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Antonio was looking at the dean, doing his best to give him a confused look.
“You want me to be the primary caretaker for this patient?”
“Yes, that would be correct.”
He never questioned Burke’s decisions, mostly due to enjoying just looking at the chaos humans made in this establishment. It’s the reason he had been here for so long. This however, was a little odd of a request.
“Here’s his file. Look over it.”
He was handed the patient file. Nothing out of the ordinary, considering he needed to know what he was going to deal with.
Andrew Kreiss. What an adorable name.
He looked over the whole file and then noticed something weird.
“Dean, with all due respect, there isn’t any sort of mental illness on here.”
“Yes. That’s why he’s your patient.”
Antonio had no knowledge that could help treat patients. He was just a caregiver, and Burke knew that. But this patient’s case was not an ordinary one. Was there a catch?
“He was sent in by the church, under the claim that his albinism was an illness. I don’t understand what exactly they were trying to say, but it’s the church, I don’t want to argue with them.”
Ha, so that was it.
The good old church and their morals. Thinking of this human as a curse, and illness was wrong. Albinism was nothing more than a genetic disorder, most it did was make the person have bad sight and unable to move freely in sun. It was a medical thing, not a reason to send someone to a mental hospital.
“You’re better off taking care of him than someone like Joseph or Aesop.”
That was indeed true.
“I already let everyone know of him. He shouldn’t be treated the same way as others but just don’t say anything about that to other patients okay? We don’t need a commotion.”
“Of course dean.”
Very quickly it came to light that Andrew was a little bit of a shut-it.
Actually, 'a little bit’ was an understatement.
He didn’t want to go out of his room other than to eat and pray. He refused to communicate with other patients. He didn’t even want to interact with any of the staff. Antonio had to drag Joseph away from him at least three times in one day when the other was about to lose his mind over him. Even if Antonio was his primary caretaker, the man refused to give up on trying to interact with him.
Aesop was a bit better at it, but Andrew once again refused to talk or interact.
He wondered if those two listened to the dean with their ears shut off when he told them there was nothing wrong with Andrew.
“Andrew, you should go out a little. The sun is setting, you should be fine.”
He was once again trying to get him out of that room. Normally they wouldn’t let patients wander around the garden in the evening, but if a staff member was with them, it was fine. There was maybe an hour left before the said rule had to be enforced though, but Antonio wouldn’t mind doing that for the albino.
The demon sighed once again, entering the patient’s room.
Andrew was once again in the corner, refusing to move from there. He would either sit there the whole day or be in bed. Maybe he still had to process why the church send him here. He was obviously Christian, so Antonio guessed he might still think this was his fault. And while he was the sole thing Christianity hated, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed by this whole situation. The reason he was here was to observe humans and their lives, not watch them do whatever this was.
“I brought you some books if you want to read them.”
He placed them on the table near the bed. The dean had allowed him to have a bit more than most patients due to him not being ill, so Andrew had a fairly normal room. If only he would use it.
Before Antonio left the room, thinking it was just going to be like every other day, he finally heard the albino speak.
Well, the speaking was a bearly understandable whisper that he only heard because he wasn’t human, but still.
“What did you say? If you whisper like that no one can hear you.”
Andrew flinched, not realizing Antonio was even able to hear him. He spoke again, this time his words understandable.
“I don’t know how to read.”
Antonio was surprised by this. Andrew was an adult, so not knowing how to read was very out of the ordinary. This must’ve been another thing done by the church. If he wasn’t wrong, Andrew was raised in it after his mother’s death. The file had limited information on him, so this is the most Antonio knew.
Raised to be a grave keeper, to not read or write as it wasn’t necessary.
That seemed like a very miserable life if Antonio could say so himself.
“I see. We might need a different approach then.”
Andrew didn’t get to say anything as Antonio grabbed those books and left his room at the speed of light.
“Good morning Andrew, did you sleep well?”
The grave keeper said nothing as Antonio set a stack of books on the table. He was in his bed, only just returned from breakfast, trying to avoid the light as much as he could.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
“My, why such words? I’m here to help you learn how to read my dear.”
The books he placed were children’s books: easy to read and full of pictures, perfect when someone is starting out. He even brought some pens and paper to teach him how to write while doing this.
“What?”
“I’ll teach you how to read. Come here, it won’t be hard.”
Andrew reluctantly got off his bed, carefully walking towards Antonio. After sitting on the chair, he looked at the books he had brought.
“These are children’s books. They’ll be easy to read at the start since you don’t know anything.” Antonio opened one of them and pushed it in front of Andrew. It was a book about different plants.
“All of these are plants right? Can you tell what’s written when you look at the pictures?”
Andrew was quiet for a moment before quietly saying ‘flower’.
“Right. What about the next one?”
“Grass.”
“See, not hard. Are you sure you don’t know how to read?”
“.. My mother couldn’t teach me. And they didn’t teach me in the church. But I do know some simple things.”
