WARNING: ANGST. SERIOUS THEMES. NOT FLUFF.

Ryan was hardly himself any more. He'd been dating Chad for three months now and he was trying hard to make things work between them. It put a strain on him, because Chad's emotions were often all over the place. Sometimes, Chad was the sweetest guy ever, and it was those times Ryan loved him. But other times, Chad got angry, And Ryan was the one who felt the brunt of that anger.

He stood at his locker; every move he made had him wincing. Last night was one of those times. Even when he didn't want it, Chad gave it to him, whether he protested or not. So he stopped protesting- it felt better that way. He opened the locker and stood there for a while. He was on the verge of falling asleep. Chad had had him up all night.

"Ryan." he heard from behind him, and he jumped, knocking his head against his locker.

He turned, surprised to see Troy there. "T-Troy." he whispered. "What is it?" Troy rarely spoke to him; they were kind of friends, but not really. Troy was Chad's friend. Troy looked him over with an expression Ryan couldn't place. Finally, Troy said, "Come with me." Ryan closed his locker, shifting. "Ok..." he said, pulling his knapsack on. He followed Troy down the hallways, both of them silent.

Troy shoved the doors to the auditorium open. No one was there now, it was the middle of the day. "I have class in 10 minutes." Ryan piped.

"It can wait." Troy sat in an auditorium seat, gesturing for Ryan to sit beside him. Ryan did so, with a little bit of a struggle. Troy watched him. He said nothing, for a long time. Ryan stared at the head, as minutes stretched on. Troy stared ahead too, and Ryan wondered if he was ever going to say anything. "Troy, I have to go to class." he said finally, moving as if to stand.

Troy reached out and pushed him gently back down. When his hand came into contact with Ryan, Ryan flinched. "Sorry." Troy said, noticing. Ryan shook his head.

"It's oka-"

"I know what Chad's doing to you, Ryan." Troy interrupted quickly. He was looking down at his shoes.

"W-what?" Ryan piped. "What're you talking about?"

"He's raping you." Troy lifted his eyes to Ryan's and looked at him. He was clearly very embarrassed talking about this, but he pressed on.

Ryan's eyes widened. "Who told you that?" he whispered. Obviously Chad wouldn't say something like that, so who could've?

"No one." Troy said. "I've noticed. I've noticed the correlation between him being in a bad mood and you limping the next day at school. I've noticed how twitchy and sad you got after you guys started dating, when it should be the opposite. I've noticed how your singing voice is totally...void of something."

Ryan swallowed. "All that, huh?" he said.

Troy nodded.

"Well, you're wrong." he said. "How could you say something like that about your best friend? You should know Chad wouldn't do something like that."

"I know Chad." Troy said. "I know him, I love him. But he has a problem, Ryan."

"Shut up." Ryan said quickly. "Shut up, you're talking shit, Bolton. Stay out of our relationship. I'm not sticking my nose into yours." he was growing angry because Troy was pulling things out of him that he tried hard to keep inside. Fear, sadness, anger, hatred.

"Chad's uncle raped him when he was a kid." Troy said. "Did he tell you that?"

Ryan blinked in surprise, falling silent. Troy looked at him keenly.

"A lot." he added.

Ryan faltered. "I-I didn't know that." he said. Troy wouldn't lie about something like that, and the look in Troy's eyes told him he was very much being serious.

"He doesn't know how to express himself, Ryan. He's messed up inside." Troy patted his chest. "He loves you, but he needs help."

Ryan sat back and listened to Troy speak.

"I love Chad." Troy continued. "But I can't let him mess you up like he's messed up. You've got to admit to me what he's doing to you."

Ryan didn't say anything. He was for sure late to class now. His throat was hot and something bubbled inside it. "He..." he whispered, hot tears coming to his eyes as memories flashed all through him. "He..." he covered his face, his facade falling. "He forces me." he said finally.

"Forces you to what?" Troy whispered. He reached over and rubbed Ryan's back gently, consolingly.

"To do things to him when I don't want to." Ryan sobbed, tears leaking through his fingers. "Everything, whenever he's upset. He doesn't listen when I say no, when I scream no..."

Troy stood up and kneeled in front of Ryan, making the other teen jump. He slowly lifted his hands to cup Ryan's wet cheeks. Ryan's heart jumped a little. He'd never seen such a concerned look on anyone's face before. It was the gentlest, kindest look he'd ever seen, right there in Troy's deep blue eyes. He'd always tossed Troy off as just a straight, bone-head jock. He was very bad at judging personalities.

He cried and cried, his body shaking, and Troy wiped his cheeks. This went on for minutes, till he had a headache. Everything, all the pain poured from him. He collapsed from the chair, into Troy's arms, who held him tight and helped the shaking stop. "It's going to be ok." Troy whispered. "I'm going to get you guys both help. You'll be ok, Ryan. I'll protect you, ok?"

Ryan nodded into Troy's sleeve. "I'll fix this." Troy said, stroking Ryan's hair.

Ryan was lying on his bed, his phone clutched to his chest. Troy had promised to call him the second things were through with Chad. He didn't know how to feel about all this. He was mad at Chad for hurting him so many times, he was mad at himself for never stopping it, for allowing himself to get into this abusive relationship. He was...eternally grateful to Troy. But...he also still loved Chad, deeply. Was that wrong? He was frightened about that. Chad, when Chad was kind, he was so kind. And Ryan felt Chad tried to stop himself, but couldn't. All he could hope was that Chad would get the help he needed.

His phone buzzed and he quickly picked it up. "Ryan. "Troy's gentle voice came across the line. "Someone wants to speak to you." There was a pause.

"Ryan?"

"Chad.." Ryan's voice cracked.

"Ryan, I'm so fucking sorry." Chad whispered. He'd clearly been both screaming, and crying.

"Chad..." Was all Ryan could say. He didn't know how to feel.

"I can't believe...what I've been doing to you. I'm so...I...I..." Chad broke off. He was crying.

"I'm going to get help." he said. "I won't be at school for a couple months. I'm not allowed near you during that time."

"Where're you going?" Ryan asked.

"A center." Chad said. "I'm leaving now...my parents...they know...what I did, and what my uncle did to you. Troy told them everything..."

"Are you mad at him?" Ryan asked.

"No." Chad said. "He's...I'm so...happy I have him. And you have him. I'm sorry. I gotta go Ryan. I'll see you...sometime. I'm sorry."

Ryan felt empty. "I love you." he whispered. He did, he did love Chad. He didn't know if that was ok, if that was allowed.

"I love you too." Chad said, before handing the phone over.

Ryan's face crumpled. He missed Chad already, and he still didn't know how he was supposed to be feeling. "Hey." Troy said.

"Troy, thank you so much for helping Chad..." Ryan said.

"I'm just mad I didn't do it earlier." Troy said.

"Troy, I still love him. Is that wrong?" Ryan asked.

"No." Troy said quickly. "He needs your love, my love, his parents love, all of us, right now. He's been through a lot Ryan. It's ok to love him. I hope he'll be better soon."

"...Will we be able to date?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know." Troy said. "You've got to get counselling too, Ryan. When you're better, when both of you are better...maybe, I dunno."

"I miss him." Ryan whispered.

"I'll be here for you." Troy said.

"Troy, how come you noticed all that about me..." Ryan asked, curious.

"Because I notice you. I love you." Troy said. Then the line was dead. He'd hung up.

Ryan's heart pounded. Now he really had more questions than answers.

But at least now he could recover. Things would be ok.