Hope ya'll had a good weekend, went by too fast if you ask me.
As always, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Every little review, little encouragement from ya has really kept me going with this when I honestly didn't have that great of a hope for it.
WARNING:
This chapter maybe a little hard to swallow for some, like always because of the rating of this fic there is nothing in great detail but more of the aftermath with the mention of blood.
I promise the sun will start to shine on our boys here soon, as I'm trying to work out some minor kinks in the story line that I had originally written out.
I'll stop blabbing now so ya'll can enjoy!
Ch 13- Open Wounds. Friday, October 12th
Friday morning there was no alarm and for once Kai was given the chance to wake up on his own time, though with his mind a mess from the past two weeks he was already up at five in the morning. Cursing everything under the sun for his luck. Obviously asking for one day where he could get a decent nights sleep, as well as sleeping in just a little, was too much to ask.
Even though he had been awake for three hours, it now being eight in the morning and his foster family getting up and ready for the day, he had yet to move from his bed. Having laid there staring up at his white ceiling and the fan, that was currently turned off since it already felt like a freezer in the room, for the past three hours.
His bedroom door opened without warning, Tala poking his head in and smiled at him when he saw Kai staring back before he stepped in further into the room, dressed and ready for his final day of college before the weekend.
"So, what's the plan today?" Tala asked as he placed his hands on his hips, staring Kai down who shrugged at him.
Tala's smile flipped into a hardened frown as he narrowed his eyes at him, "You get to skip school and you're not going to do anything?" He practically whined at him.
"I'm sure I'll find something…" Kai rolled his eyes at him, how or why Tala always found a way to be bright and sunny that early in the mornings Kai would never know.
"Ugh, you've got to be the worst teenager in history." Tala huffed out in another whine, looking like he wanted to pull out his hair.
Kai shrugged at him, he had some homework he could do just to pass the time but beyond that there wasn't much for him to do. If he could he'd go back to sleep but that was nothing more than a pipe dream, even if he felt like the dead.
"Alright, well I gotta go so I'll see you when I get home." Tala said as he turned on his heel, not getting an answer from his brother and slipped out of Kai's room before anymore words were spoken between them.
Kai shuffled down his bed a little, his hands over his stomach as his mind turned into a blank slate. There really wasn't much he wanted to do at all, not with everything that had just crashed down on his shoulders without want or warning. He figured by now Ray and the others were already at school so that left him alone with no one to talk to until the day ended, his week of being grounded was almost up even though he now had his phone back which still did nothing for him since he didn't have any social media accounts.
Outside in the hall he could hear Natasha and Micah talking before his foster father had to leave, and he half expected Natasha to come in and check on him but she never did.
What seemed like a few minutes of just laying on his bed he checked the time, he had been sitting there for another two hours as it was now ten in the morning. He groaned and ran a hand down his face before he pushed himself off his bed, heading for the bathroom to take a shower to try and feel slightly better.
Washed and clean and still not feeling any better he dressed for the day back into his night clothes and headed to the kitchen, he was starving, but when he got in there it was empty. He would have panicked a little, being home alone, but since it made him a little more happy that no one was there to bother him he just went around and grabbed some cereal to eat and took it to the living room to zombie out in front of the TV.
With his legs crossed on the couch, the bowl in one hand and spoon in the other and crimson eyes focused on Gordon Ramsey tearing another one of his contestants a new asshole his phone beside him dinged. He ignored it at first until it went off again and he rolled his eyes, snatching it up after putting his bowl on the coffee table in front of him.
{Where are you two?} It was a group chat between Tyson, Max,Ray, and him. Tyson having been the one to initiate the conversation.
{Not feeling good, sorry.} Was Ray's reply and Kai's heart sunk to his toes.
Without really thinking he bolted off the couch and to the front door, completely forgetting that he was still in his pajamas. The cold air hit him but it still didn't make him go back in and change, instead he rushed across the sidewalk, his feet almost burning with how cold the concrete was against his skin and jumped the three steps to Ray's front porch before he started to throw his fist against the front door.
