Heal, Rest, and Payback

You never know when payback will show its ugly face.

Sam and James freeze with a large blush stretching across their warms cheek as they nervously stare up at the older man smirking at them with amusement.

Sam gulps down his embarrassment before pulling away from James. Making sure to be well aware of where he is putting his hands, not wanting to touch or brush against anything broken or scraped. James remains still, not wanting to move, knowing it will only end with suffering on his part. While scratching the back of his head with his wounded arm nervously, Sam begins to panic with seeing Aaron frowning at something near him.  Following his gaze, Sam spots, small blotches of copper-red liquid seeping through the gauze.

“I guess it’s time to change your bandages, and probably James’s, too. I will first start with your wrist, and then we both can work on Mr. Mummy over there together. Sound like a plan, man?” Aaron chuckles at his own joke, before heading to the bathroom for some supplies. Sam sits there, pale as a ghost, not moving.

“Sammy,” James whispers, looking up at his terrified young friend. He carefully interlaces his fingers in Sam’s trembling hand and softly mumbles “it’s going to be okay.  I know you didn’t mean to.” Yet James’s caring touch and soft words can't erase the fear of Aaron finding out about him causing such a large and deep wound. Sam fidgets uncomfortably on the couch. He wants to run, but something holds him in place with two determine green eyes staring at him, denying his request for his freedom. James lifts his hand higher, brushing his fingers along Sam’s shirt. He tightly grips the material in a fist, forcing him down

Glaring irately, James hisses, “I know it’s uncomfortable, but I got held down already. Now it’s your turn.” James frown, knowing he is doing the right thing, despite Sam’s begging to be set free.

Aaron gracefully whistles as he turns around the corner, before stopping immediately in his track as he stares at the unbelievable sight; James forcing Sam down. He can't help but laugh quietly. He never expected James to be the responsible one and not run away like he always does. Walking up closer to the fighting teens, Aaron frowns at the several soiled bandages covering each of their damaged limbs. Kneeling down with a sigh, Aaron fishes in his small white plastic box for some fresh medicine and gauze.

“This may hurt, but please don’t move a lot,” Aaron warns in a serious, yet caring tone.

"Okay," Sam squeaks as he tries his best to keep his wrist still, despite the stinging sensation traveling up and down his arm. "You can do this," he gulps down with another bucket of fear pouring on his head as Aaron peels away another layer of gauze from his bright red flesh. "Please..." Sam stops himself from pleading for his freedom as soon as he catches a glimpse of the nasty sewn-up stitches around his wrist. He chokes on his breath with all the thick snot-like liquid oozing down his wrist.

Aaron sits on the floor speechless as he stares at the horrifying sight. What caused this? he wonders. Noticing tiny little teeth marks wrapping around his wrist. Shifting his gaze up at Sam, Aaron tries to ask why, but he stops himself with seeing the shame burning in the teen's eyes. Shrugging his shoulders, Aaron focuses on carefully spreading some antiseptic over the infected wound and quickly wrapping a new layer of white gauze over the many stitches around his wrist.

"There, done," he mumbles as he stares at the bandaged arm, trying to gather up the nerve to look him in the eyes. “Sam… I am all done,” Aaron nervously stutters in a shaky voice before placing one last Sticker Man bandage over the loose ends.

“Sorry!” Sam shouts as he squeezes his eyes shut, not wanting his tears to fall.

"Sam," Aaron whispers silently.

“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know what to do. My body wouldn’t move. I panicked, so I thought, if my body felt pain, it would move, and it did work with some sacrifices. I didn’t mean to go so large or deep. I wasn’t thinking straight,” Sam sobs, trembling as he tries to put his words together, “I… am… so… sorry, Mr. Misluck. I don’t know.”

“Sam, there’s nothing to be sorry for. You weren’t thinking. I know your heart was in the right place. Just promise me you won’t keep this up,” Aaron pleads, looking straight into his eyes. Sam nods his head quickly, wanting this conversation to be over.

Staring at his friend trying to stop himself from crying, James whimpers as his heart throbs with each tear Sam wipes away. I can’t even imagine what is going on in his mind to be able to bite so deep into his flesh, James thought. Gently stroking Sam’s fingers, he wishes he can ease all the pain and emotion of that day.

Sam hates that he is crying in front of James, but he can’t seem to make himself stop like he usually can.

