Verboten

“Try not to flinch,” Jack muttered, squeezing the cotton ball in his hand to allow the disinfectant to soak through. Alex eyed it apprehensively. Jack knew it would sting but if he allowed Alex’s injuries to become infected, it would be a lot worse. “Still,” he ordered firmly, but not unkindly, when Alex scooted back on the sofa. Biscuit whined and laid his head on Alex’s bare thigh.

The young boy was only wearing his T-shirt and his boxers. He was opposite Jack on the teacher’s sofa, and although he had agreed to let Jack take care of the self-harm on his legs and his father’s inflictions on his arms, he had flat out refused to let the older man see his stomach, claiming that he hadn’t anything there. Jack had let it slide on the condition that he could clean up his hips and the two had come to a reluctant deal.

“It’s going to hurt,” Alex whimpered, a crease in between his brow. Jack sighed quietly. He didn’t want to do this, because if he hurt Alex he was worried that the boy wouldn’t trust him again. But he had to make sure the cuts were clean.

“It is going to hurt,” Jack agreed. “I’ll make a bargain, yeah?” Alex’s eyes flickered up to meet Jack’s. “I know you like physical contact, so if you let me clean you up, you can choose what to do for the rest of the evening and it can involve as much physical contact as you like.”

“I can choose anything?” Alex asked. Jack grinned in relief. He was getting through to him.

“Of course, anything.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it.”

“Sure.” Jack raised the cotton ball again. “Do you want me to do your arms or legs or hips first?”

“Arms.” Alex extended his slim wrists towards Jack. Jack pressed the cotton ball onto a deep, purple slash on Alex’s wrist, wincing as Alex cried out. “Stop – stop, stop!”

Jack hastily retracted his arms. “I’m sorry, ‘Lex, I’m sorry.” He waited for the boy to calm down a little before he tried to reach out to him again. He rested his hand on Alex’s knee gently. After a few seconds, Alex settled his own hand over the older man’s.

“Can I have a hug?” Alex asked shyly, seemingly embarrassed of his request.

“Of course.” Jack opened his jeans-clad legs and let Alex settle in between them. He wrapped his arms around the skinny teenager’s torso and pressed his nose against Alex’s hair. “Do you want to try again? We can stay like this.”

Alex hesitated for a few seconds before he nodded slowly. “It hurts a lot,” he mumbled.

“I know.” Jack stroked through Alex’s hair, smiling at the small moans that elicited. “I’m being as gentle as I can, I don’t want you to get a nasty infection.”

“What would happen if I got an infection?” Alex queried.

“I don’t know for certain,” Jack admitted, “but it wouldn’t be good, definitely.”

“Okay,” Alex said, and extended his arms. “Go ahead.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the end it took a full hour to clean Alex up. There were a lot of hesitations and infrequently, he would refuse to let Jack touch him anymore, but Jack was satisfied that he had cleaned the wounds well enough for them to avoid infection.

The two were now in Jack’s bed. Alex had wanted to watch more Doctor Who, which Jack had happily found for him on Netflix, and when it got to around eleven PM he was starting to yawn and his eyes were drooping, so Jack called it a night.

Jack had gone to sleep in just his underwear, like he usually did, but Alex had opted to wear sweatpants and a T-shirt. The student had fallen asleep relatively quickly, but Jack was still lying awake. He couldn’t get to sleep.

He didn’t want to move for fear of disturbing Alex. He had the younger boy spooned against him, his arms cradling the delicate teenager, and their legs intertwined with each other.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack knew that this was crossing the student-teacher boundary. But somewhere else in the back of his mind, he knew that he didn’t really care. He liked Alex too much.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was noon the next day when Alex blinked his eyes open. “Jack?” he questioned sleepily.

“Right here,” Jack replied, squeezing his hands. “I’m still here, right beside you.”

“What about school?”

“You’re in no fit state for school, Alex,” Jack explained gently. “I know it will make you anxious to miss school but it will be fine, I promise you.”

“What about you?”

“You’re full of questions today,” Jack joked. “I’ve called in and said I was sick. I’ll be spending the whole day with you, sweetheart.”

“Good.” Alex turned around, with some difficulty, so he was facing Jack. His eyes were unfocused from sleep but they brightened up when he looked up at Jack. “Need a shower.”

“You don’t smell,” Jack reassured, stroking through the younger boy’s hair. He chuckled when Alex nestled into him, pressing his face against Jack’s lean chest and wrapping his legs around his waist.

“I feel unclean,” Alex clarified. “Can I use yours?”

“Of course you can.” Jack gently untangled Alex from him, ignoring the whine of disappointment.
“Let’s go.”

Alex nodded and sat up, wincing at the pain that shot through him. “I ache a lot,” he confessed. “And all of the cuts feel like they’re going to break open at any second.”

“I’ll keep an eye on them for you,” Jack promised, clambering out of bed. He pretended not to notice Alex glancing down at his crotch in his tight boxers, and held out his hands instead.

The student accepted and heaved himself up. He collapsed against Jack, crying out in pain almost immediately. “Alex! Alex?” Jack held him tightly, shushing him and kissing the top of his head.

“It…hurts, really….hurts,” Alex half-sobbed.

Jack reached down and secured his arm around the younger boy’s knees. “Don’t lock your legs,” he warned as he scooped the boy up into his arms. “I’ll carry you there, yeah? I don’t have a bath or I’d use that.”

He kept up a constant stream of chatter as he padded into his bathroom and sat the boy down on the closed toilet lid. He set the temperature to ‘warm’ rather than ‘hot’ and let the stream trickle down gently so it wouldn’t be so assaulting.

“This will make the pain better, I promise,” Jack smiled, ruffling Alex’s hair. The boy managed a weak smile in return. “Do you need any help with undressing?” Jack asked, half of him praying he’d say no and the other half praying he’d say yes.

“Yes,” Alex said shyly, and Jack simultaneously cursed and thanked the Lord in his head.

“Come on then, stand up for me if you can.” Jack helped the boy wobble to his feet. “Well done,” he praised. Quickly, he pulled Alex’s top off and tossed it to the side. The boy self-consciously crossed his arms over his stomach, so Jack averted his eyes and focused on undoing his sweatpants instead. He didn’t want to make the boy feel uncomfortable.

Soon Alex was left in just his boxers. Jack glanced back up to Alex’s face, and focused on his beautiful hazel eyes as he slipped the loose underwear down. The temptation to glance down was overwhelming but Jack managed to resist. “Thanks,” Alex muttered, obviously embarrassed now about his nudity.

“I’ll go, yeah? I’ll wait outside so call me if you need me.” Jack exited the bathroom quickly, still avoiding any other part of Alex’s body except his eyes.