It wasn't until a few minutes later did it finally hit him about what he was doing, but Ray had already opened the door and gave him a questioning look. In nothing but a pair of black silk basketball shorts with his hair undone, the black locks falling around him and some over his shoulders.
"Kai… What're you doing here?" He asked as he opened the door some more, his golden eyes still slightly wide.
"Why aren't you at school?" Kai countered, a tad breathless.
"I asked you first." Ray said in a teasing tone as he leaned against the door.
"Got the day off because of tomorrow… Are… Are you alright?" He breathed out, hoping to anything that he was actually sick from the other night of being out in the cold with him but the smarter part of him felt like it already knew.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm alright." Ray said a bit uneasily, the lie apparent on his face and before he could say more Kai shoved himself past him into the house, his eyes blazing dangerously.
"Kai!" Ray exclaimed as he shut the door, spinning on his heel but couldn't find it within him to tell him to leave.
"Show me." Kai said, noticing the broken pieces of something in the hall and what looked like a trail of blood that went from the bedroom at the back to the bathroom door.
"I'm fine." Ray tried again, not liking that look in his eyes.
"I won't ask again." Kai ground out, his fists clenching at his sides.
Ray fought the battle within him to keep stalling, not wanting to kick him out either even if that's what he would have done if it was someone other than Kai.
He turned back around to face the door, pulling his hair over his shoulder like he had the first time he had showed him. This time some pieces of his hair was stuck in the dried blood and he hissed as the strands got snagged, deciding it best to leave it and just wait for Kai to do something as he could feel his eyes on his back taking it all in.
"What… What the hell did he do?" Kai asked, having fought the lump in his throat and felt himself moving towards him.
"You mean what did I do…" Ray sighed as he dropped his hair and turned back around to face him, slightly startled with how close Kai had stepped up to him.
"Nobody deserves that, regardless of what they did." Kai said in a dark tone, his eyes having that murderous look in them again.
"Well, not much I can do about it now." Ray said with an almost carefree attitude, it happened and it wasn't the first and more than likely not the last time it would.
"It wasn't that bad." He added, hoping it would stop that look in Kai's eyes that frightened him more than his uncle ever did.
Kai just gave him a look that spelt it all out for him without Kai having to say anything, sinking into himself as he skirted around Kai towards the hall. Kai watched him go through what he guessed was the kitchen giving him some space before he followed after him, stepping over the broken glass so his own feet wouldn't get cut.
Sure enough they came into the small kitchen, the counters outlined the left of where he stood under the curved archway and followed the wall in front of him and ended with a small set of cupboards. To the right of him was a small square table with four chairs around it, and at the back was a sliding glass door that led outback.
He had never really noticed it before, having only been in the house once, but there were cat trees in almost every open space of the tiny home, several bags of cat food in the corner of the kitchen by the glass doors, and a litter box but he didn't see any cats and the house didn't smell like there were any either. On any other given time he would have questioned it but he wasn't there to learn about it so he pushed it down, stepping up to Ray who had gone to rummaging through the fridge across from where he had been standing.
"Well since you're here, you hungry?" Ray asked as he pulled out a loaf of bread and the other fixings he'd need, holding them up in a friendly gesture at him.
"Ray…" Kai started only to get ignored as Ray walked past him to the empty counter, next to the sink, and set everything down.
"Do you like mustard?" Ray asked, having to go back to the fridge.
Kai didn't say anything as he watched him, knowing exactly what he was doing and watched him pull out the bottle of mustard and mayonnaise before taking them back to the other things he had pulled out earlier.
"How many do you want?" Ray asked as he pulled open a drawer, fetching out a butter knife.
