Rain Down Temple

Diego awoke in Rain Down Temple. The place was a holistic clinic, but at that moment he prayed for a pharmaceutical miracle.

His lover, Remy, got out of bed, pulling his long dark hair into a ponytail as he left the room. When the young doctor returned he started Diego on IV antibiotics as well as morphine for the pain. This allowed the older man to fall back to sleep, as Remy then he left to attend to other patients and the medical marijuana dispensary at the front of the facility.

Around noon Remy crawled into bed with Diego, caressing his back. "Diego, I want to contact your daughter. It's possible your kidneys are failing. If your fever doesn't break soon I will have no choice but to transfer you back to the hospital."

"Please, just talk to me, I need something to distract from the pain."

Remy kissed his shoulder then stroked his fingers over Diego's chest, caressing the tattoo Diego had of his daughter as an infant. "I want to contact Jen. She needs her father."

Diego fell asleep in Remy's arms but awoke hours later to Remy's cousin Johnny examining him with an ultrasound scanner. The younger man had medical traning as a paramedic, and in that moment he looked like a more clean-cut version of Remy. "Hey, man," Johnny said as he scanned. "Remy asked me to check in on you. You're fighting a really bad infection." Johnny took a seat on the bed. "There's something you need to see." He opened his phone to a picture of Diego's teenage daughter holding her newborn baby. "That's your granddaughter."

There were tears in Diego's eyes. "Your girlfriend, Sara, she's leaving for college soon?" Sara had been friends with Jen, it was no surprise they kept in touch.

"Yeah, in a few weeks. She'll want to see you. Sara idolizes you.

"I wish her a much happier life than what I have endured."

"Yeah, well, her brother is out of the hospital. Remy's working with him, with any luck he'll be walking without crutches by the time they both leave for California."

The thought made Diego smile. Sara was his student but more than that she was his friend. She deserved happiness. And Sara's brother, he was the father of the little miracle in the photo. They were his family, they were who mattered. "Johnny, you're a self-taught tattoo artist, correct?"

"For now anyway. I would love to quit my job and pursue it full time."

"I want you to tattoo my hand and wrist."

"Right now? Like I said, you're fighting an infection."

"Johnny, I never told you the story of my tattoos. Every one of my tattoos was done at a time when I needed to bring peace to my life; after my son died, after my daughter was born. So now, as my body appears to be failing me I believe the answer may lay in tattooing a new image in dedication to my new family."

"Sure, I could sketch out something in black and gray."

"I would like that."

The next day he awoke to Johnny massaging his hand. "I drew something for you." Johnny showed him two images, a devil, and an angel. The devil was small and feminine. Drawn in an anime style, it wore a dress and was reading a book while holding a pencil or perhaps a highlighter.

Diego smiled. "Is that Sara?"

"It's dedicated to Sara and the new baby. Do you like the angel?" Johnny asked. "I was thinking I could do the angel on your wrist and the devil on your hand."

"Can we do it now?" Diego took a closer look at the angel. He knew a lot about Sara's brother, Sean. He suffered from a chronic illness, hence why he was not by Diego's daughter's side. But the boy was an angel; good and kind, he would make a wonderful father one day.

"Sure, if you're feeling up to it."

Diego closed his eyes to meditate as Johnny set up his equipment and began the tattoo. His collection contained over a dozen pieces on his chest, stomach, shoulders, and upper arms but this would be the first for his hand.

"Remy's going to stay with you tonight. If that's ok."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Diego had been looking forward to seeing Remy again.

"I heard he was kind of an asshole last time he was here."

Diego opened his eyes. "Remy said that?"

"He said he wanted to claim you," Johnny said, his eyes focused on his work. "I told him someone like you; a victim, a survivor. You don't need to be claimed. You need to be saved."

Diego glanced at Johnny's neck. The young man wore a gold cross, which hung below his collarbone. "What I need is to rest." Johnny was a good friend, but Diego had enough of Christianity for a while.

"That's fine. I'll finish as quickly as I can." Johnny continued to work as Diego closed his eyes to sleep. "You're lucky you're one of those people who can sleep through a tattoo."

"Luck has nothing to do with it." His body was simply too exhausted to remain conscious.

Diego awoke the next day to find himself attached to a heart monitor. His chest hurt and it was difficult to breathe. He could feel a warm body next to him. "Remy?"

Remy blinked tears from his dark brown eyes. "You had a seizure last night."

The sight of Remy's tears was heartbreaking. Diego put his arm around the young doctor. "I'm truly sorry."

"No," Remy said as he sat up, pulling away. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. Here, I talked to your primary care doctor. I have some pills for you to take."

Diego reached for his hand. "Thank you. I know you care."

"Yeah, I've just got a really fucked up way of showing it." Remy got off the bed.

"Come on, man. It was just a night of rough sex. I've done worse."

Remy chuckled and shook his head as he pulled a marijuana cigarette from a plastic bag. "Do you want to light up with me?"

