Disclaimer: Don't own!

The water cascaded upon his frail yet strong body, hair matted down on top of his head.
Eyes clenched closed, a soft moan passed through his tight lips as he leaned his head against the porcelain tiles that covered the wall of the shower.
A scratchy soft washcloth gently touched his shoulder, and a yelp tore out of his throat.

"Shush, Connor. It's just me."

An arm wrapped around his waist, and Connor leaned back against the strong body.
"Sorry," He whispered, feeling the arm tightened its hold on him before relaxing.
Connor sighed as he grabbed the hand that was circling his navel and turned around in the hold. He weakly looked up at Stephen before letting his eyes fall downwards at his feet...

"Con," Stephen whispered, reaching out to cup the student's chin and tilted it upwards so their eyes could meet.
Connor avoided his eyes, and tried relentlessly to pull himself away from the lab technician's hold.
Stephen frowned at the movement, and whispered even more softly, "Connor, what's wrong?"

"Nothin'!" Connor shot back, pulling himself from the embrace and leaning against the shower wall. His head throbbed and the coolness of the tiles comforted him somewhat.
His eyes trailed shut, but his heart literally jumped out when a body pressed itself against his backside.
"I'm fine," Connor whispered, feeling hands rubbing along his shoulders before a gentled squeeze at his buttocks had his breath deepen.

"You're bloody far from fine, Connor," Stephen stated, feeling the student's body shake and tense.

The water continued to fall upon the two, and Stephen's eyes darkened as he saw the shudders racing through the body that was in his arms.
"Connor," He whispered, leaning forward to kiss the back of the student's neck.

"Please..."

The rest of the sentence didn't need to be said, and Connor sniffled a bit before leaning back against Stephen.
"I killed them," He whispered softly, his hands balling into fists.

Stephen froze.

"Who?"

Connor gave a choked huff, his fingers relaxing before turning around and half glaring at the lab technician. Water droplets slithered down his arm and dropped from the strands of hair resting lumpy-like upon his head.

"Those soldiers," Connor weakly shot out, his eyes squeezing shut.
Stephen stared dumbfounded at this revelation from the student; soldiers came and went all the time... It was part of the job.
"It's their job, Con-" Stephen began but the student cut him off, "To die, Stephen? What do they do, sign up to be kill?"

Stephen shook his head, "It wasn't your fault though, Connor."
"Yes it was!" Connor shouted, tears falling from eyes but losing themselves amongst the flowing water.

"How?"

"I told them the area was safe... My laptop didn't pick up any more signs of those creatures," Connor heaved, silently thanking Stephen for having his arms around him as he sagged against the body.

Stephen tightened his arms and pulled the student against him before leaning his head down.
"It wasn't your fault," Stephen whispered once more, kissing the top of Connor's head and feeling the student's head rub against his chest.

"It wasn't," He whispered even more sternly now, his lips trailing down and kissing at Connor's cheek and neck.
Connor whimpered and Stephen detached his lips from the student's throat, glancing up at him.

"Look at me," Stephen said roughly.
Connor glanced up, his eyes red and Stephen's eyes soften a bit.
Leaning forward, Stephen claimed those pretty pouting lips with his own and felt a moan rise from the student's throat.

"It. Wasn't. Your. Fault." Stephen said in-between kissing Connor like there was no tomorrow.
Connor mumbled incoherently and wrapped his arms around the lab technician's neck, clinging to the older man...