Kai rolled his eyes, he'd about had enough of this and stepped up to him and grabbed his wrist and snatched the knife out of his hold, tossing it into the sink as he glared hard at him. Ray could only stare back; his face having gone almost white at how terrified he looked and felt until his brain registered that it was Kai and he relaxed a little.
"That was clean." He rolled his eyes at him, knowing exactly what he was doing and wasn't fixing to stop.
"I'm not hungry."
"Well I am." Ray bit back and finally pulled himself out of Kai's hold, pulling open the drawer again and got out another butter knife.
"This has to stop." Kai's voice rumbled out of him, sounding deadly and irritated.
"And what do you suggest I do?" Ray said as he started to make his sandwiches, trying to ignore the hardening glare at the side of his head.
"Tell someone, anyone, who can help you!" Kai yelled back.
"I already told you." Ray said as he slapped some mayonnaise onto his bread, still avoiding looking beside him.
Kai made a noise in his throat, his fists clenching at his sides as he ground his teeth together. He was sick and tired of this and even if he couldn't see the new marks on Ray's back right now he could still see them in his head, only setting another fire within him.
"And what if he kills you next time?!" He shot out, trying to keep himself from shaking at the thought of it.
Ray finally looked at him, setting down his mayonnaise covered piece of bread and the knife. "He won't, that much I can promise you. I get a few beatings here and there, like I told you already it's not as bad as it used to be, but he wouldn't kill me."
"And how do you know that?!"
Ray sighed heavily at him, closing his eyes for a second to try and keep his own nerves from snapping on him. "Because I'm more useful alive than dead right now. He's an asshole, not stupid Kai." He said as he turned back around to finish making himself something to eat.
Kai went silent for a minute trying to think of something to say, something to convince him to finally tell someone other than him but his words never made it out of his mouth. The images of Ray's back still hitting him like a short movie on repeat, each time only making him get angrier and upset for him.
"What is it…" He finally breathed out, not really what he had initially wanted to say but it was out now.
"What's… What?" Ray asked as he finally finished his sandwich making and tossed the mayonnaise covered knife into the sink.
"What he uses." Kai said in the same low breath, his face softening slightly.
"Oh…" Ray said and with one hand holding his sandwich he started to clean up the mess he had made, putting everything he had pulled out of the fridge back where he had gotten them from, biting into his sandwich at the same time.
Kai watched him, not sure if Ray was going to tell him or not now that he had asked. He could keep pressing but part of him really didn't want to know, didn't need to know since it really wouldn't matter if he did or didn't.
Once the counter was clean and Ray's sandwich was almost done he finally turned to him, holding his crimson eyes with his golden ones.
"You sure you want to know?" Ray asked and it took Kai a minute to think over his answer before he nodded, his heart starting to beat harder in his chest.
"It's a Cat O' Nine Tails, think he got it from a sex store or something a few years ago when he wore out his belts." He told him as if he was telling him the weather, but Kai's heart had stopped for a second as it sunk into the pit of his stomach.
"I'd show you but I don't know where he keeps it, and he locks his bedroom door when he leaves." Ray added and finished his sandwich finally, carefully looking at Kai to see if he could get a read on him.
Kai just stood there a little numb and a lot more angry. He'd personally kick down the man's door just to go and find it and burn the damn thing, but that more than likely would only cause more problems since he was sure Ray had probably thought the same thing a thousand times over.
"What happened?" He finally found his own voice, and once again was dreading the answers.
"Didn't show up at work yesterday." Ray said plainly.
Kai stood there more stiff than before, his fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides as he desperately wanted to hit something. That was a piss poor excuse, they both knew that, but to his uncle it probably was justification enough. He alone had never really done anything to warrant the shit he got on his end, why would it be any different for Ray?
"Did you… Did you clean them?" He asked, almost shyly as he tried to look at him again.
"I took a shower, but I can't reach them." Ray said and Kai nodded.
"You need to clean them…" Kai said.
Ray nodded, "I know, but I can't." He repeated.
