Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

it quietly over breakfast. He wasn't exactly chatty in the shower. After lunch, he requested a pen, a note pad, and for his fingers to be removed from the splints.
    "Just so you know, if I screwed up and somehow fused your fingers straight, I'm really sorry."
    Daren's eyes went wide, and he flicked his gaze between Sebastian and his fingers. "You're kidding, right?"
    "Have you seen an x-ray machine around here?"
    Daren held out his hand. "Just do it."
    Sebastian unwound the tape and slowly removed the aluminum finger splints. The skin was dead white and shriveled looking. Sebastian took some witch-hazel wipes to them, quickly cleaning away the dead skin.
    "Okay, see if you can bend them."
    Daren grit his teeth and slowly made a fist. "Oww."
    "How big an 'ow' was that?"
    Daren unclenched his hand. "I'll live."
    Sebastian took Daren's newly-freed fingers and pressed on the nails to check the capillary refill. He noticed the ring finger had a bit of an inward curve to it. "Has this finger always been crooked?" Sebastian was hoping the answer was yes.
    "No."
    "Oops."
    Daren made another careful fist. "Could be worse I guess." He picked up the waiting pen, and held it loosely while slowly adjusting his grip. Then he flipped up the cover on the waiting notebook. "Okay. Let's see if the idea to keep all the important information in my head was a good one."
    Sebastian's heart stopped in his chest. "Tell me you're joking."
    Daren grinned, looking cheeky as anything. "They kicked me out of school for being lazy and unruly, not stupid."
    Sebastian decided to just leave it. He did laundry and dishes while Daren carefully listed out numbers and addresses, and wrote drafts of letters. Every so often he would stop and carefully flex his hand before getting back to work.
    It wasn't until Sebastian was debating with himself between breaking out the frozen beans or frozen carrots to have with dinner that Daren put down the pen and pushed the notebook from him.
    Sebastian pulled out the frozen carrot bits and placed them into Daren's hand. "Figure it all out?"
    "I think so. We're going to have to dip into the cash if we want to pull it off. You're going to need a suit and a briefcase."
    "I have a suit."
    "What day of the week is it?"
    "Wednesday." Daren moved the carrots from his hand to his shoulder. "If we get everything we need tomorrow, we can do this on Friday. End of the week: If we do it later in the day people are going to want to get you in and out quick and won't question if you look a little rushed."
    Sebastian plucked the carrots from Daren's shoulder, replaced them with a blue icepack, then emptied the carrots into a pot. "Write me a list. I'll get what we need tomorrow." Daren let out a long sigh. Sebastian got the strange feeling that he was being visually undressed. "What?"
    "Just wishing I could get you to my tailor."
    Sebastian laughed as he put the carrots on the stove.
    "So laughs the gay guy who lives off Hot Pockets and owns two pairs of shoes."
    "How do you know how many shoes I've got?"
    "I nosed around your closet. And it's not just a matter of wool/poly blends being evil, you're going to have to look like you represent me. Or the version of me that opened those accounts."
    Sebastian poured some dry macaroni into a pot of water boiling next to the carrots. "We could go the opposite way. I could go in looking like some hired thug, toss the money in a duffel and walk out."
    "Tempting, but it might be too memorable."
    "So my dress uniform is out?"
    "Better you go in looking like some PA in a rush."
    "I will leave this up to your expertise."
    "Thank you. And we better actually set an early alarm. You are probably going to have a very long day."
    ****
    The alarm turned out to be unnecessary, as Daren sat straight up in bed with a choked scream just before six. He waved his arms at something unseen before coming fully awake. Sebastian was awake a half second later and pulled him close. His heart was racing, and his breathing was ragged. Sebastian could feel his whole body tremble with every beat. He twisted and buried his face into Sebastian's chest until his breathing began to slow.
    Sebastian didn't let him go, however, and Daren didn't pull away. He couldn't ignore the fact that Daren felt nice in his arms, warm and firm, his breath soft against Sebastian's chest. He smelled like Sebastian's soap and shampoo and shaving gel. And as Sebastian began to half drift into sleep again he began to acknowledge the fact