"Maybe someplace less confined, a garden perhaps?" He knew there was a beautiful garden out back.

"Sure. I owe you that much." Remy left to retrieve a wheelchair. He then disconnected the heart monitor and helped Diego off the bed, wrapping him in a robe. He wheeled Diego out the back, to a garden with a small pool, a waterfall, and a hot tub. "I usually take patients out here for therapy."

"May we sit in the hot tub?" Diego asked. He was nude under the robe and the water looked so inviting.

"I just need to find something to wrap your arm. I wouldn't want your new tattoos to get infected."

Remy helped Diego out of the robe and into the warm water, making sure to rest his tattooed arm on a towel. "Would you like me to turn on the jets?"

Diego leaned his head back to relax. "Yes please."

Remy turned on the jets before stripping naked to enter the water.

"What did my doctor say?" Diego asked.

"You suffer from an autoimmune disorder that causes recurring infections, most likely the result of the damage the roadside bomb did to your back. The exposure to chemicals, radiation, and..."

Diego cut him off with a shrug. "Could be worse."

Remy grabbed his lighter and pulled a blunt from a small plastic bag. "Talk to me about your daughter," he said as he lit up.

Diego smiled. "Mi mariposa."

"Your butterfly?"

"You speak Spanish?"

"I lived in California for a while." Remy passed Diego the cigarette.

Diego laughed and took a puff, then a long drag. "When I was on deployment I would see my daughter in every child's face. She was my beacon, my light, and still is."

"Did Johnny show you the pictures? Your granddaughter is so beautiful."

Diego nodded. "Thank you. She reminds me so much of Jen as a little girl." He paused, pursing his lips as if unsure how to continue. "I must ask. What did Johnny mean when he said, you tried to claim me?"

"What a fucking asshole," Remy muttered. "I was jealous, I still am."

"Of my wife?"

"You love her," Remy said through shaking breath, as he lit another blunt. "She hurts you and yet you still love her. So I thought, if she can win your love with domination, maybe I could do the same." Remy took a long drag, sucking down the blunt until the ash was near his fingertips. "T-That's not love."

Diego rested his cigarette on a dry rock. He reached his tattooed hand out for Remy. "In this life, all we have is each other."

Remy touched him with his dry hand. "The water was a really bad idea."

"I'm a grown man, if my tattoo gets an infection it will be on me."

"Yeah, literally," Remy said with a laugh. He laced his fingers through Diego's, gripping his hand. "I can't believe you enjoy getting tattooed."

"My body is a roadmap of my life."

"When I was little I had gotten really sick and I was in the hospital for over a year. And every single day I had to get a blood draw. My poor veins were torn open, I was black and blue."

"You're saying you have a fear of needles."

"More like a hatred."

Diego stretched his leg to touch Remy. "Would you get one for me?"

Remy shrugged. "You never know what the future will bring." With the blunt hanging from his lips, he scooted closer.

Diego pulled Remy on to his lap. His cock pressed against his young lover's skin, but Diego wasn't hard. Perhaps it was due to how sick he had been, or perhaps he wanted something more. "I want to watch you pleasure yourself."

"Ok," Remy leaned his head back, twisting slightly so he was breathing into Diego's neck. Remy kept one hand on dry land, caressing Diego's tattooed fingers, while his other hand went to work, masturbating under the water.

Diego stroked Remy's chest, tracing his collarbone, then down to his nipple giving it a pinch. As he rested his hand on Remy's ribs, Diego could his lover's muscles tensing. "Yes, that's what I want to see." He moved his hand to Remy's legs, caressing his inner thigh. "Do you know what I thought to myself when I first met you?"

"What?"

"Does that boy know how stunning he is?" Diego could feel Remy's body shivering. "What did you think of me?"

Remy pressed his lips to Diego's ear, allowing the joint to fall into the water. With a quivering voice, he whispered. "I wanted you to hold me." Remy gripped Diego's hand hard. "I know that sounds so selfish. Johnny and Sara told me, from the very beginning you needed help. You needed someone. And I want so badly to be that person." Remy suddenly stopped and moved off Diego's lap. "I can't do this."

"Come on, man."

Remy leaned back to blow smoke rings as he lit up another joint. "I once saw this comic; it had this guy, naked, with one woman on his cock and one on his face. The caption said 'bi-sexual built for two'." Remy started to laugh. "That was me, I fucked my way up and down the California coast." It looked like Remy had more to say but instead, he just got out of the pool. He stood under a nearby waterfall, positioning his body in such a way that allowed him to continue smoking.

Diego already knew he would have a difficult time getting out of the hot tub but he had to try. Pain shot through his back as he placed weight on his arms to pull his 6'2" body out of the water.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." Remy reached for Diego's hand to help him to his feet.

Diego's legs stabilized. He pulled Remy close for a passionate kiss. He pinned Remy's body under the waterfall, leaning forward so the cold water bathed both their bodies.

Diego took the wet joint from his lover's lips. "Are you mine?"

"I'm yours." Remy turned around. He tossed his wet hair and presented his ass, as the water flowed down his back.

