Chapter 10

9:38am

Bruce sat up and pushed his hair out of his face, before reaching for his glasses. The man laid in his warm bed for an extra few minutes, making the most of his time off work and not having to get up so early. He'd almost dozed back off again when there was a quiet knock on the door.

Malik walked in.

"I didn't expect you to be up so early, Malik, I've only just woke up myself." The man chuckled tiredly.

"I- my stomach hurts really bad...and..." Malik stood in the door way, shivering as his cold, wet pants clinged to his skin.

Bruce sat up and saw straight away, he was surprised by how much there was, no wonder his stomach hurt.

"Oh Malik"  Bruce sighed walking over to him and rubbing his back as he sniffled. "Go get some medicine for your stomach and I'll run you a bath, take those wet pyjamas off too."

As the boy turned around to walk downstairs, Bruce noticed that the back of his shirt was also wet towards the bottom. He guessed that the puddle on his bed was going to be quite large.

Malik was unsure what medicine he was supposed to take, so he presumed he was supposed to take the one Bruce had been giving him. Completely unaware that he was taking more diuretics, he swallowed the pills with a mouthful of water.

The boy went back upstairs and into the bathroom to see if his bath was ready, thankfully it was, meaning he could get out of his cold, wet pyjamas.

Bruce added more bubble bath into the steaming water. "There you go, the heat should help with the stomach pains. Did you take some medicine?" He asked turning to Malik.

"Yeah, and thanks" Malik replied, hoping he'd hurry up and get out so he could get undressed.

Bruce noticed how uncomfortable he looked and got the hint, "I'll go sort the bed out then, call if you need anything".

Malik nodded and watched as Bruce left and closed the door behind him. He began getting undressed, pulling his t shirt off to realize the back of it was also wet towards the bottom. Gross, how did I go so much?  He then peeled his pyjama pants off along with his boxers, leaving them in a pile on the floor. He got into the bath and began scrubbing himself, he felt gross and was disgusted with himself, why couldn't he just wake up and go to the bathroom like a normal person anymore? He leaned his head back and relaxed as his body sunk into the hot water. He closed his eyes and thought hard about how he was going to fix this.

"You forgot your towel, and clean underwear and pyjamas" Bruce said, walking in without knocking.

Malik's hands flew to his crotch as he sat up quickly, "GET OUT, IM NAKED!"

"Boy, firstly we've got the same parts, secondly, how do you forget a towel and undies?" The man questioned.

"Please just get out!!" The boy begged, embarrassed as he tried desperately to hide his body in a mountain of bubbles.

"Alright alright! I'm going." Bruce took the pile of wet clothes on the floor out with him and closed the door.

Malik decided he was done with his bath. He stood up and stepped out of the bath, wrapping his towel around him. It was warm, like it had just came out of the dryer. He had to admit, although bruce could be really annoying and extremely embarrassing sometimes, he was very thoughtful and Malik knew he cared about him a lot.

Bruce knocked on the door again.

"DON'T COME IN!!" Malik yelled, pulling his boxers on quickly, even though his skin was still damp.

"I'm not going to! I was just gonna say your beds all changed, that's all" Bruce laughed

"Oh, thank you" Malik replied as he continued to pull his shorts up, tying the drawstrings and then putting his hoodie on. He drained the bath and opened a window to let the steam out before going downstairs.

"You ok?" Bruce asked

The boy nodded as he walked over to the fridge to get a drink, his mouth felt weirdly dry, like he'd not drank anything in weeks.

"Hows your stomach now, is it still sore?"

"A little, but it feels better than it did before" Malik replied

"Told you that bath would help." Bruce smiled

Malik took one of the big glasses out of the cupboard, and almost filled it to the brim with orange juice. He chugged half the glass In about 5 seconds.

"Hey, slow down! No wonder your stomach hurts boy, you'll make yourself sick" Bruce told him, taking the glass and putting it on the side. "You can have some more in a minute"

Malik rolled his eyes and went into the living room. He didn't feel like going anywhere today. His stomach wasn't sore as much anymore, it just felt funny. He turned on his Nintendo switch and connected it to the tv to play Mario kart. Malik secretly hoped that Bruce would come in and join him after he'd finished his morning coffee.

He had nearly finished his last lap, when suddenly his crotch grew warm, it took him a few seconds to realize but when he did, he looked down to see a puddle forming in his lap. The boy watched in shock as it began to drip off of the sofa, and felt it spread under his bum.

He was wetting himself. He was actually wetting himself. And the worst thing about it was that he wasn't even asleep. He didn't know what to do with himself, pee was just gushing out of him and wouldn't stop.

Bruce walked in and was confused as to what was happening, "Malik! Malik, stop! Go to the bathroom!" the man pulled him onto his feet.

"I can't"  the boy sobbed

"Alright, alright, calm down. Don't upset yourself over it, it's easily cleanable" the man rubbed his back.

He waited for the boy to finish urinating before pulling him into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Bruce" Malik told him In between sobs.

"Hey, I'm not mad. But why didn't you just go to the bathroom?" The man asked.

"I- i didn't know I needed to, I mean, i didn't feel like I had to go. It just started coming out, and It wouldn't stop" the boy sniffled.

Bruce thought for a second.

"Does your stomach still hurt?" He asked

Malik shook his head, "it just feels funny"

"Alright well listen, don't worry about this, I can clean it up. Go get in the shower and I'll bring you some clean clothes." Bruce said, patting the boys back.

Malik nodded and went upstairs to the bathroom. He peeled wet clothes off of him for the second time that day, and it was still morning. He stood out of the shower waiting for it to warm up. Bruce knocked at the door.

"Can I come in, or do you want me to leave them outside?" The man asked, respecting his privacy.

"Leave them outside- please" Malik replied.

"Sure thing kiddo" Bruce left them in a neat pile in front of the door.

Malik stood in the shower and scrubbed his lower half clean, again. Once he was done he turned the shower off and dried himself. He kept his towel wrapped around him and cracked the door open slightly, just enough to fit his arm through to grab his clean clothes.

He shut the door again before pulling his t shirt over his head and pulling his shorts up. He quickly put his socks on and went back downstairs. Bruce was in the kitchen.

"Sit down, Malik" the man said.

"Am I in trouble...?" Malik asked, looking up at him.

Bruce's heart dropped seeing tears forming in the boys eyes, "no no, of course not, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay.." Malik looked down and fidgeted with the drawstrings on his shorts under the table.

"I think we should look into getting you some protection"

"What do you mean by protection-" Malik asked, still avoiding eye contact

"Like...protective underwear" Bruce stirred his coffee.

"NO!"

"Malik, it won't be for long-"

"I DON'T CARE! I'M NOT WEARING A NAPPY" the boy yelled, standing up

"It's not a nappy, Malik. It's just underwear that's a little more absorbent. Just until we can get you into the doctors."

"Please Bruce, I'm not a baby! It was an accident, I'm sorry!"

"I'm not saying you're a baby, but surely you don't want to keep waking up wet and now wetting yourself in the daytime too." The man tried to reason with him.

Malik stayed quiet, Bruce did have a point. He hated the feeling of waking up in a cold wet bed. Not to mention how embarrassing it is to still be having accidents at his age.

"Just try them, Malik. If you try them and you still don't like them then fine, I won't make you wear it. But at least try for me, please."

Malik folded his arms on the table and put his head down. "Alright.."

Bruce smiled to himself, ruffling the boys curly hair.