Twenty-One

 

A knock had Bas’ eyes turning towards the door.

“You ready?” Ten said.

“As I’ll ever be,” Bas said and then he hissed when he tried to move.

“Don’t.  Let me take care of that,” Ten said as he stepped over to the bed.

He set the duffle bag he was carrying on the floor and then pulled the comforter off of Bas and pushed it onto the floor.

He moved the two pillows that were keeping Bas on his side and then gently rolled him onto his back.

Bas glanced down and saw that he was still wearing the sweats that Liam had given him in the basement but that the hole where the knife had gone into the top of his thigh was torn open to make it bigger. He could see blood-soaked bandages and gauze around his leg.

Before he knew what was happening, Ten’s fingers were wrapped around the elastic waistband of the pants as he said, “I can’t stitch with these on.”

“Wait!” Bas said as they were slid down over his……

“Oh,” Ten mumbled when he saw Bas’s dick.

“They had me naked.  Liam gave me these when I called Morgan.”

“Oh,” Ten said again.  Blushing, he turned and walked towards the bathroom.  He came out carrying a hand towel. 

As he placed it over Bas’s junk, Bas mumbled, “Thanks for not bringing a washcloth.”

Ten snorted a laugh, “I didn’t look at you when we hooked up that one time a year ago, but even I could see now that you’re definitely more than a washcloth.”

“Appreciate the vote of confidence,” Bas mumbled.

“Do you, um, do you regret it?” he said quietly.

Ten froze, just staring down at the wound on Bas’ leg.

“Yes and no,” he finally said.

Bas was just starting to think that was all he was going to get when Ten spoke again.

“I don’t regret that it happened.  But I do sometimes regret how much I want it to happen again,” he said as his eyes finally lifted to lock with Bas’

They stared at each other for a moment and then Bas shifted to try to lift his hips for Ten, “OW! Mother, shit, fuck!”

“Where did that hurt?”

“Fucking everywhere!” Bas said with a groan.

Ten’s fingers began pressing gently around Bas’ ribcage, first in the front and then he leaned forward so he could move them around the sides and to the back.  He was so deep in concentration that he didn’t realize that their chests were almost touching until he heard a small intake of air from Bas.  He glanced down, his nose almost touching Bas’s, their lips just a breath apart.

“Did that hurt?” he whispered, his heart pounding in his chest.

Bas kept his eyes locked with Ten’s, “Not exactly,” he said.

Fuck.

Ten knew exactly what Bas meant by that.

They were so close.  Ten would barely have to move to press their lips together.  Just a slight shift forward and he’d once again be able to taste…..

He shook his head as he pushed back up.

What the fuck was he thinking?

Bas was in pain and he was thinking about kissing him?

God, he was pathetic.

“Ten,” Bas whispered.

“Not now, Bas.  Please.”

“When, Ten?  Just tell me when and I’ll drop it.”

Ten squeezed his eyes shut.

Sawyer….his dead boyfriend’s name drifted through his brain.

God, Sawyer.  I’m so sorry but I want this.  I really fucking want this.

His eyes reopened, and he looked down at Bas, “Soon,” he whispered.

And God help him….he meant it.

With one final glance at Bas, he pushed away until he was sitting on the bed next to him.  “You definitely have some broken ribs.  What did they hit you with?”

“Mostly hands and feet.  One guy had a billy club.  He’s the one who got my ribcage.”

“Do you want me to wrap them now or wait until you’re up and moving around more?”

“Let’s wait.”

Ten’s hand was resting on the bare skin of Bas’s waist.  Bas loved feeling it there, but he knew that Ten probably wasn’t even aware that it was there.  So, he chose to keep his mouth shut and just enjoy the warmth of it.

“Anything else feel broken?”

“No but the pain in my ribs might be masking other shit.”

“True, I’ve had my share and they hurt like a bitch.  Okay, let me get started on that leg.”

Ten leaned down to his bag and came up with Hydrogen Peroxide, Iodine, cleaning pads and a spray bottle.  He gently peeled off the blood-soaked bandages covering Bas’ wound.

“I’m going to clean this up a bit first,” he said as he gently lifted the leg and slid a towel underneath.

“Do your worst, pinky.”

Ten’s eyebrow lifted, “Pinky?”

Bas grinned, “You needed a nickname.  That’s the first thing that came to mind.”

For a moment Ten looked like he was going to argue or say something else but then he just shook his head and mumbled, “We’ll revisit that at another time,” as he opened the square brown bottle.

“Anything for you, pink-eeeeeeeeeee!  Shit!” Bas yelled as he hissed in a breath.

Ten’s concentration didn’t waver as he worked.  “Breathe, baby, breathe through it for me.  I need you to try to keep still.”

Bas grabbed the pillow next to him and clenched it to his chest as he sucked air into his lungs.

This was gonna fucking hurt

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

On the outside, Ten appeared calm, cool and collected.  Inside, his heart felt like it was going to beat a hole in his chest.

Baby?  Had he really called Bas baby?

Yeah, he had.

And the fact was, despite how much it terrified him, it felt really fucking good.  It felt like he should’ve been calling Bas baby for a long time.

He took another calming breath as he brought the spray bottle up to the wound in Bas’ leg, “This will numb it a bit,” he said and then he depressed the plunger a few times.

“Tell me when the stinging goes away,” he said as he readied his suture kit.

The muscles in Bas’s leg were trembling, hell, his entire body was trembling from the pain he was in.  Ten needed to do something to distract him, something to take his mind off of the pain.  But needing to do and actually doing were two completely different, terrifying things.

His head dropped, his eyes squeezed shut as he took a deep breath and blew it out, “Bas,” he finally said, opening his eyes to look at the man.

Bas’s eyes were also squeezed tight, but his were because of the physical pain he was in.  As they slowly peeled open to look at him, Ten decided the time for hesitation was over.  He leaned forward, careful not to put any weight on the man’s body and pressed their lips together.

He felt Bas flinch, but he knew it was from surprise not pain.

Bas’ lips opened as he whispered, “Ten.”

Ten took that opportunity to slip his tongue inside.

Ten wanted nothing more than to deepen the kiss even more, to thread his fingers into Bas’s short, silky hair and grab onto it, to grip onto the man’s neck and hold him in place, but he couldn’t.  Not without contaminating his gloves.  Besides, moving this forward was not his goal here – distraction was.

Bas’ gentle push on Ten’s chest is what finally had Ten breaking away, more in confusion than anything else.

Did Bas not want this?

“Ten,” Bas whispered, his cheeks pinking up as he blushed, “I haven’t brushed my teeth in a fucking week.”

Ten smiled as relief flowed through him, “I don’t fucking care.”

Ten moved back to Bas’s leg and pulled the skin closed, “This hurt?”

“Not too bad.”

Ten readied the suture needle.  He glanced quickly at Bas, “This will.  Do your best to breathe through it.”

Bas’ fingers tightened on the pillow, he bit the corner of it and nodded his head.

Ten tried to work fast, piercing the skin as quickly and smoothly as he could.  But the muffled screams coming from Bas just about killed him.  After his sixth stitch he paused to look over his work.  Nothing was too puckered and there weren’t any gaps or bleeding, “I think we’re good unless you want me to tuck one more stitch in.”

A muffled, “Uh-uh” made Ten look up at Bas.  He not only saw the man’s chest moving up and down as he sucked air through his nose, but he could tell that the man was also furiously swallowing.  That could only mean…..

“Shit,” Ten mumbled as he dove for the plastic trash can next to the bed.  He shoved towards Bas at the same time that Bas flung the pillow he was holding to the side. Bas grabbed for the can and heaved into it.