Maybe he was a bit wrong in bringing children’s picture books like those. Good thing these weren’t the only ones he had here.
“If you say so. We can try with something more complicated then?” He picked up another book from the pile. This one had no pictures and had a fairly large amount of words. As he pushed that one in front of Andrew, he could feel how nervous the other became. He must’ve not expected that.
“It’s easy, I promise! If a child can read it, you can too.”
Andrew struggled for a bit. Antonio didn’t comment much, other than correcting him when he’d make a mistake, but there were no other words coming from the demon’s mouth. Grave keeper was very nervous the whole time, the last thing he needed was to make him feel even worse.
Strangely, that was the thing that was weird here.
He loved seeing humans struggle in their mortal life. But seeing Andrew struggle looked a lot different than looking at any other patient here.
As he had expected, Andrew made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. It took him maybe a month to teach him how to read simple books properly. While there wasn’t much of a need for him to read out loud now, he’d still make him do it as a form of practice. He was still fairly quiet and refused to talk to others, but at least there was some progress regarding his education.
The writing was going very slowly, but it was progressing. Andrew was lucky that Antonio’s natural handwriting was fairly neat compared to the one he used in the hospital to fit in. He never understood how the ‘doctor handwriting’ came to be and he never bothered figuring it out.
His’s words were still shaky, sometimes struggling to write certain letters correctly, but it was fine. No one was hurrying them up, everything was going at the speed that was the most comfortable for him.
“Practice even when I’m not here, okay? That’s how it’ll become easier.”
He’d always tell him that. And while Andrew didn’t want to admit it, he was doing that when Antonio was away. Antonio could notice the slight difference every time he’d be there to help him out again.
“Would you like to go out today? The sun is almost down and you have around an hour where you can do it on your own without some of the staff accompanying you.”
“No.”
Still, there was a lot of work on Antonio.
“Worth a try~”, he sang as he got up from the chair, ready to leave for the day.
“Um…”
He easily heard Andrew’s quiet voice, the other man was already used to Antonio’s good hearing so much that he wasn’t surprised when he turned around again.
“Something to say Andrew?”
He managed to speak. “I-I want to go and pray before resting. D-Do you want to go with me? To… to keep me company.”
This was the first time he had asked for something like that. Antonio was taken back a little by it, but it was a pleasant surprise. He was making some progress, even if it was only with him.
“No problem my dear.”
He wondered what would happen if he tried to hold his hand while walking.
There was no specific reason he thought of that. The thought just occurred to him. But if he decided to test that out, he could do it some other time.
He watched Andrew pray, a very confused follower of dream witch watching him stare at the grave keeper. She dared not speak, knowing Antonio would not reply back, yet she still looked at them back and forth.
You’re just as confused as I am.
He didn’t know why he was so interested in Andrew. He was nothing more than a patient that should not be here. Out of everyone, he was the one person Antonio should care about the least.
Yet somehow, he’s the one that got most of his attention.
“Would you like to talk then?”
“No.”
“Maybe just a little bit? I promise I’ll be quick.”
“No.”
Antonio heard a commotion coming from Andrew's room. He wasn’t surprised when he saw Aesop trying to talk to him, the doctor on his regular shenanigans of trying to communicate with him. He had good intentions, sure, but Andrew’s pace was a little too slow for him.
“Dr. Carl, I thought we talked about this.”
Aesop flinched at his voice.
“Leave my patient alone. You know he doesn’t like people much. Let him go at his own pace.”
“Yes, of course.”
It’s not long before Aesop is gone, leaving Antonio and Andrew alone.
“He’s a bit of a pushy person, isn’t he? Now-”
“Thank you.”
He’s once again taken back, this time by a hug. Andrew didn’t keep it long, probably not to upset the caretaker, stepping away.
“He’s um… nice, but I don’t like talking much.”
Antonio didn’t pay attention to what he was saying his mind was completely on the sensation he just felt.
It hadn’t happened in a long while.
He had started to understand why Andrew felt like an exception.
“A-Antonio?”
“Good to see you are making progress, my dear Andy!”
The younger man was surprised when Antonio called him that, freezing on the spot. Antonio just shrugged that off, cupping his face into his large hands.
“In no time you’ll be able to talk to other patients! I’m very proud of you!”
Andrew’s face is all read by the time Antonio let go of it.
“Can we… can we go to the garden?”
Antonio finally got to the day he had been waiting for a long while.
“Of course, my dear!”
“Do you really have to call me that?”
The sun was already when he took him out. He was hoping he’d ask to be out at the time when other patients were out so that he could socialize, but at least he was out of that small room of his. Antonio had to be around him due to the time, but at least all his work has been worth it.
“It’s nice”, Andrew said. “I didn’t think an asylum would have a pretty garden.”
“Patient’s recovery is the most important thing, so a pretty garden is very useful for that in some cases.”
Andrew walked around it, admiring the flowers, paying a lot of attention to the purple irises. He seemed to like those the most. Maybe Antonio could bring him some to his room.
