Ben's POV

My hands were shaking as I sobbed into Oliver's shoulder. The pain was still raw as Oliver rubbed my back and kept trying to comfort me,

"It's okay, I've got you, take as long as you need. Don't worry, you're awake now."

I realized my entire body was shaking as Oliver kept comforting me. I was still breathing heavily until Oliver pulled back and looked at me. He grabbed my face and made me look at his eyes,

"Hey, breathe, take a deep breath, breathe when I do, okay?"

I managed a nod still violently shaking. Oliver started to breathe in, and I tried to follow his pace. He held his breath for five seconds and then exhaled, me still following his pace. I slowly felt myself begin to relax as I continued to breathe with Oliver.

"There we go, calm down slowly. I've got you, just breathe."

I kept breathing to that pattern until I could breathe normally and had stopped shaking. I felt Oliver hug me again and keep rubbing my back until I started feeling tired again. I heard Oliver quietly humming a soft tune helping me fall asleep.

The next thing I knew, it was morning. I shifted to feel Oliver was still hugging me. I looked up to see he was still asleep, I slipped out of his arms carefully and made it out into the kitchen to see my Dad sipping his coffee looking at me. I started to make breakfast until my dad interrupted my thoughts,

"Who's that brown-haired kid who was hugging you while both of you slept?"

I froze, he had seen Oliver. I turned to face my Dad but instead of seeing a scowl I saw him grinning at me playfully. Oh no.

"Dad whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it. He's just a friend of mine."

My dad wiggled his eyebrows at me while smiling.

"Stop thinking it!"

I said loudly and heard a crash come from my room. A panicked Oliver ran out. His hair was messed up from sleeping and his T-shirt was disheveled.

"What's going on, I heard yelling."

Oliver assessed the situation. He looked at me then my dad and then looked down at his human form. His eyes widened as he realized he wasn't a dog. My Dad started howling with laughter as Oliver looked at me puzzled.

"Don't ask." I said and pulled Oliver over to a seat and had him sit next to my Dad as he wheezed from laughing. Oliver ran his hand through his hair and fixed his shirt.

"Oliver this is my Dad, Dad my friend Oliver." I glared at my Dad as I emphasized the word friend. I saw Oliver looking between me and my Dad with a horrified expression on his face, causing my Dad to start laughing again. Oliver sat down,

"Sorry for the intrusion, Ben just forgot to text me last night, so I panicked and ran over," Oliver said making eye contact with me.

Smooth, I thought as my Dad laughed,

"No need to apologize, what happened to your cheek kid?"

Oliver's hand touched his cheek where I had put the bandage,

"I got beat up by the bullies at our school, luckily Ben patched me up."

Oliver smiled at me and I laughed.

My Dad nodded,

"Why're they after you?"

Oliver laughed,

"Oh, you should have seen it. It was awesome, he came up to me and my friends, put his hand on my shoulder, and I turned around and was like, Hi, nice to meet you. But he was like," Oliver slipped into a mocking impression of Angus with a really deep voice and put his hands on his hips, "I don't associate with guys like you," Then returned to normal Oliver voice, "And I was like, well you put your hand on my shoulder, and what do you mean guys like me? and he said," slipping back into his mock Angus voice, "Gay guys," Oliver went back into Oliver voice, "And I, being an openly gay person, stuck my tongue out at him. Well you could guess he didn't like that and threw a punch at me and my friends, so I pulled myself and my friends out of his way, he stumbled, people laughed, the bell rang. I ran inside dragging my friends with that guy yelling," Oliver went back to mock Angus and waved his fist like an old man, "You'll regret that, this isn't over."

Oliver stood up and started bowing,

"That's all for tonight folks. Thank you, thank you very much."

My Dad laughed as Oliver returned to his seat.

"Wow I can tell Ben found a perfect person to hug him while he sleeps."

Oliver laughed as I felt my cheeks go warm,

"Yeah sorry about that, it's pretty lonely at my house, my parents are usually on business trips."

My Dad nodded as I continued to make breakfast,

"Ben's Mom and I are divorced so he goes to her place every other week."

I saw Oliver's head snap up at the mention of my mom. I happened to see how one of his fists clenched up, hidden from my Dad by a vase of flowers.

I turned to my Dad, my eyes still on Oliver,

"Hey, watch the eggs for a minute, will ya?"