Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

slats of the shower bench. It wasn't gushing, but it wasn't good. Daren shook his head and tears squeezed out from his eyes. "I need you to do this." Sebastian pleaded. "I need you to do this for yourself. I need you to do this because you don't want to die any more than I want to see you die. You're injured inside, and we have to fix that. I'm sorry, but please."
    Daren was still for several seconds, and then he slowly pushed himself back on the seat. Sebastian got down on his knees by the side of the tub. It wasn't the best angle, but it would have to do. He started by aiming the water at Daren's lower back, to let him get used to the feeling. Then he angled it around so it could start cleaning. Daren whimpered. Sebastian wanted to say "I'm sorry," over and over. The water on the bottom of the shower turned red but from what Sebastian could see it didn't seem to be hemorrhaging out. He put his free arm across Daren's thighs in a sort of oddly angled hug. He held the shower hose in place for several minutes until Daren seemed to start to relax a bit. Keeping his movements slow he started to aim the water higher, gently washing down Daren's back. He slid the hose back into its caddy, letting the water continue to flow down Daren's spine.
    "Daren, I know that was bad, but I'm pretty sure that's where some damage is getting infected. I've got something that I can use to clean it out, but it's going to be… unpleasant."
    "Just do it." Daren hissed, in what sounded like anger. That made Sebastian feel better. Anger was a good thing. Anger could keep someone alive if need be. He opened one of the boxes and pulled out a bottle with a long thin top that was obviously meant to go only one particular place. He knew this really should be done over the toilet, but he didn't want to move Daren at this point. He'd just bleach down the tub again later.
    "Okay, take a deep breath for me."
    Daren took a breath and held it. Sebastian inserted the bottle and squeezed. Daren whimpered. "I'm so sorry." The directions said to hold for five minutes, but Sebastian just couldn't do that. He pulled out the bottle almost immediately and used the shower hose to quickly wash everything away. He cracked open the next box. He would have to get more. Let the girl at the drug store think he was a constipated pervert. He repeated the process twice more until the blood was coming out clean and in much smaller amounts. He was still worried about infection though. He had to get something anti-bacterial in there but he didn't really want to use his fingers.
    An odd thought suddenly popped into his head. "I'll be right back." He sprinted from the bathroom, pulling off his gloves before yanking a box off the upper shelf of his closet. Inside were fuzzy handcuffs, glow in the dark boxers, and other odds and ends left over from various boyfriends. He found what he was looking for at the bottom, still in its package. A lubrication syringe that a boyfriend had bought just before they broke up. It was meant to get lubrication into hard-to-reach areas; the plunger pulled out so it could be filled with the lubricant of choice. There was nothing to say it couldn't be filled with anti-bacterial cream. He rushed back to the bathroom, pulling off the packaging on the way.
    Daren hadn't moved. "One more really unpleasant thing, and then we'll see to cleaning the blood out of your hair and wrapping up your ribs."
    Daren didn't say a word as Sebastian pulled on fresh gloves and filled up the syringe with wound cream. "Okay, this is going to be cold, gooey and is probably going to sting a lot." Sebastian inserted the syringe. A sob clawed its way from Daren's lungs. Sebastian had to close his own eyes and try to detach from it all while he worked. "Done." He pulled out the syringe and set it aside. He tried to rub Daren's back gently, but he flinched away. "I'm sorry," he said one more time. "Let's get the rest of you cleaned up."
    Daren didn't open his eyes or say a word as Sebastian carefully washed down the rest of him, from his bleached hair to the soles of his feet. He removed the bandages from the night before. All the cuts and scraped were red around the edges and putting out heat. Some even broke open while Sebastian tried to clean them. He broke out more antibacterial cream and bandaged them up properly before adding another layer, wrapping wide sports bandages around Daren's rib cage, left shoulder and left knee. An emergency aluminum splint and some more