"…I can…"
"You don't-" "Ray." Kai cut in before Ray had the chance to finish, giving him a look that dared him to protest.
Ray huffed out and shook his head at him before he walked past him through the curved archway of the kitchen to the small hall, and a wooden dresser with glass doors that sat between the bathroom door on its right and another door on its left. He pulled it open and dug through it, past the stack of towels, pulling out a first aid kit from the back of the top shelf and held it out to him.
"Knock yourself out." He said as Kai took it from him, having stepped over the mess on the floor and his heart sinking again at the trail of blood on the floor.
Ray turned back to face the small wooden dresser and pulled his hair over his shoulder again, folding his arms on the top of the dresser as he leaned against it. Kai popped the first aid kit open and pulled out several alcohol wipes and some Band-Aids ranging in size and shape before he sat the kit down by his feet, his throat clenching up on him again as he took in sight of his back. Knowing that no matter how hard he'd try he'd never get the sight out of his head.
"You ready?" He asked carefully, tearing open one of the alcohol packets.
Ray didn't answer him, his own nerves starting to kick up against him. This was a first for him, having someone see him like this and then to clean up his mess. He felt bad, kicking himself for having ever told Kai at all but was still slightly thankful for the help he had.
The second the wipe touched his skin Ray jerked and hissed out as the alcohol burned the cut just below his right shoulder blade, that one had been the worst of them all as it was near the bone. Even though they had already started to scab over there were still parts that had yet to close up and it stung, almost worse than when he got them and it didn't help that his hair had gotten stuck in some of them.
"I'm sorry…" Kai said in a low voice as if he were afraid talking louder would cause problems, working the wipe down the cut and got another hiss from Ray as his back tensed.
Kai tugged at the hairs that were stuck in the dried-up blood, putting it over his shoulder with the rest of Ray's hair before he started up again. Ray would have normally bit someone's head off for having touched his hair, even if it was just a strand or two, but since it was Kai who was trying to help him he bit his tongue.
"It's alright…" He said through grit teeth, "Just stings…"
"I know." Kai said, dabbing up some extra blood until the wipe had turned almost a rusty colored brown and tossed it on the floor before opening another one and went to a small cut near the center of his back.
There were so many, too many to count, and now up closer he could see the more faded ones and ones that had been reopened or added on top of older ones. There wasn't an inch of tan skin that wasn't cut or scarred on him.
Kai continued to work, cleaning up the wounds he thought were worse off than the others and had gone through six packets of wipes before he went to putting on the Band-Aids to the cuts that looked like they needed it.
"You know you're gonna have to come back and take these off." Ray said as he felt Kai step back from him, finally pulling himself away from the dresser and turned back around as he pulled his hair back behind him.
"They should fall off after a few showers." Kai said as he cleaned up the wads of paper and blood stained wipes from the floor.
"Well if they don't you're taking them off." Ray said in almost a playful tone, picking up the first aid kit and putting it back from where he had gotten it.
Kai had gone off to throw everything else away in the kitchen, coming back to Ray on the floor with a wet towel trying to scrub up the blood on the floor. Once again Kai's throat clenched on him but he got down on his knees with him, picking up the pieces of glass that looked like it came from some kind of figurine.
"You don't have to do this…" Ray said quietly, stopping for a second to look up at him.
"Neither should you."
Ray smiled a little at him and went silent as he started to scrub at the floor again. The two working quietly with Ray scrubbing the floor and Kai having gone to get the broom and dustpan to throw away the glass, staying in the kitchen and started washing the dishes in the sink for him. The second Ray heard the water start up his mouth opened to protest again but felt it was a loss cause and let Kai have at it, once more thankful for the help he was getting from him.
Before Kai could forget he texted Natasha to let her know he was at Ray's doing homework since they were both home from school, omitting the reason Ray was home, since he didn't know when she'd come home. It didn't take long before she texted him back letting him know when she would be home, telling him he was on his own for dinner since she was out for the day.
