“Fuck you, you fucking bitch don’t touch me again!” Evander screamed and I sighed softly from my chair, my face buried in my hands.

Dr. Davis had come in to change his bandages the day after he was brought to the hospital and Evander was in intense pain, even with medications. He was aggressive, writhing around and crying constantly unless they put him under sedation. There was nothing I could do to help him, I just held his hand when he let me and supported him through the pain.

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Davis shook his head, continuing to remove the soaked bandages as Evander was losing more liquid from his skin than anyone expected and they were worried about infection, “I know it hurts, I understand better than anyone how painful this is. But I have to do it, Evander. If we let them sit, it’s going to fester and become gangrenous or septic. I don’t want to put you to sleep again so please. Work with me here.”

Evander started to cry and turned to me, pleading with his eyes. I jumped up and pressed my forehead to his, keeping as much of my body away as I knew I had to keep myself from touching him more than this when they changed the bandages.

“Evan… sweetie… I know it sucks,” I whispered, closing my eyes, “it was terrible when they would check my stump. I wanted to vomit from the pain when the medication wore off. Breathe in.”

He took a shaky breath and I smiled.

“Good job. Now out. Keep breathing slowly and try to relax as best you can. It’s going to suck for a little bit longer until Dr. Davis can numb it with ointment. Just hang on. Do it for me.”

“Koa,” his voice was shaky, “Koa this is so scary.”

“I know. But you’re so brave. You’re doing a great job.”

“Are you going to stop dating me? I look horrific now.”

“No. You’re beautiful. Even wrapped up like a mummy or covered in scars the same as me. You’re beautiful, Evander. You rival the moon, the silver of your hair. Your eyes calm me the same as the ocean when I watch the waves crash onto the beach. Evander, you have such a precious soul and I hate seeing you this angry because of the pain. You have the best possible doctors working on you. Trust in them. Trust in me. I won’t let them do anything that’s going to hurt you.”

“Taylor,” Alexander stomped into the room, holding a tablet, “stop. Right now.”

“I have to cover it or it’s going to dry out and crack,” Dr. Davis shook his head.

“Taylor, step away,” he growled and Dr. Davis held his hands up, “Koa, you as well. Do you have any cuts on any part of you that you’ve touched Evander with?”

“No,” I shook my head quickly, “not that I know of.”

“We’re taking your blood as well to be safe. Taylor, you need to put on even more PPE if you’re touching his open wounds right now. Not just gloves. Evan, you have a staph infection. We’ll give you antibiotics, but no one should touch you bare-skinned until it passes. We’re going to move you to a sterile room by yourself. I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking over at me, “but you can’t be in there with him. Not currently. You’d have to let us completely sanitize you, turn your arm over to me as we can’t clean it properly, and wear a lot of gear. You can’t bring any of your things either, we don’t know where the infection came from.”

“All I’d need is to be sterilized after you took my blood?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Tell me where to go.”

“Koa, this means you can’t leave his room for at least 24 maybe 48 hours.”

“I don’t care, Matua. You aren’t putting Evander in a room alone when he’s in this much pain. With the right gear, I can touch him right?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then tell me where to get my blood drawn and what I need to do so I don’t have to leave him alone in there.”

“Head to the diagnostic lab downstairs. It’s next to the entry doors. Your dad is waiting for you to take all of your things. Disengage your arm, put it in a bag I give you, and he’ll take it home to disinfect it. They’ll do a rapid test for staph. If you also come back positive, we’ll need to put you in a sterile room on IV antibiotics, same as Evan,” Alexander winked at me and I let out a sigh of relief, “Davis, can you gear up so we can move Evander?”

“I have to wrap his arm and throat. I can’t leave him this way going down a hallway,” Dr. Davis pulled on a second pair of gloves and continued what he was doing, “You’ll have to drag me out, Alexander, if you plan to stop me right now. I saw Evan’s old medical reports. Kids’ been through too much in his life for us to leave him in a state that causes more scarring than I can fight.”

“Fine,” Alexander shrugged, “Go, Koa. Don’t touch anyone, don’t talk unless you have to. Don’t let your dad hug you. He will try even with the million warnings I gave him. I married a fucking doctor, you’d think he’d remember how infections spread.”

“Thanks,” I nodded and smiled at Evander, “I can’t kiss or touch you for a while. It sucks. But… I’ll be there with you. Okay, baby?”

“Promise?” Evander whispered, closing his eyes.

“Absolutely.”

“See you soon, then.”

“See you soon.”

I gathered my things and took the elevator once I was alone, avoiding anyone who came near me for their safety, something I was skilled at from years of fear. Caelan was bouncing near the doors and ran over and I shook my head, laying my things between us.

