Adi began to see more and more of her Otis as the days went on. Some days were still harder than others as the humiliation ate at him, but he was doing better.

As he stepped out of the shower, she admired him, towel wrapped around his waist, water dripping down his toned chest. He aggressively fluffed his hair with the towel, drying it slightly.

Adi approached him, smiling. "Hey, handsome." She kissed him, pulling at the towel around his waist.

"Who's that, mama?" He smirked. "Hey..." He grabbed her hand, placing it on his back instead.

"You, goof." She kissed him again. "Aww, come on. I wanna see the whole package.

"No." He smirked, toying with her. She pinned him against he counter, letting her hands roam his chest, kissing his back. He moaned lightly.

"What was that?"

"A..Adi..."

"Hmmm?" She snaked one hand down under the towel, fondling him. He gripped the counter, groaning in the back of his throat.

He shoved her off, dragging her to the bed and flipping her onto it, climbing on top of her. She kissed him, running her hand through his hair over and over again. Finally, he broke away, eyes bright and smiling.

She cupped a hand on either side of his face, smiling. "Hey, baby."

"Hey."

She raked her fingers through his hair again. "Your hair is going to be so healthy when it grows out."

He grunted. "Yeah, I can't wait for it to..."

"Awwww, sweetie. It's okay. You're handsome anyway."

He smiled widely. that genuine smile that bunched up his cheeks and showed the dimples near his mouth.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Later that day, Rufus sat in the garage with a beer in his hand, watching Otis wipe the last bit of grease off of the car. He and Otis had worked all day, and were now relaxing with a bottle of beer.

"How've you been doin', man?" Rufus asked.

"Fine." Otis answered.

"No, man...Really, how're you doing?"

"Dude, I said I'm fine."

"Man...It...Like...Sometimes I think about what happened to you and I...It fuckin' pisses me off. It makes me so, so mad. I...I never wanted that to happen to you. I...I love you like a brother man. I do. And...God, thinking about someone abusing you like that...Makes me so, so mad."

Otis was silent.

"I just...I...It just makes me so, so mad that someone did that to you. Like...I...It makes me want to hurt someone. SO bad. I ...They hurt my brother..."

"Rufus, shut up."

"Huh?"

"I don't want to talk about this with you."

"Why, man? I'm the one that pulled you out of there. I want you to talk to me. I want to help you. I..."

"Rufus...I'm not talking about this."

"Otis."

"Do you know how embarrassing it is for me to know that you saw me like that? Do you...Do you know how that..." Otis shook his head. "Fuck, man...I..." He sighed.

"It's just...I don't know how your real brother could do that to you, when I'm not your real brother, technically, and I'm so thankful to have you in my life. I could never, ever hurt you like that."

Taking a swig of beer, Otis nodded.

"So how're you really doin'?"

Otis snorted, looking down at his hands. "Said I was fine."

"Yeah, well I smell bullshit."

"I...I'll be alright, man. I just..." Otis shrugged. "I just still don't feel like me, that's all. I don't look like me when I look in the mirror. I look like...like I used to before I came here."

"You existed before you came here?" Rufus smirked.

Otis chuckled. "Shut up, dude."

"Man, you were a fucking WRECK when you first came here."

"Yeah...Yeah, I was..." Otis admitted. Rufus cocked his head. "What?! I can't deny that one. I was like...80 pounds soaking wet and had god knows what all kind of infections."

"What was it like before...you know. Before you came here?"

"Hell."

Rufus met Otis's eyes. Otis looked away quickly, but Rufus could see the pain in the memories.

"You ever been so hungry that your stomach feels like it's going to eat itself? Ever looked in someone's window on Thanksgiving and see them eating with their families while you're starving and freezing to death? You ever pick icicles out of your eyelashes?" Otis shook his head. "I know you haven't. Because you have a family that loves you. That has loved you your entire life. You grew up with a warm home on winter nights."

"Even when you lived with your parents?"

"Rufus...what part of 'I was abused' do you not understand? Man, they may have kept the heat on for themselves, but I never saw any of it...When daddy would-" Otis stopped abruptly. He hadn't ever told RJ about the sexual violence he had been forced to endure as a child.

"It's okay. I know. I can figure it out, Otis. I'm not stupid."

"A...Anyway...Before I came here...I bounced around from town to town tryin' to find any kind of work I could. I was more often than not living in an alleyway somewhere. And when the winter hit, it was hell. But ah...When I was a kid, mom used to shave my head to try and hide that I was albino. Before that I had long hair, and I always liked it, if I can remember correctly. God knows, I've hit my head a couple times. But that...was a big part of...not being the victim anymore was being who I wanted to be and looking how I wanted to look. So..." Otis shrugged, clearing his throat.

"Ah. That's why you still don't feel like you."

Otis nodded. "I...already regret this conversation."

"Why?"

"Feel too exposed."

"I'm your brother, dipshit. You can talk to me."

"Mm..."

Otis took comfort in knowing Rufus cared that much, even if he wouldn't admit it.