It had been a good life for Briar.

He had always been the perfect child, the one his parents were proud of and the one his peers aspired to be. Athletic, attractive, popular and outgoing, not to mention extremely kind, it was no wonder people found it hard not to expect great things from him.

Especially his parents, who were absolutely thrilled that their one and only child was being looked at by amazing colleges and invited to train under professionals in the athletic world. It was their dream come true.

Only, in that dream their perfect child never did anything out of the ordinary... until he did. Found half naked and moaning in his bedroom with Harlow, every expectation and affection they had held for Briar shattered.

As did life as he knew it.

Being homeless was challenging enough, never mind for a seventeen year old boy. But not wanting to have such a shameful and disappointing person as their child, Mr and Mrs Everton cut all ties with him and found no guilt within their hearts as they threw Briar out of their home and lives. Even as he begged and wept, they never opened the door again.

And so began Briar's life of suffering. He had done many thing's he would always find shameful just to survive the streets which held their own set of laws and rules, their own hierarchy, but through it all he had a silver lining; Harlow.

Harlow was also having troubles with his own family, but while they refused to house Briar (who they saw as a delinquent and bad influence) they still loved their son enough to hesitantly accept him. And so the two youths met up as often as possible, talking about anything that was happening in Harlow's life, such as his college studies and thriving social life. Briar was extremely thankful to have still been chosen by his boyfriend despite being told there being so many flirty people wherever Harlow went. 

And, of course, when they met there was sex. There were barely times when they were together without alcohol and sex taking place, especially after Briar finally became old enough to go clubbing with his friends met during his time of immense struggle.

Despite having nothing but a tent and a few cheap but invaluable possessions to his name, Briar was scraping by.

And once Harlow, aged twenty two, invited Briar to live with him... the nineteen year old was positive this was where his life turned around. That this was when he was finally going to be able to live.

Though, neither young men had understood just how traumatic being homeless and all that had happened in those two years had been to have affected Briar so deeply. But night after night he awoke drenched in sweat and soaked to the bone in fear. Loud noises made him flinch, sometimes he found it difficult to sleep on a bed rather than on the floor. He couldn't trust anyone except Harlow, fear of being robbed or assaulted always plaguing him.

And it was only worse when he was left alone, no one there to reassure him that he was finally safe, that he wasn't alone anymore.

Briar craved protection from all he knew could hurt him and to be told that what he had now, wouldn't be taken away like it had before.

And one day, it happened. He had been feeling odd from the moment his eyes had opened following yet another night of restless, haunted sleep. His mind was working differently, analysing things in ways that didn't quite make sense.

Once Harlow left for the day however, it kept getting worse. The panic was mixing horribly with whatever was happening to his mind. Scared, alone and desperate for someone to hold him, to tell him the monsters in the shadows weren't real and to cuddle him until all was right within his little mind, he could only wait for Harlow.

Unfortunately, once his boyfriend arrived home late in the evening and saw poor little Briar sobbing on the ground, blabbering about bad men coming for him and sucking on his thumb for some form of comfort, Harlow did not offer any reassurance.

Instead, he became irritated.

"What the fuck are you doing? Get up".

But Briar couldn't hear him past the sound of his own uneven breaths and tears, having worked himself up into a frenzy during the hours he had been left alone.

"For fuck sake..."

And walking up to the purple faced Briar, Harlow went stiff when arms wrapped around his leg and refused to let go.

"P-please, no l-let them get me! I scared!".

"Why the fuck are you talking like that?" Harlow asked, frowning down at him.

For almost an hour this went on, Harlow asking questions and receiving no answers he could make sense of because Briar didn't understand. When asked why he hadn't cooked dinner yet or started getting ready for meeting with a client, all he could do was cry louder because still, Harlow wouldn't cuddle him.

Until eventually, the elder of the two snapped. Grabbing Briar by his bicep and hauling him up from the ground, Harlow dragged the struggling boy to the bedroom.

"Fine, you want to act like a child? Then I'll fucking treat you like one".

Shoving him into the room, Harlow quickly closed the door as he left. Briar was confused for only a moment until the click of a key being turned could be heard, and he began to become hysterical.

"No! No! Lemme out! S-scared!"

"The guys want to go out so I'll be back in the morning. If you want out that bad, stop acting like a fucking freak and do it yourself. I won't tolerate this shit. And if you're like this when I get back...".

Footsteps followed by the slamming of the front door sent Briar to his knees, pounding his fists on the door until they cracked and he screamed until his throat burned.

"P-please! I sowwy! I-I-I be good. So-owwy, come back".

But Harlow didn't accept the apology and open the door. In fact, while he was out with friends, hitting up bars and casino's, Briar had been completely forgotten about.

In this headspace, he did not know how to use his phone. How to open the door that had a lock and latch. How to cook food, so he had in fact not eaten or drank since the night before.

And since the switches were not the usual flick ones, he could not figure out how to turn on the lights within the pitch black room.

New fear began settling into his gut. Before, he had been terrified of the wide open spaces that came with living on the streets, the uncertainty of not knowing where or where danger could come from.

Now he knew the terror of being enclosed in a space he had once found safe, but now found frightening. In the dark, hiccupping from hysterical crying and tummy cramping in hunger, he curled onto his side and squeezed his eyes shut.

"If you're like this when I get back...".

No... anything but that. He couldn't find out what else that bad man could do to punish him for being the way he was. He needed to go back to Big Briar.

And once he was found in the morning, severely dehydrated and in agony from slamming himself into the door all night, he apologised.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what happened..." he croaked and Harlow, steeped in the scent of alcohol and foreign cologne, grimaced.

"I've heard of it before, the age thing- and it's fucking disgusting. It's sick. I don't want to be with someone like that, you understand?".

Briar did:  if he wanted to stay, it could never happen again.

***

"And other than one time when I slipped up but was home alone for a few days, I didn't regress again. The urges to do childish things grew stronger but became easier to ignore with practice. So, no, Harlow never hurt me. He just has a short temper, which he's honest about. But I don't want to be around him when I'm, uh, like that".

Briar concluded to Jesse and Quinn.

"He locked you up? For how long?" Jesse asked shakily.

"Uh, well I'd been upset and alone the whole day but after he did that... about ten hours".

And when Jesse launched across the table to tackle him into an embrace, running their fingers through his hair soothingly and quietly sniffled into his ear, it was like Briar had only just realised what he had finally said aloud. What had been done to him. How bad it all sounded outside of his own mind.

"You're safe with us, I promise. You did nothing to deserve that and there's absolutely nothing wrong with you" Jesse whispered, kissing his forehead and hugging him tighter.

Hearing that and seeing Quinn's jaw clenched tight enough to cause migraines, horror and rage in his eyes for something that had happened not to himself, Jesse or their other partner, but to Briar...

"I believe you" he whispered. 

And he really did.

________________

A/N:

Just wanted to mention that the reason I chose to not make Harlow a physical abuser was because I feel as though many hold a prejudice that men can be only harmed physically. As though men do not feel emotional and mental turmoil. That's why I wanted to focus on the manipulation and other forms of trauma in their relationship. Just in case people read this and thought, 'oh, well that wasn't so bad. At least he didn't hit him'. Physical abuse leaves visible marks but it's the other, more hidden scars that are often overlooked, downplayed or forgiven that I wanted to explore with Briar. 

Hope that makes sense. Okay, bye!