Page 64 of The Chemist

Blindly, Diesel reached for whatever it was that Zero was trying to pass him.

It was some tissues.

Grateful, he took the tissues and began wiping his mouth.

Fuck, he hated his life. Between being found passed out in a drug den by Matteo and now puking his brains out in front of Zero, he felt like the biggest piece of trash alive.

“Thanks,” was all he could think of to say.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Diesel wasn’t going anywhere. He still felt nauseous, and his mouth tasted like trash.Oh, great. Now his stomach was starting to cramp. Could this night get any worse?

After God knows how long, Zero finally returned to the scene of Diesel’s self-imposed humiliation.

“Here, come with me.” He reached into the car and wrapped his arms around Diesel’s chest, helping to lift him from the front seat.

His body was warm and gentle, taking on most of Diesel’s weight in order to support him on his feet.

Talk about a sad sight. Worthless stripper-druggy can’t even stand on his own two feet. God, he was pathetic.

“What? Where are we going?”

“Inside. I got us a room,” Zero explained, leading them toward a room on the far side of the motel.

The motel was L-shaped, so they could still monitor the doctor’s room if they chose to. Well, Zero could, but Diesel wasn’t so sure that he could remain standing for very much longer.

Once inside, Zero helped him to the bathroom and sat him down on the edge of the bathtub.

“I’ll be back in just a sec.”

Zero vanished into the bedroom, leaving him wondering if he had left him there to die. Diesel wouldn’t blame him. Nobody wanted to watch a man throw up their guts and then have to carry their sorry ass around.

Go on, run. Leave me here to die alone. We all end up alone in the end anyway.

“Here,” Zero said, entering the bathroom and startling the shit out of Diesel. The man was holding up a toothbrush in one hand and a travel-size bottle of mouthwash in the other. “Thought you might want to brush your teeth.”

Confused, Diesel stared at him for a moment. That was… thoughtful. He was just going to rinse his mouth out with nasty motel tap water, but hey, brushing his teeth with actual toothpaste was even better.

Wait. Toothpaste.He didn’t see any in his hand.

“Oh,” Zero blurted before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a travel-size tube of toothpaste.

Jesus. The man thought of it all.

“Umm, thanks,” Diesel whispered, struggling to stand up from the tub. He was still embarrassed as fuck, but the feeling of death was helping to push that feeling of embarrassment back to the side.

Within seconds, Zero was by his side, helping him over to the sink and then holding him up as he slowly brushed his teeth.

As he moved the brush back and forth in his mouth, Diesel’s eyes drifted to Zero, who was staring at his body with a look of concern.

Was he… worried about him?

But why?He had been nothing but an asshole to him since the day they met. Okay, fine, so he sucked his dick and cuddled with him the other night and maybe showed him a bit of kindness here and there. But seriously, most guys would have walked away and let him deal with his shit on his own.

Once Diesel was done, Zero helped him to the bed and stripped him down to his underwear.

“I take it you probably don’t want to rest in soiled clothing,” Zero explained.

---