With the hall scrubbed down Ray got off his aching knees and stretched out his back, getting a pop, before he went to his room at the end of the hall and looked at the mess that had been made the night before.
He got to work on fixing his sheets that were falling off the bed in the left corner of his room, gathering them up in a bundle in his arms and tossing them out the open bedroom door to put them in the wash. Moving onto the side table where his stereo had gotten knocked down, it only hanging off the side by the power cord, setting it up right again before moving to pick his desk chair up where it had fallen over. Being absorbed in fixing his room he hadn't noticed Kai standing in the doorway of his room, almost jumping out of his skin when he turned to leave.
"You have got to stop doing that." He said as he put a hand to his bare chest, trying to still his frantic heart.
"Sorry…" Kai said a bit embarrassed, crimson eyes quickly taking in Ray's room since it was the first time he had seen it.
It was smaller than his, more of a square than a rectangle like his, everything almost decked in white and black with a few paintings and scrolls that had Chinese lettering on them or scenes of a bamboo forest or temple. It wasn't what he would have imagined but it suited him.
"Was there anything else you needed me to do?" He asked after coming back from checking out the room.
"You really didn't need to do any of what you've already done."
"That's not what I asked." Kai said in a playful tone, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Ray rolled his eyes at him, "I just have laundry to do, but really you don't need to clean my dirty socks. If you must help though, the living room and kitchen need to be swept and cleaned down. There's cleaning wipes in the cabinet closest to the doorway, above the microwave."
Kai nodded, having gotten his orders he went back to the kitchen to clean down the counters as Ray gathered his sheets up and carried them through the kitchen to the back door where the washer sat on the covered back porch. When he came back Kai was already done cleaning the counters and had started sweeping, he left him to it and snatched up the towel on the floor in the hall and took it to the bathroom and shut the door behind him; he didn't need Kai to see the blood that was all over the place.
Once satisfied with his task he took the wet rag and just threw it in the trash, not wanting to bother trying to get the stains out of it and glanced at the clock on the stove; they had been cleaning for almost three hours and it was one in the afternoon.
"You hungry yet?" Ray called through the curved archway, Kai having been in the living room sweeping.
"No."
"Okay…" Ray sighed as he went back outside to pull his sheets out of the wash.
With no dryer he took them to the clothes line and hung them up, hoping that they'd dry in the cold when Kai stepped out on the back porch.
"You can use our dryer." He said as he watched Ray throw up the bottom sheet on the line.
"I don't want to cause problems." Ray said as he fixed the sheet over the line.
"No ones home, and they're not going to dry out here in this weather."
Ray stepped back from the sopping wet sheets he had just hung up debating whether or not he should take the offer, already he was freezing just being out there in nothing but his thin shorts. Before he could respond Kai was there beside him pulling the sheets back down, the water seeping through his own clothes.
"I'll put them in." He said and turned on his heel away from him before Ray could protest.
Ray watched him go around the side of the house, his face warming despite the cold. "Good job at keeping your distance… Idiot…" He grumbled at himself, taking himself back into his own house so he could get the rest of his actual clothes that needed to be washed.
He grabbed a clean shirt from his dresser that sat at the end of his bed, facing the opposite wall of the door, and slipped it over his head before he pulled on some jeans and picked up his clothes basket and carried it to the front door. Kai already outside on the front porch again as if he was waiting for him, the two exchanged a small smile and Kai took the basket from Ray's hold as he stepped out of his home and locked the front door before following Kai back to his house.
"Since you helped me, what can I do to help you?" Ray asked as he leaned his shoulder against the doorway of the laundry room at the end of the hall of Kai's home, watching him toss in his dirty clothes in the washer.
"There's not much that needs to be done, might be some dishes." Kai said as he started the wash up and sat the clothes basket on the top of it once he closed the lid.
