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The bright, warm light of the early morning sun spilled through the gap in the curtain, shining directly onto Rayleigh's face. Rayleigh grunted, trying to get out from under his husband's arm so he could close the curtain and attempt to go back to sleep. When he twisted, trying to at least wiggle his way up the bed so that Roger’s arm would be directly on his hip, Rayleigh stopped almost instantly, feeling a sharp pain shoot up his spine. He sat there, not moving, hoping—praying—that it was a one-time thing. The last thing he needed today was excruciating back pain.
Unfortunately for Rayleigh, it wasn't a one-time thing. He tried to sit up this time, but stopped, the pain so bad he gasped a little too loudly. Roger stirred at the sound of his husband gasping in pain. In his usually rough-with-sleep voice, he asked, eyes still closed, “What’s wrong, Ray, darling?”
Rayleigh tried his best to sound somewhat normal, hoping his husband would be too tired to notice the way his voice sounded off. “Nothing’s wrong. I just turned the wrong way.”
Roger grunted, opening his eyes while sitting up to see Rayleigh leaning back on his elbows, face scrunched in discomfort. “Ray, this doesn’t look like nothing’s wrong. Is it yer back again?” he asked, gesturing to him.
Rayleigh tilted his head back while he replied, “Okay, maybe I’m not okay, and yes, it is my back, but it’s not that serious. Curse you for being so well attuned to me, always beginning to be able to tell when shit’s wrong.”
Roger chuckled at that, moving so that he was sitting up on his knees. “Well, what do you need me to do? Can ya at least lower yourself back to the bed, or is it one of the real bad days?”
Rayleigh sighed. “I can try to lower myself, but it hurts like a bitch this time. Probably worse than last time.”
Roger just nodded while crawling over so he could place one hand on Rayleigh's lower back, toward his hip, and the other farther up his spine. As he lowered Rayleigh back, Roger said to him, “Okay, Ray, just tell me if it hurts too much and I need to stop.”
He got a nod in response.
Once he got his husband lying flat on his back, Roger got off the bed as gently as he could so as not to jostle the mattress and cause Rayleigh more pain. Without saying anything, Roger walked to the spot on the floor where he had discarded his sleep pants the night before, slipping them on so that he could go get the items he had learned over time were both necessary and nice to have when Rayleigh's back pain flared up, especially like this.
Back when it was just Roger and Rayleigh on a small boat, just starting out their careers as pirates, Rayleigh hadn’t mentioned the fact that he had back pain that would flare up periodically, even after he and Roger had gotten into a relationship. After eight months of being on that boat together, and being official for seven of those months, Rayleigh had a flare-up so bad he couldn’t even turn onto his side. That was how Roger learned about his back pain. He also learned Rayleigh had previously had flare-ups while they had been together, and he never told Roger, deciding to stay quiet about the pain.
Rayleigh had explained to him that the pain was from an injury he had when he was a teenager, where he fell onto a rock and landed on his back.
Over the years, Roger had learned what things would help with the pain, what made it worse, and that when this happened, Rayleigh usually wanted Roger as close to him as possible.
Roger was gone about thirty minutes before he came back with pain pills that Crocus made for Rayleigh specifically, an ice pack and hand warmer, some extra blankets, along with three pillows from the linen closet.
Roger set the items down at the foot of the bed. He grabbed two of the pillows and gently turned Rayleigh onto his side. He placed one pillow under Rayleigh’s hip; the other was placed under the middle of his back. Roger didn’t need to tell Rayleigh what he was doing, because Rayleigh had full trust in him and was familiar with this routine—hence why he just lay there limp, eyes closed, letting his husband take care of him.
Once Roger had Rayleigh in the position he needed him in, he got two of the pills from the bottle, handing them to Rayleigh with the glass of water from beside the bed. Rayleigh took the pills with no complaint.
Roger placed the ice pack onto Rayleigh’s back, holding it in place with the band of his sleep pants. He left the hand warmer on the nightstand for later.
Roger turned around to take his sleep pants off, but stopped when he heard Rayleigh whine, “Roger, husband, captain, please, please, please don’t leave me. It hurts.”
Roger chuckled to himself, seeing that the meds, like always, were working quickly, already making Ray unable to put on the lone wolf act. He turned around and lowered himself to his knees while he grabbed Rayleigh’s hand.
“Ray, my darling, I’m just taking off my pants. I’ll come lay with you in just a second, alright?”
Rayleigh stayed silent for a minute, then nodded yes.
Roger placed a kiss on his head, then walked away to take his pants off.
When Roger came back to the bed, he gently lay behind Rayleigh, careful not to move him too much. When he lay down, he placed his arm under his head and put his other hand on Rayleigh’s hip, his thumb rubbing circles into the skin. He placed gentle kisses on Rayleigh’s head, neck, and lips.
He watched as Rayleigh’s face relaxed as he fell into sleep, the pain relieved for now. And when, in a few hours, he woke again inevitably in pain, Roger would do whatever he could to ease it.
Because he loved that man, and he loved taking care of Rayleigh when he allowed him to.
It was his greatest pleasure.