Adored

Eight

Up in the bathroom, Felix had stripped Easton, his eyes lingering on the small petite body, noticing every scar, cut and bruise. The poor lad, he thought, but to not scare the boy he kept his mouth shut.  He didn't want to ask questions that would bring up bad memories of the horrible year Easton was put through, not within the first few hours of having the boy, anyway. They didn't want the child to feel overwhelmed. They had to work on things slowly.

"There we go, the bath is done. Want to go on in?" Felix watched as Easton stared at the bubbly water in the tub, eyes drifting off into a world of his own, panic starting to tighten within his chest. "Easton, honey, water doesn't hurt you." The man dipped his hand into the relaxing warm water to prove it.

Easton shook his head, he had a different opinion on the matter. For the year he was put through torture, he received not so pleasant baths. He used to love them, splashing around and being all giggly and making bubble beards, though that was when his Mummy was still with him and his daddy.  Mummy left him with his daddy, and then bath times weren't fun anymore, instead, they became traumatizing and scary.

"Easton, can I ask you a big boy question?" The dark-haired man shuffled in his crouched position next to the bathtub. "Did your daddy ever hurt you in the bath?" Felix nearly couldn't bring himself to say the word, especially when the title of 'Daddy' is one to be used on those who earn it. Sure the man could have earned it when the boy was born, but if these marks are anything to go by, then he should no longer be called such, especially after hurting a child, his flesh and blood no less.

Easton nodded, hands fiddling with themselves as he shivered from a memory that had started to play on repeat in his head.

Flashback

He stood in a small bathroom, fully stripped of clothes as his Daddy ran the bath. Both taps turned on full, the water bare of any bubbles or bath bombs.

"Get in, boy!" His Daddy shouted at him, even though he had done nothing wrong. He's never done anything wrong as far as he's aware of, which confused Easton, but he endured it. It was the only thing he could do.  His daddy seldom explains anything, just shouts at him.

With the tiniest of hesitation, Easton did as he was told. Climbing into the bath, whines that tried to escape him quickly stopping as his daddy glared at him. The water was freezing. (Which if Easton understood how anything works, he'd know there are other issues going on because with both taps on, the water should have been at least tepid.)

"C-c-cold!" Easton shivered, his lips slightly blue. Tears brimming to his eyes as he got slapped around the face, uncomfortably hard.

"Shut your fucking mouth, ya little shit. You should be grateful that I'm even allowing you to have a bath, you filthy boy! Now hurry up, this is expensive shit." Ryan spat as Easton, who was getting supervised in the freezing bath as he shampooed his hair as told. He didn't do a great job of it, as for a five-year-old his hand coordination isn't great. Usually he ended up getting it into his eyes.

Chocolate brown eyes sadly peered up at Ryan, knowing what came next. It always happens when he had a bath, which is once a month if that, typically when his daddy felt like giving him one, which was rare.  Squeezing his eyes shut instinctively, the black-haired boy let out the tiniest of squeaks as his hair was tightly yanked. And all too quickly, his whole face was submerged underwater. The strong hand that held him underneath didn't let go, remaining in his hair holding him under.

He couldn't breathe.  He needed air, but he couldn't pull himself out.

End Of Flashback

A hiccupped gasp escaped the boy's mouth, feeling like he had just now come out of the water, with his chest heavy and throat dry. However, it was just a memory, a flashback that had crawled to the front of his mind, re-enacting the memory scarily clearly.  He was trapped in his little world, eyes distant as his breathing labored, trying to struggle his way through the horrible memory, that is until he heard his name being called. He knew that voice, it was so familiar and yet his fuzzy head couldn't decipher who it was.  The voice pulled him away from the bad memory and into the present.  It was a calm voice saying his name nicely.  It drew him back and he found himself in a very different bathroom to the one in his memory.  What was the nice man's name again?  Felix, that's his name. Yes,  he was the other nice man's husband.