to when I have an unfinished project to do!" Luca scoffed. He didn't know when he started seeing red. He wasn't angry, he was merely upset Alva was scolding him all because of an injury.
"Inventions can not be finished when the inventor is dead, as you can't finish your inventions with an injured hand."
This was pointless. He absolutely can not be getting scolded right now by his mentor.
"Stop acting like you're my father goddammit because you're not," Luca spatted, catching Alva off guard. "You don't need to fill the fatherly role Herman couldn't."
Luca felt guilty for saying that, but it was true. There was no need for Alva to act like all fatherly towards him just because Herman wasn't for him. The truth hurts, it always will. Alva wasn't his father, nor did he see him as one and Alva probably didn't see him as a son either.
"But just because I'm not your father, it doesn't mean I can't care about you, can't I?," Alva replied. "And watch your language, young man."
Silence engulfed in the air. No one decided to speak after that. Luca let Alva take care of his wound. Once Alva was finished, Luca muttered a small apology along with a thank you.
"I'm sorry for the trouble Mr.Lorenz, and thank you." His voice was silent but he was sure Alva still heared it. Alva didn't say anything in response, only standing up to pat his head.
Actions speaks louder than words after all.