Chapter 5

TW: mention of vomiting.

Malik woke up a couple of hours later to knocking at his bedroom door.

"Malik? Are you coming to eat?" Bruce asked

Sitting up, the boy felt wetness underneath him, he pulled the blanket away and looked down. He'd wet the bed.

"Erm...yeah...In a sec" he replied, panicking.

"Everything ok?" The man asked hearing a change in the boys voice

"Yeah I'll be down in a minute" Malik told him whilst stripping his bed, he waited till he'd heard Bruce go downstairs to leave his room and get new bedsheets. He hadn't thought of how he'd get his wet sheets cleaned without Bruce knowing. He didn't want to tell the man, especially after their argument.

He put the fresh bed sheets on his bed and hid the wet ones under the bed, he'd wash them later tonight when Bruce was asleep. Then he quickly got in the shower, got changed and went to sit in the kitchen.

"Where were you?" Bruce asked, curious as to why the boy had taken so long.

"I just quickly got in the shower, I always feel sweaty after sleeping." Malik wasn't exactly lying,  he did always shower when he woke up.

"Alright.." Bruce was suspicious, but decided not to question Malik, as he knew how short tempered and defensive he was.

"So I take it that tantrum before was due to you being tired?" The man asked

"I didn't have a tantrum" Malik said looking up from his phone frowning

"You kicked the door" Bruce laughed

"You made me mad!" The boy replied

"Well I'm sorry" Bruce said

"You're actually so annoying sometimes, and horrible" Malik told him

"I wasn't trying to be horrible, I was just teasing" the man chuckled

"Well don't"

"Why do you think people tease you so much?" Bruce asked

"Dunno" Malik shrugged, "cuz they're bored and stupid."

"No, because you give people the reaction they want"

"Why would anyone want to see me mad?" The boy asked, confused

"It's hilarious, and you get wound up so easily. It's great. And cute" Bruce said

Malik frowned "it's not hilarious...or cute!"

"It so is" Bruce laughed.

After eating the two talked and laughed all evening, until they were both ready for bed. They said goodnight and went to their rooms. Malik waited about an hour or so, till he heard Bruce snoring and knew he was fast asleep, before creeping downstairs to wash his bed sheets. After he successfully got his bed sheets in the washing machine, he went back to his room quietly, not to wake Bruce, and fell asleep.

The next morning Bruce woke up earlier than usual. He went to the bathroom, got showered and brushed his teeth before going to Malik's room to check if he was up. The boy was sound asleep, like a baby. He shut the door quietly and went downstairs to the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, Bruce noticed something in the washing machine. "I haven't put a wash on.." he thought to himself, opening the door and pulling out Malik's bedsheets. They were clean, so they must've been put in a while ago. Had the boy wet the bed again? He shut the door and thought to himself as he poured his coffee "when I checked on him just before he was still wearing the same pyjamas he had on last night after his shower...how? When would he have wet his bed?" It was then Bruce remembered how Malik mentioned yesterday that he'd had a shower because he'd been asleep, meaning it must've happened when he was napping.

Bruce had it all figured out, but he wasn't going to say anything. He didn't want to trigger another temper tantrum. The boy was clearly embarrassed and still didn't feel comfortable coming to him for help. Malik would tell him when he was ready, hopefully.

"Morning" Came a voice from in the doorway, interrupting Bruce's thoughts

Bruce turned to see Malik stood at the door, rubbing his eye.

"Morning, sleepy head" The man said before sipping his coffee

Malik yawned as he sat down next to Bruce, putting his head on the counter and letting his eyes close.

"Sleep well?" Bruce asked

The boy nodded, although he was still tired.

Bruce ruffled his hair, he wondered if this would be a good time to ask Malik if he'd wet the bed during his nap yesterday, but decided not to.

"So, what do you want to do today?"

Malik sat up "I dunno, maybe just watch movies? I don't feel so good to be honest"

Bruce put his hand to the boys forehead, "you are quite warm, have some water" he said, before getting up to get him a glass of water.

"Drink this"

Malik sipped the water slowly, but suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable.

"What's the matter?" Bruce asked, concerned. He watched as Malik got off the chair and walked towards the door, before he leaned forwards and started vomiting.

"Oh god, you poor thing" he brought a chair over to the boy and made him sit and comforted him. "You're really not well, are you?" He sympathised.

Malik shook his head as the man rubbed his back.

"Go lie down on the couch whilst I clean this up" bruce told him, helping him up off the chair. After cleaning the mess on the floor, he brought a bucket and a glass of water into the living room and placed them next to the boy, who was now falling back asleep on the couch.