As he was lost in thought, he didn’t notice Andrew run towards him, clinging to his arm. He was about to ask what was wrong, but then heard familiar footsteps came their way. Forcinetly for him, he could recognize who it was and understood Andrew’s reaction.
“Good evening Jack, nice night isn’t it?”
The other man raised his eyebrow at him.
“What are you doing with a patient out here? It’s past the time they are allowed in here.”
“Just taking him out on a walk. He can’t be in the sun much, remember? And I’m with him, so no harm done.”
Jack never had the patience to argue with him and now it wasn’t any different. The man’s main focus was always trying to keep Naib in check, so other patients were always an afterthought. Not to mention there was nothing about Andrew to worry about.
“If you say so. Just don’t stay out for too long, I don’t want Joseph to complain to me about why you’re keeping a patient out this late.”
“Worry not about that. I have everything under control.”
Jack then left, leaving the two of them alone once again.
“Do you not find him scary?”
“Jack? No of course not. What’s so scary about him?”
“He’s… weird.”
Jack was the most normal one in his opinion, considering how the rest of the staff was. Maybe Aesop was the only one who he would also consider normal.
“I wouldn’t say so. Maybe it’s his height that’s making you think that.”
“Well… you’re also tall, but I don’t think that about you.”
His heart reacted in strange ways every time Andrew would speak of him. This time it was just about his height, yet it make him get overly excited about it. Why was that, he wondered.
“How about I take you back now? Joseph does get a little annoying when things don’t go by rules.”
“Okay.”
If he wasn’t in the presence of another staff member now, maybe Antonio would reach with much more emotion than to just widely smiling.
He had witnessed Andrew talk to someone else.
It was the druid boy that was admitted recently. Andrew asked him about the outside as he had spent a limited mouth of time out of church’s borders, the other cheerfully taking back to him. He was finally getting comfortable with others at least a little bit. With Antonio, he would talk for hours and hours if he wanted to, and while he appreciated how comfortable the patient was with him, he did have other things to do and couldn’t be with him 24/7.
“Why do you look at him like that?”
“Since when are you interested in how I look at people, Desaulniers?”
“I’m not. You just never look at anyone like that.”
The man might’ve started to catch up on the demon’s feelings. Even he was surprised at that. To think someone like him would fall for a mere human being was unheard off.
But it still didn’t bother Antonio.
“Andrew, are you finished? I have some more books for you.”
The grave keeper looked happily at him, saying goodbye to the druid, who looked at Antonio with a sour face. It took him a little while to realize Eli was able to see through his disguise. At first, he thought he was just a regular human with some supernatural abilities, but he then started sensing Hastur’s presence, especially when around Eli.
He then could add back with a sour face too, knowing how Hastur was.
“Do you like Eli? He seems to enjoy your company.”
“He’s nice. I… I think Dr. Carl is nice too. He talked to me a while ago.”
Socialization was going well for him. Things were changing and Antonio was somewhat proud of the progress he’s made. His little human was finally doing well.
“What is it? Can’t sleep?”
He had sensed that Andrew was still awake while patrolling the hall. It was mainly to catch Subedar and stop him from roaming around, but the man was asleep in his room. Jack must’ve put something to make him fall asleep.
“Do you want me to stay?”
He didn’t know why he asked the question. There was no need to do that, the dean would probably kill him if he found out what he was now doing.
“I… I don’t mind. I’d like that.”
Andrew was still quite shy, but around him, that shyness was gone to a degree. He’d still struggle with his words when asking for some things, even just talking to him. He even made an effort to comment on how Antonio looked sometimes, obviously displaying some sort of interest. Antonio didn’t know if that was due to him not having much contact with people so getting attached to him was inevitable at one point or because he was truly falling for him. Maybe this interaction would clarify that.
“Can you… can you lay in the bed with me?”
Oh.
“If you don’t mind of course! I-I don’t want to-”
“Of course, no problem! It would be my pleasure, Andy.”
Maybe he did like him a bit.
Antonio lay with him, Andrew’s head resting against his chest. The man was breathing peacefully, it seemed as if Andrew had zero issues with this.
“Do you like me?”, the question came out of Antonio.
“I… I think I do. You’re very nice to me, but I don’t think that's the only reason.” The grave keeper moved slightly to have a better look at him. “Is it a… a problem? Patients and doctors shouldn’t have such relationships, right?”
“You’re not wrong, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. As long as the dean doesn’t know, nothing bad will happen.”
Andrew seemed to hesitate for a second, but then lifted himself up a little, betting himself in the eyesight of Antonio. He could tell there was hesitation in his actions, so he just did it himself and kissed the human.
It was the final realization for him.
He wanted to keep the human around him. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him.
Dean’s plan was going to fall apart sooner or later, and with Joseph and his insane ways, it will happen in the near future.
He needed to have Andrew as his.
“I like you.”
“I like you too Andrew.”
They lay in bed for the rest of the night.