"Sammy," James hums as he keeps stroking, realizing it is calming his lover, but he knows Sam has to let it all out. He can’t keep this all in anymore if he ever wants to be set free of this burden. I just hope it won’t appear again. I know plenty of classmates and families that got addicted to this deviated act. But I am not going to stand here and let Sammy get pulled in, too, James thought.

Aaron turns his attention toward his son comforting the crying teen. Sighing under his breath, he did not want to disturb such a loving act of compassion. However, he knows, sooner or later, the dressing will have to be changed to prevent the risk of infection from spreading.

“My apologies for this, but I need to clean James’s wounds up before they get infected,” Aaron apologizes politely.

After hiccupping a couple more times, Sam lifts his head up. He is still trembling a little bit from his sudden total meltdown.

"James please move your hand," Aaron asks.

"No," James refuses as he continues stroking Sam’s fingers, despite Aaron’s comments on how much harder it is to work that way. But Aaron didn’t press the matter any further as he understands that James has to be the one to comfort his lover because he is the only one capable of calming him down in this situation. 

Aaron sucks in a big breath of air, trying to steady his quivering hands before he carefully peels away the blood stained fabric drape around his son’s head. With each layer, he pulls away, an unpleasantly large gash, a tiny deep burn, and a nasty welt slowly reappears. Holding his breath, Aaron quickly starts to clean the gruesome imperfections scatter across his son’s skin with distributing a heavy amount of ointment across each one.

"Stop, daddy it hurts," James whines as the medicine slowly burns across the layers of bad bacteria causing infection.

Aaron let out a faint hiss with seeing his son in pain again. Breathing back in, he tries to continue cleaning out the wounds of yesterday. He places several layers of gauze around his skull, not wanting any blood to leak through. After checking his work, Aaron smiles with the satisfaction of seeing all the gruesomeness cover up. Next, he turns his gaze to the minor cuts scatter all around his black and blue flesh. He dabs each one gently, before applying a simple bandage, protecting them from germs. Aaron quickly scans over his son’s body, in case he misses anything before packing up the remains of the unused supplies and disposing of the soiled hazardous materials in the trash. He takes a deep breath in as he gets back up on his feet, leaving the two freshly bandaged young teens with a faint smile on his lips. Returning the first aid kit back to where it sits for another day, Aaron hopes he won’t need to retrieve it anytime soon. Smiling to himself, he remembers is almost 12, I better get started on lunch, he smiles. He turns the corner, expecting to see James and Sam staring at him with starvation in their eyes, begging for food after sleeping most of yesterday and today. However, to his surprise, his son and Sam are fast asleep, snuggling against each other. Aaron can’t help but smile, seeing how happy they look together. Tiptoeing around the corner, he heads towards the kitchen to prepare some well-deserved lunch. Hmm… what sounds good? Pickles and peanut butter sandwiches? Or maybe a hearty bowl of oh so delicious creamy, spicy chili? He wonders while scratching his chin, thinking very hard about this important decision. I choose chili; he hums in his head, not wanting to wake the sleeping duo, with his cheers of enjoyment in making a decision. Some may say he is childish for getting excited over the simplest of life’s pleasures, but Aaron didn’t let their words bother him; he loves his food. Who didn’t?

Aaron softly whistles as he gathers all the ingredients together, making sure not to forget the most important ingredients for any delicious dish�"hot sauce. He grins from cheek to cheek, just thinking of the hot, spicy chili running down his throat, exploding into the pit of his stomach. Standing there, salivating, he cheers in his head, Chili! Okay, Aaron, get hold of yourself. It’s just chili. He quickly swallows all of his remaining saliva before anyone walks in and stare at him like some kind of weirdo or part dog for drooling over the raw food. Shaking his head, he chuckles, “That might not look good on my account. He sighs, grabbing a knife from its holder before starting to chop away. 

***

Thirty minutes later, Aaron inhales the spicy aroma flooding through the air while the vegetables and beans sizzled together in chili goodness. Stirring it one last time, he turns his attention to the two still fast asleep teens lying on the couch. Putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head, Aaron wonders; What am I going to do with these two? He sighs before silently tiptoeing over to his son, checking if he still breathing by poking him gently in the stomach. He watches him cringe as he tries to turn away from the poking sensation, but he gives up seconds later and snuggles back on Sam’s knee for some more much-needed sleep.

