Ah, but Caleb had not; Essek just…had a difficult time, preoccupied with his concern, his frustration, and his need to go over and kiss him and tell him exactly how he felt. The complex questions of Is this the same as his own Caleb? Is this just an Echo of a timeline? sometimes tried to sway him, but even then, it was Caleb.

It was…always Caleb.

He turned around and any hope of not blushing went away; he could feel the color in his ears. This bathroom was proving itself to be a dangerous place for both of them, it seemed, charged and electric and something to maneuver carefully in. The water on Caleb’s skin was only marred by the red eyes, the blood, the marks.

Violet eyes softened, and he grabbed a cloth from the sink before kneeling down beside the tub.

“That does not look comfortable,” he softly teased, dipping the washcloth into the water, and carefully running it down one Caleb’s arms, hoping to wash away the blood. He made a point not to look down, even if he had seen everything on this wizard all before.

“I can pause if it hurts.” But not stop completely. This needed to happen.