Page 32 of Up In Flames

Oren

“ H ey, are you with me?”

I blinked my eyes open and stared up at Will.

He was sitting in my bed, propped up against the headboard, reading something on his phone.

It came back to me slowly. The pounding I thought had been in my head but wasn’t.

I’d dragged myself to my door, and I’d seen Will standing there.

A sight for sore eyes. I’d wanted to give him a proper greeting, but I had about ten seconds to make it back to bed before I fell over.

But when I’d curled up, I’d known Will was there. I slipped in and out of consciousness a few times, and each time Will was there guarding me, looking after me.

“Will?” My voice cracked from disuse, and my mouth was as dry as a desert.

“How’s the head?”

He reached for me, brushing hair off my forehead. I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy his touch.

“Better. Sore, but better. I think I’ll live. How long have you been here?” Migraines stripped me of everything, including knowing how long I’d been down with one.

“All day. You weren’t coherent for most of it.” He put his phone down and reached for a bottle of water. “Do you think you can sit up? We need to get some more fluids into you.”

I nodded and then slowly worked my way into a sort of sitting position.

Will’s eyes crinkled when he smiled at me.

He thrust the bottle of water into my hands and then used his superhuman fireman strength to pull me close, manhandling me so I was laying half on top of him.

He took the cap off the bottle of water for me and watched me drink, encouraging me to take small sips until I shook my head.

I’d managed not quite half, but that appeased my caretaker, who put the cap back on.

“When did you get here?” I indulged in that hug I’d wanted when he helped pull me out of that elevator shaft.

“This morning. It’s almost dinner now. Do you think you could eat some soup for me?”

I blinked up at him. “You made me soup?”

“Of course I made you soup.”

He leaned down and brushed a kiss against my forehead. My eyes closed of their own accord, and I relaxed against him.

“No more sleep until we get some calories in you.”

“I could eat. Could I shower first, Doctor Dorsey?” My skin felt gross, and I didn’t want to think of what I must look like after spending a whole day in bed.

“I think a shower could be arranged.” Will climbed out of bed and waited for me to shift my way to the edge. I swung my legs off the bed and took a deep breath before attempting to stand.

“I might have to shower sitting down.” My laugh came out weak.

“Doctor Dorsey shouldn’t shower with his patients, but you’re in luck. You’re his favorite patient so he’s willing to make an exception.”

“I’m his only patient.”

Will took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

Even when I gave him most of my weight, he remained unmoved.

There wasn’t anything about him that I didn’t love, but in that moment, what I loved the most was how safe I felt.

He was willing to look after me and protect me, even protect my comfort and my dignity as we shuffled our way to the bathroom.

Once inside, Will started the shower, and I took advantage of having made it this far to take a piss and avoid looking at my reflection in the mirror.

He helped me out of my clothes, and once we were in the shower, he looped my arms around his neck. “Just hang on to me. I’ll get us cleaned up and then we can curl up in bed and eat soup.”

“Not bed. Please.”

“Okay, then we’ll sit in the living room and eat.”

Will took my weight like it was nothing, even as he grabbed the loofah and worked it up into a soapy lather before scrubbing all the bits of skin he could reach with me clinging to him like a spider monkey.

I stepped away, taking my own weight again, but I didn’t reach for the loofah. I let Will continue his mission to look after me.

“I could get used to this,” I said as he started to wash between my legs. It was more clinical and less recreational than I’d have liked, but it felt nice to be taken care of.

“I’d be happy to do this for you anytime. You don’t even need to get a migraine first.”

For the first time since I woke up, I managed to get a look at Will. His expression was still pinched into a worried frown, and he looked exhausted.

“I’m okay, Will. I promise. I haven’t had one in months, and I’d hoped they’d gone away, but the stress of being in that elevator was too much.

I’m better now. Good as new. Well, maybe not new.

But… thank you for coming to look after me.

” I’d slept better after Will arrived. At first I thought I’d dreamed him up like my subconscious had wanted him with me so badly that it was willing to fuck with me and make me think he’d shown up.

“We need to get you a set of keys, though. Just in case it happens again. I thought you were a hallucination at first.”

“I’m real.” Will paused. “Tip your head back.”

Strong fingers sank into my hair, working shampoo into all the strands and massaging my skull. “I’d like to give you keys to my place too. Then next time you get one of these, you can sleep it off at my place.”

“What makes your place superior?”

“Well, I’m on the ground floor, so no elevators.”

“I’ll move in tomorrow.” I laughed, closing my eyes not only to keep the soap out, but to fully enjoy the experience of being pampered.