“Well, I guess he should be fine,” Aaron softly whispers to himself. Raising an eyebrow at how tired his son is as he considers how much sleep he’d already had. Lifting up slowly to his feet, he listens to his old bones crackling and popping with every movement. “Huh,” Aaron gasps, noticing a fairly weak hand grabbing his pant leg. Aaron lowers himself back to the ground, unsure which one of them wants his attention.

“Thank you,” Sam slurs in his sleep. 

Aaron softly smiles to himself. “Sam, there’s nothing… Sam… wait. Are you sleep talking?” Aaron questions, waving a hand in front the teen’s face, repeatedly whispering Sam’s name in a very low voice, no wanting to wake James up in the process. He pokes him gently on the cheek and watches him sway to the side before falling on the armrest. Aaron didn’t know what to say about this. “Um… Sam?” He shrugs his shoulders and figures; it is weird behavior for a weird couple of days.

“Beep! Beep!”

“Shoot,” Aaron growls angrily under his breath, before rushing to the kitchen. He aggressively flicks the stove off, removing the scolding hot chili to the side. Stirring it constantly with some hope of not burning it. Inhaling the lovely aroma of spices, he sighs in relief, “Good. It’s fine.”

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

“It’s not burnt. Why are you yelling at me?” he hisses at the fire alarm, quickly silencing it with a cold stare. Smiling with contentment, he rushes out of the kitchen, hoping the boys are still fast asleep. Coming to a quick halt, he stares at the two dead-tired, sore teens with panic in their eyes. James hugs Sam as he trembles in his arms, scanning the room from side to side in the search of his dad. Hoping his dad will know what is happening. James smiles faintly with finding him standing near the kitchen door, mouthing the word “sorry.” As he carefully walks over to his son and Sam sitting on the couch, Aaron can't help but feel horrible for spooking the two teens, especially when he looks at Sam, who is on the brink of crying.

“What happened?” James grumbles in a tired tone.

“Nothing, nothing,” Aaron quietly reassures him, not wanting to spook Sam any more than he already had. “I put the temperature too high when I was cooking chili. Then I came to check on you two, which took longer than I thought. Sorry for waking you two up, especially little Sam over here,” Aaron apologizes, ruffling his fingers through Sam’s blond locks. Kneeling down to his level, looking him straight in the eyes, he whispers, “I am sincerely sorry for frightening you from your peaceful nap.”

“I… am… not scared,” Sam stutters softly, trying to put on a brave face. Unfortunately, his tears got in the way, while his body trembles under James’s tight grip.

“Oh, Sam, there’s nothing wrong with being scared or upset. These are normal emotions, just like when you cried after James got hurt yesterday. You can do the same for yourself, so let it all out. Cry if you feel like it, tremble if your body needs to. Don’t hide or run. It will only cause more trouble. Am I right, James?” Aaron lectures, staring seriously in the direction of his son, waiting for his answer.

James’s grip tightly on Sam’s slender shoulder. His eyes soften as he gazes into the sorrowful sea “Sammy, it is okay to cry for yourself. I know your parents told you it was wrong for boys to cry or get frightened easily. But they were wrong,” James admits softly, trying to comfort his friend.

Sam casts his gaze down to his trembling fingers, watching them quiver in fear.  Biting down on his bottom lips, he tries to stop his body from acting this way. He didn’t want to cry for all the things they told him that were sinful or lies. However, he did want to cry for believing them when he got older.

James stares at Sam shaking with tears leaking from his eyes. Maybe that was too cruel? James wonders, staring at his dad, unsure of what to do to make this right again.

Aaron shakes his head, waving his hand forward as if to say, “Go on. You are doing great.”

Gulping down the lump stuck in his dry throat, James begins to hum the only song he knows that is comforting. The same melody, Sam had sung to him when he needed reassuring.

"Sorry," Sam whispers softly as he leans into James’s shirt, bawling his eyes out.

James blinks in surprise, letting his eyes soften, rubbing his back. He continues to hum the familiar tune; he will never forget. Gently closing his worn-out eyes, James slides back on the couch, resting his head gently on Sam’s lap before falling fast asleep. Sam smiles through his tears, gently kissing his forehead before returning to his once-content dream world.

“Good night, my sons. See you tomorrow,” Aaron whispers before heading to bed. Nope. Need some chili first, he remembers, making a sharp right turn in the direction of the kitchen.

“Good chili,” he mumbles with a mouthful of food, savoring his beautiful creation.