Page 15 of Hold Me Down

Good thing she wasn't here to offer any commentary, really. She would not let him forget about how he'd found himself in his current circumstances, whether he liked it or not.

"Knock, knock." Travis appeared in the doorway and looked him up and down. "You need any help?"

Obviously, Dave thought but swallowed it down.

He didn't want to start a fight—or worse, push Travis into a self-blame spiral.

Still, Dave absolutely hated the idea of asking for help to go to the damn bathroom.

As if he couldn't hop towards it, grabbing the crutches on the way.

Or as if he—

Well, he had no real idea what else he could do, which was a treat in and of itself. He was a grown man, a capable man, and he was now completely dependent on somebody else.

He couldn't decide whether it would be better if that somebody else was a person he knew or not. Would it be easier if he had a nurse coming over and helping him out with basic things? Or maybe the discomfort of a stranger would always be too much and Dave should start learning how to lean on his loved ones?

Either way, he was apparently taking too long to answer, because Travis crossed the room and put his arm around Dave's waist.

"Bathroom?"

"Yeah."

And that was it. Putting more of his weight against Travis was familiar, even if not in circumstances like this one, and it gave Dave the answer he was looking for—he would never want to do this with someone he didn't know.

Once they got to the bathroom, Travis hesitated, but Dave waved him off.

"I'll be fine with this part. If you wanted to go make coffee, however…"

Travis snorted. "The coffee's ready, Your Highness. Now, I'm gonna sit there," he pointed behind him towards Dave's bed, "and wait for you to be done. Holler if you need anything."

I need a leg that's not broken.

Dave turned away towards the sink to hopefully hide the grimace he didn't manage to hold back.

This wouldn't do. He had to get his shit together or else he was going to turn into a whiner, and nobody wanted that—especially not him.

Thankfully, his morning bathroom routine helped him to perk up a little. While he needed to navigate his steps with care, by the time he returned to his bedroom, he felt much more like a functioning adult.

Somewhat functioning, at least.

What stopped him in his tracks wasn't his leg, but the sight of Travis sprawled on his bed, lying back and propped up on his elbows, looking absolutely delicious. His dark blond hair was long enough now to fall onto his forehead and his tanned skin was in sharp contrast against Dave's white sheet.

Dave wanted to eat him alive.

"We need to figure out how to have sex with a broken leg," he blurted out without thinking, and Travis chuckled.

"I wouldn't say no to exploring our options after breakfast, as long as you're up for it."

Dave paused halfway to grabbing his crutches, but then Travis was suddenly there—always paying close attention, even if Dave would prefer him not to, sometimes—and they didn't need words to know what would happen next.

"Low-hanging fruit, man," Dave muttered as he let Travis lead him out of the room.

"I'm an easy guy, what can I say."

There were many things that were easy about Travis, and about the two of them, but not all of it was. Dave had come to terms with it, though, as much as he could, and he'd adjusted his expectations accordingly.

He was still working on reining in his hopes, but he would get there at some point. While the dating experiment had been a mistake, it was probably him moving too fast, too quickly. When Dave decided to try again, he definitely needed to take his time.

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