Lowlight

5.

Hashirama:

I drove him to my apartment. 

He was leaning against the window of my car the entire way, his eyes closed, not saying anything. I didn't speak, either. When we arrived, I just scooped his limp body up from the car seat and carried him to my apartment.

"Please, help..." he said in a quiet voice. 

The things that must be going on inside this kid's head... It was heart-breaking

"What do you need?"

"Shower..."

I was taken aback. "You want me to shower you?"

He nodded tiredly.

I took him into the shower and undressed him to his t-shirt and underwear, not daring to go further. But Madara seemed disgusted by this, clawing at his clothes, desperate to get them off. I understood. I understood his desire to feel clean, to escape from what he was wearing, so I took the rest of his clothes off, too.

I took the showerhead and washed him off, took care to put shampoo and soap on every centimetre of his body. There was nothing sexual about the situation; it was only natural I helped this man. The whole time, he sat down, his head slumped back on the stone tiles behind him, eyes closed, frowning slightly. At one point, it dawned on me how completely he must trust me to let me touch him all over his body just after being raped.

"Madara..." I murmured when I realised, taking just a tiny second to put my hands on his cheeks. 

For one hot second, that blinding rage surged up through me, but when I looked at Madara again, it dispersed and disappeared. He was what was most important right now. We would have to go to the hospital and police station tomorrow, but not right now. Right now, he needed me.

I took a clean towel and dried him, then dressed him in a pair of checked pyjama trousers and a t-shirt from my own closet. They engulfed him, but he brought the fabric of the t-shirt to his face, devouring the clean smell, clearly relieved.

"Hashirama, thank you..." he said, voice still small.

"Hush, silly", I just said.

I warmed some mock chicken broth for him and gave him a piece of bread with it I'd baked this weekend.

"I don't think I can-" he began.

"I know, but you must", I said sternly.

And it turned out he could. He ate the whole thing, and looked so disappointed when he'd finished that I couldn't help but smile a little.

"You want more?"

"Oh... Umm, no..."

I laughed and gave him more.

He devoured it all.

I gave him a spare toothbrush, then I went to my bedroom where I changed the sheets of my bed and carried him to it. I would sleep on the couch.

I was just going to leave when he spoke.

"Hashirama", he said softly.

"Hmm?" I stopped in the door frame.

"I don't know what you look like. You've done so much but I don't even know what you look like."

He stretched out his hands, and I understood immediately. I took two steps and sat down on my double bed, facing him.