"Everything you are?" Diego's cock was hard as he plunged deep, pinning Remy against the rock wall.

"Yes, oh god yes!"

Diego reached around to grip Remy's cock. With one hand pulling his shaft the other hand yanked at Remy's hair. Diego pounded Remy's ass hard, jerking him off with the same level of intensity. When he felt like he was about to explode, Remy collapsed in his arms. That was when he noticed the blood. "Remy, you ok?"

"I'm fine." Remy had multiple cuts on his face, possibly from hitting his head on the rock wall of the waterfall.

Diego watched as Remy wiped the blood from his mouth before picking up his clothes and heading inside. "Remy, wait!"

Remy tossed his clothing on the floor, all except a thick woven belt. He put the belt around his neck pulling tight as he lay naked on the bed. The tighter he pulled the more he moaned.

"What are you doing?" Diego got on top of Remy, removing the belt as Remy struggled against him.

"No! I need to hurt, I deserve to suffer."

Diego kissed the blood from Remy's bottom lip. "You don't. No one does." The larger man moved on top of Remy, pinning his body down. He forced the young doctor's arms over his head. With one quick motion, he secured Remy's wrists to the bed frame. "Just relax. Where do you keep your icepacks?"

"Kitchen," Remy said softly.

Still naked, Diego went to the kitchen/food prep area of Rain Down Temple where he ran straight into Remy's receptionist. "Hello, Syren, right?"

The pink haired girl nodded, as she quickly put down a tray of cookies. "And you're Diego. I remember Remy said something about having a patient in one of the rooms." Her gaze drifted to Diego's cock. "You guys having fun?"

"There was an accident, I was looking for an ice pack."

"Ok," Syren went to the fridge and tossed Diego a blue gel ice pack. "Here, take a handful." She handed him two more. "Remy is a very passionate lover."

"You and him?" Diego chuckled. He was not surprised in the least.

"Not romantically, I'm not..."

"Not what?"

"Not strong enough. I mean, the guy comes off as confident but he's so fragile. Did he tell you about his childhood?"

"He told me he has a hatred of needles."

"Yeah, Remy was really sick as a child." Syren pursed her lips. "Just, please be good to him. If he asks, tell him I have everything covered out front. And take him a cookie, they're chocolate-mint, his favorite."

"Thank you." Diego left the kitchen with only two icepacks so he would have a free hand to grab the cookie.

When he returned to the room, Remy was asleep, looking as comfortable as someone could be with their hands tied. He placed one icepack to Remy's eye, stroking it gently down his cheek. "Wake up Sleeping Beauty, I brought you something." Diego took a bite of the cookie, passing it into Remy's mouth like a mother bird.

"I take it Syren is here?" Remy asked with a full mouth.

Diego kissed his forehead, down his nose to his lips. He stroked the second icepack over Remy's shoulder, to his chest, resting on his sternum. Over Remy's heart, Diego could feel the slightest hint of a scar. He glanced at Remy, looking into his eyes, as he kissed him again, slow and tender.

But Remy turned away. "Just fuck me! Use me! That's all I deserve."

"Why do you say that?" Diego placed the cookie on the bed, to free his hands. With gentle, massaging, motions he removed the belt from Remy's wrists.

"When I was sick, that was when my parents divorced. Since my father was in the military my mother had full custody, and s-she was conservative, very religious. She was totally against surgery, she said the reason my heart was weak was that I was a sinner. If God loved me, he would save me. Even when I eventually recovered from the infection, she beat me and berated me. So when I turned eighteen I ran away to Los Angeles."

As Remy took a breath Diego cupped his face, kissing away Remy's tears. "Let's just say she could give my wife a run for her money."

Remy smiled, quietly laughing. "Yeah, living with someone like that, it kind of makes it hard to know what love is."

"Let me show you." Diego moved the icepack to Remy's left nipple, holding it there for only a moment before administering a warm kiss. He could feel Remy's stomach muscles tighten. The beauty of Remy's nude body, paired with the wavering effects of the marijuana pushed aside any pain Diego had been experiencing.

Remy closed his eyes. "I don't deserve you."

"But I choose you." Spreading Remy's legs, Diego worked his cock into his lover's hole.

Remy's body tensed. He sat up, gripping Diego's scarred back.

As they exchanged kiss after kiss, their bodies locked in intense passion. Neither man was in control. Remy was riding just as hard as Diego was thrusting. But their lips would always find each other.

After they'd both experienced a deep, spiritual climax, Remy rested in Diego's arms. "Diego?"

"Yes, my love."

"Say something in Spanish."

"Alguna cosa," Diego said with a chuckle. It literally translated to `something.'

"Funny."

Diego lifted Remy's face to kiss his lips. "Te amaré hasta el día en que mi alma abandone este mundo. I will love you until the day my soul leaves this world."

Remy smiled as he gripped Diego's hand. "Are you looking forward to showing off your new body art?"

"I'm looking forward to a good many things."