“You can’t touch me, Dad. I’ve been kissing Evander, holding his hand, wiping away his sweat. The fact he has a staph infection isn’t good. Means I might have it too. I want to hug you, trust me I do. It’s been a hard few days, but I need to get my blood test and run back upstairs so I can be secluded with Evan for two days. Okay?”

“You’re a good man,” he whispered, studying me, “Koa… do you really care that deeply for Evander?”

“Of course I do. He means the world to me.”

“Then give me your arm, get that test, and get back to him. When he’s released, you should stay with us. I can do basic medical care. I’ll keep his arm and throat clean and stable until it’s fully healed. He has mostly second-degree burns but his throat is third degree that’s going to take longer to heal right. Alexi gave me his file to see if I thought he needed physical therapy. He doesn't. You need to focus on university. Trust in me to take care of him when you aren’t home.”

“I do,” I whispered, “god I want a hug, Dad. This is terrifying.”

“As soon as we know, as soon as anyone can be around Evan, I will come and give you both the biggest hug I can. I love you, Koa,” he wiped a tear away and I nodded.

“I love you too.”

I watched Caelan slip on gloves before he gathered my things and left. My blood test came next and they had me wait for half an hour before it came back negative. I had somehow managed to avoid a staph infection even after sharing saliva and touching Evander’s sweat. I was relieved, running back upstairs to the room Alexander had sent to me.

“Matua,” I panted, out of breath after running up 4 flights of stairs, “why are we so high up?”

“Only the oncology wing has sterile rooms,” he laughed, “Alright. You get a mask, gloves, and shoe covers as well as a gown you have to wear at all times. We were going to give you eye protection but with your glasses, I’m not too worried. I got the notice you’re fine so once you shower here,” he opened a door and nodded at a huge shower, “and put on those pajamas I left for you, you’ll be free to suit up and go to Evan. I'm hoping he's still asleep, we had to sedate him again and I plan to keep him under for a while. At least the next day. He’s getting aggressive and I think it’s a trauma response. I can normally talk people down but he’s in such a high amount of pain that he’s actively hurting himself. It’s not purposeful but he’s right-handed and swings out with his burnt arm. I… I’m sorry. I tied down his chest. If he does wake up, we really can’t have him moving. I’m trusting you to be the voice of reason. Evander listens to you.”

“I will do whatever I can,” nodding, I followed his instructions, surprised when I found Alexander still waiting for me, “Matua?”

“Oh. Evander is the only patient I see in person right now,” he shrugged, putting his own gear on and leading me into the room, “shit,” he sighed when we found Evander awake, “Hey Kid.”

“I hate this room,” Evander pouted, “there’s nothing here!”

“Well, we have to do our best to keep you safe. I checked the other parts of your blood tests while Koa was busy. You’re severely anemic, so I want to get you on iron when you leave the hospital. You’ll also need B-12 shots. I can do them though, I’ll just have you meet me here once a week.”

“Mhm. Okay,” he smiled, “I want to go home, Alexi.”

“I know. We’ll get you out of here as soon as possible. Caelan wants you to stay with us at first. He used to be a doctor, he can take care of your dressings while I’m at work and Koa is in class. If you’re okay with that.”

“Can Kip and Queenie come over and visit?”

“You never had to ask,” he laughed softly, making Evander smile again, “when you started dating Koa, we became your family. We know about your parents. I’m sorry for being invasive, Caelan was curious. But fuck them. They didn’t deserve any of you. So we’ve got you and Kip.”

“He’s gonna be a dad in 7 months.”

“Well, then we have our adopted grandbaby too. As long as you’re dating Koa, we’ll be here for all of you. It’s how we were raised. How we raised Koa. Family is what you make of it, not who you share blood with.”

“Oh,” Evander’s eyes grew wide, “I’ve never heard that before. I like it.”

“Good. Now, you’ll probably only be awake another ten minutes so talk with Koa and I’ll come check on you before I leave for the night. Koa, remember, you can’t touch him.”

“I know.”

Alexander left and I scooted the chair over, relaxing as best I could. Evander relaxed, smiling at me and I sighed, studying his face.

“What’s wrong?” Evander whispered, his eyes damp, “Are you mad at me?”

“Never. I’m just worried and want to hold you. But I can’t right now. So it sucks. I promise to shower you in affection as soon as we get the okay.”

“Are you going to stay at your parents with me?”

“Duh. I wouldn’t leave you there alone. I’ll just go check on my townhouse a few times while you heal.”

“Okay,” he giggled, his eyes fluttering closed, “I’m so tired again.”

“Good. You need sleep to heal. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

“Swear?”

“I absolutely swear. Sleep good, Evander.”

“Thank you, babe.”