Haunted

"Can you keep a secret?" - UNEDITED

Disclaimer: This chapter has not been edited from the original as posted on JBFF. There will be mistakes, typos, continuity problems and other issues.

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"Ow, no, just stop," Eli was saying as Maddox got closer to the bathroom. "Keep that thing away from me."

"You'll be sorry," Adam said.

Maddox paused in the hall, trying not to laugh. He'd heard versions of this conversation many times before - but usually just when he and Brent had them.

"Babe, stop," Eli protested again.

"Just a little," Adam insisted. Eli gasped, like he was in pain.

"More lube," Maddox called. He couldn't help it. Adam and Eli cracked up and a second later Adam came out of the bathroom, fully clothed.

"Eli fell when he was running this morning," Adam said. "He scraped up his knee, I'm trying to clean it for him."

"That's adorable," Maddox said. He followed Adam back into the bathroom. Eli was sitting on the sink, ointment and antiseptic next to him. "You big baby."

"I'd like to see you do better," Eli accused. "That stuff he's using hurts."

"I swear he still has balls," Adam told Maddox. "They were just in my mouth this morning."

"Ooh, good for you," Maddox grinned. He took the gauze pad from Adam and started picking at the gravel in Eli's knee. Not that Adam wasn't doing a good job but Maddox knew Eli'd probably already bitched at poor Adam enough. And he knew Adam didn't really want to hurt Eli.

"Fuck, Dax," Eli groaned.

"Shut up," Maddox gave him a look. "Come on, I'm barely touching you."

"It feels like you're chipping away at my bone," Eli said.

"Avery doesn't even fuss this much," Maddox pointed out. That was true, Avery had his dramatic whiny moments but he never seemed bothered by an injury.

"Did you just come here to torture me?" Eli asked. He gasped again. Adam leaned over Maddox to kiss Eli. "If you're trying to distract me, it's working," Eli sighed.

"Uhuh," Adam grinned. Maddox looked up at them.

"You two are better, aren't you?" Maddox asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Eli said. "It took a while, but we got better."

"I'm glad," Maddox said. "Okay, this piece is gonna hurt."

"Oh god," Eli mumbled. Maddox smiled as Adam took Eli's hand while he got the last and biggest piece of gravel out of Eli's knee. It was a bad one and Maddox felt awful when he saw it come loose because he knew it had to hurt like crazy.

"You're done now," Maddox promised, getting clean gauze to stop the bleeding. "Sorry, I know that sucked."

"It'll be fine, just take my leg off," Eli said.

"The drama," Adam teased.

"Want me to kiss it better?" Maddox asked.

"You get anywhere near it and I'll kick your teeth out," Eli warned. Maddox laughed.

"Alright, I have to get Bryce from camp," Adam said. "You good?"

"I can take it from here," Eli said. He kissed Adam before he left.

"So how did you do this?" Maddox asked, reaching for the ointment.

"I took a shortcut," Eli sighed. "I should have stuck to the route, but I was feeling lazy."