Ray nodded and went down the hall before Kai could stop him, having to follow after him and grabbed his soggy cereal he had left on the coffee table before joining Ray in the kitchen who was already unloading the dishwasher.
"So… Since you know why I stayed home today, why did you stay home?" Ray asked as he continued to work, instead of asking Kai where things went he just opened the cabinets blindly until he found the right one.
"They let me have the day off because of tomorrow." Kai answered as he pulled out a silver pot, fiddling with it in his hands.
He had already told Ray this but figured with everything else that had just happened he didn't think Ray had remembered, and he didn't blame him.
"Oh… That's right you have that court hearing, I'm sorry I almost forgot." Ray said as he came back to the dishwasher and plucked out two glasses.
"It's fine, not like you don't have your own problems." Kai said as he finally took the pot over to the cupboard by the stove, pushing the pot inside it with the others.
"How long do you think it's going to be?" Ray asked once he found the cabinet of other glasses.
"More than likely all day."
"Ah, so no chance of you coming to the dance then." Ray said and even though he had tried to sound normal there was a waver in his tone.
"You're still going?" Kai asked with a cocked brow, after what had happened to him he didn't think he'd go.
Ray shrugged at him, the two standing on either side of the empty dishwasher. "It'll keep me out of the house and Max paid my ticket already."
He turned to the sink, being the one beside it, and turned the water on to wash the dishes that were awaiting their much needed bath as Kai came around to help him but got pushed away.
"Nope, you scrub my dishes I scrub yours." He said with a toothy grin, planting himself more in the center of the sink so Kai couldn't come back beside him.
Kai rolled his eyes at him and leaned up against the counter beside the sink, folding his arms over his chest as he watched him for a moment in silence. Ray could feel Kai staring again, like he always did, and his own face started to heat up and he shifted where he stood and fought with himself from staring back at him.
Mentally he was screaming and kicking at himself, wondering what the hell had happened to his vow of not being close or getting any closer to him and here he was doing his dishes because Kai had done his for him.
Without warning his dream came back and his face burned, as if trying to scrub it away he worked harder on the plate in his hand and had to stop himself before he snapped it in half and put it in the dishwasher.
It was already too much for him and the problems it would cause him were there at the back of his head, like they were in a neat little file for him to shift through and go over one by one. Starting from his uncle and how he'd react to it, to the possibility that he was just reading too much into it all and would just wind up like Oliver; alone and abandoned by his best friends.
He couldn't keep doing this though, he had to stop it even though he didn't want to. The little crush he was getting had to be stomped out, someway or another.
Even though he told himself these things that didn't stop him from finishing washing the dishes and Kai switching his laundry out like there were already playing house together. Nor did it stop him from making them some dinner by five and watching TV together before Ray felt it was time he had to go back home before it got later, having been watching TV for three hours now.
Being the love sick puppy he was Kai walked him home, carrying his laundry and gave it to him once Ray had unlocked his door. His uncles truck still not in the drive so they both had some relief from that, if even just a little.
"Well… Um… Thank you… For helping…" Ray said uneasily, knowing full well he was just stalling now.
Kai nodded, "Have fun tomorrow…"
"I'll try… Good luck tomorrow." Ray said, shifting the basket under his arm. "I'll um… If you want… You can text or call me anytime…" He added and quickly kicked himself again.
"Same." Kai said as he locked eyes with him, making sure he got the hint and once Ray nodded he toned down the look a little.
"Night…" He still couldn't find it within himself to go back inside but he knew the longer he stayed out there with him the more he'd regret it.
"Night." Kai responded and turned away from him, stepping down the three wooden steps of the porch and started back for his own home.
Ray watched him go as his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest, his golden eyes slowly going lower to Kai's ass and he felt like he got hit by a truck before he shook himself out of his staring and went into the house, slamming the door shut and hitting his head against it a few times as if it would knock some sense into him.
To his dismay, it didn't.