“My place also has better food, and I wouldn’t have to order groceries so I could make you chicken soup.”

“I already said I’d move in.”

Will stopped moving. “Oren, I need you to look at me for a second.”

He pulled his hands out of my hair. I opened my eyes and looked at him. Something was wrong. Or not wrong, but different.

“Will…”

“Oren, I want that more than anything. I want a life with you. One where I can look at you the way I want in public, hold your hand, kiss you. Fucking hug you, for shit sake.”

“I don’t need any of that. I?—”

He put his hand over my mouth. A smile slowly appeared on his face.

“Maybe I do. Maybe I need that. Maybe I want that with you.” He took a deep breath, but he didn’t move his hand from my mouth.

“I told Briggs. About us. About us and I told him about me, and in all the scenarios I ran in my head when I imagined telling people, I never thought about them having my back.” Will moved his hand from my mouth and cradled the side of my face instead.

“Briggs knows? You came out to him? I’m so proud of you. I know how scared you were.”

“I’m still scared, but it’s getting better now that everyone knows. Almost everyone.”

“You came out to everyone ?”

“Well, technically I came out to Briggs, who—with my permission—told everyone we know. I still have to tell my parents. But what I guess I’m saying is that if you want to move in with me, I want you there.

I don’t care that it’s fast, in some ways it doesn’t feel like that to me.

Not when I’ve been waiting my whole life for you. ”

I tried to talk, but my mouth opened and closed, making no sound at all. Will had rendered me speechless.

“I love you, Oren.”

“Will…” The air rushed out of my lungs in one breath.

I stepped closer, winding my arms around him again.

“You big, beautiful, brave, wonderful man. I think I’ve loved you since I met you.

And if not the first time, then definitely when I saw you in the pub that night.

I’m so fucking proud of you, but I want you to know that you didn’t have to come out for me.

I’d have loved you no matter what. In or out, it’s fine. ”

“I came out for myself, but I love how self-important you lawyer types are.” He brushed a kiss against the corner of my mouth.

I was still too worn out to get in the mood for anything, but my dick gave a valiant effort at twitching before it decided my body had been through too much in the past day to show up for entertainment.

“I came out,” he continued, “because I couldn’t breathe in there anymore. I still have to tell my parents, but all the other important people know.”

“You want to tell your parents about us?”

“Well, it’s either that or let them figure it out when they do the math and realize that I have a new roommate, but only one bedroom.”

“That’s what the history books would go with.

Just a couple of friends being pals. Roommates.

Definitely not the kissing kind. In case you’re not serious about the whole apartment-sharing thing, you better tell me now, because in my head I’ve already given notice and hired movers to get my shit out of here. ”

Will was smiling when he kissed me. His mouth was soft against mine, a kiss of pure affection. Maybe a smidge of lust simmering in the background, but that was always there.

“I want you with me. Always.”

“God, you’re smooth. It’s no wonder I love you as much as I do.”

Happiness flashed in his expression, then his face lit up. “I love hearing you say that.” His cheeks flashed pink with his confession.

“Well, you better get used to it because you’ve just landed yourself a live-in, Grade-A clinger of a boyfriend. I’m going to make you so fucking happy, Will Dorsey. Just you wait and see.”

“You already make me happy.”

“I’ll make you happier,” I looked down at my unenthused cock. “Maybe not today, but someday very soon.”

“I think we’ll live if we go a day without sex.”

“A day?” I feigned incredulousness. “A whole day? He’ll probably have recovered after some soup and maybe a nap because, right now, all I can think about is that chicken soup and curling up in your arms.”

“We should go eat, get some food in you.”

“I can’t believe you ordered groceries so you could cook for me. Well, I can believe it, but it’s still amazing that you did that for me.”

“It’s just soup, Oren.”

“It’s not just soup. It’s—you give a shit about me.

I thought I’d run out of people who cared about me.

I’ve never had a huge circle of friends, Will.

And after the accident…” I stopped talking to clear my throat.

“You’ve saved me in more ways than one. In more ways than the car and the elevator.

You make me want to be brave, like you.”

Will slanted his mouth over mine and kissed me so suddenly that I lost my balance and had to grip onto him for support. He kissed me until we couldn’t breathe, until there wasn’t a section of my mouth that he hadn’t tasted. He pulled away but rested his forehead against mine.

“It’s not just soup, Will,” I rasped as I clung to him.

“I know.” Will brushed a kiss against my forehead, then turned off the water. “But soup is a good place to start.”