**A/N: This chapter 3-1 through 3-3 contains sensitive topics such as suicidal thoughts, SA, and homophic language/attitudes. Read at your own discretion.**

Owen POV

My body was achy. I groaned and went to stretch out, but I was being held down. I briefly panicked before I remembered that I’d asked Manny to stay with me last night when I woke up after that nightmare. I relaxed a bit, but immediately tensed up again when I realized there were not one, not two, but THREE other people in bed. My eyes flicked opened and I quickly took in my surroundings. Markus was the one holding me down. I smiled at his sleeping face. Vincent was on my other side, and Manny was laying across the foot of my bed now. My heart swelled with happiness. I don’t know what Manny did, but he’d called two of the most important people in my life over to help comfort me.

“You awake, Papà?” I whispered to Markus.

Markus groaned softly, “Shh, sleep.” He mumbled, half asleep. I chuckled.

“Vincent?” I whispered, turning to face him now. He didn’t respond, “Vincent!” I whispered louder.

“It’s too early, babe. Let me sleep.” He grumbled. Sheesh. Two for two not wanting to wake up.

I wiggled out of Markus’s hold, and crawled to the foot of the bed where Manny was. I nudged him softly.

“Manny?” I whispered. He opened his eyes, stared at me blankly for a second, then blinked rapidly as he woke up.

“Owen? How you feeling this morning?” He asked, then looked over my shoulder to see the other two still sleeping.

“Yeah, so I’m sorry… but I was really worried about you last night… and I snooped through your phone for the last number you texted. I called Vincent here, and I guess someone called Roy told Markus what was going on so that’s why they’re here. I thought you could really use some people you feel safe with, especially after whatever that scary dream was you had…” Manny explained. I wasn’t mad he called Vincent. In fact, I was grateful he did. I pulled him in and hugged him.

“I’m okay. Thank you for taking care of me. I’m sorry I scared you last night. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had that nightmare… but I’m happy I had you there for me last night. It means a lot that you were willing to sacrifice your sleep to calm me down and keep me company.” I told him.

“Of course, Owen. Like I said last night, I know we aren’t really all that close, but I’m here for you when you need me. I really value our friendship… or acquaintanceship if that’s all it is.” He told me. I didn’t miss that his eyes glanced in Markus’s direction.

“I consider you a friend, especially after last night. Thank you.” I smiled and squeezed him tighter.

“Owen?” I heard Markus stirring awake.

“That’s my que. I’ll leave you guys alone to talk. I have to get ready for work anyway.” Manny scooted out of my bed and left the room.

“Good morning, Papà.” I laid back down facing him.

“Mio Tesoro. What happened to you last night?” He asked me.

“I had a nightmare… that’s all.” I told him a half truth.

“Are you sure that’s all? Dominic told me you stopped by the house, but the second you saw him you took off like some sort of monster was chasing you.” He told me. I scowled. I’d almost forgotten about that. Why was Dominic even at Markus’s house last night anyway?!

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” I sat up and got out of the bed. My shuffling off the bed must have woken Vincent up.

“Woah. Good morning. How are you feeling?” Vincent asked. Jesus, it would have just been easier if they’d all waken up at the same time so I didn’t have to keep repeating myself.

“I’m fine!” I nearly shouted in frustration.

“Look. Thanks for coming to check on me, I really do appreciate that you both came here for me. But can you leave now?” I snapped at them both.

“What?” They asked simultaneously.

“I don’t want to talk about what happened, and I’m tired of repeating myself. I. Am. Fine. Okay?”

“Where is this attitude coming from? Seriously. We literally came here to make sure you were okay, and you get snippy with us as soon as we wake up? Are you kidding me right now?” Vincent snapped back. “You know what? Whatever Owen. Bye.” Vincent got up, shoulder-checked me on his way out of my room, and slammed the front door behind him.

What was he so mad about?! I’m still mad at him for what him and Roy did last night! He hasn’t even apologized for that yet, and he’s getting mad because I’m snippy?! Whatever to him too. I turned my rage toward Markus. He was just staring at me in shock.

“Well?” I shouted, making him flinch.

“Owen… what’s is going on?” He asked in a soft voice.

“Nothing!”

“This isn’t nothing. Talk to me. Please?” He pleaded.

“Fine. You want me to talk to you? I’ll talk to you. Yesterday I went to hang out with Roy and Vincent to plan a special anniversary date with you. We got everything all planned out pretty quickly and decided to hang out and watch a movie afterwards. Except I passed out from exhaustion like half way through the movie. When I woke up for the end credits, Vincent was sucking Roy’s cock while laying across my lap. And you want to know something? I wasn’t even mad about it. No. I was actually enjoying it. Which made me feel a stupid amount of guilt. Because, you know, I’ve got a boyfriend, and because I’m not supposed to be turned on by my friends. Though, to be fair, they shouldn’t have being doing that in the first place. I panicked. Ran away from them, to go to you and maybe try to talk out whatever weird feelings I was having about that because you’ve always helped me talk out all my feelings, only to get to your house and find Dominic, of all the fucking people in the world, standing shirtless in your fucking living room. And it’s been, what?” I looked at the time on my phone, “twelve hours now, and you have offered zero explanation for why you had another man, half naked, in your house without even mentioning he was coming over in the first place. And let’s not forget, I apparently have PTSD from my high school days that’s giving me night terrors so fucking bad that my roommate, who I barely even talk to, is genuinely scared for my well-being. And just so we’re clear. That all happened in a time span of less than twenty-four hours. So forgive me if I’m a little fucking pissy with you.” I raged. Markus just sat on my bed silently, letting me take all of my anger out on him.

“I’m sorry, Roy and Vincent did what?!” That being the first thing he said, while understandable, really pissed me off. Because I didn’t want to talk about that part first. I wanted some fucking insight to the Dominic situation.

I took a deep, annoyed breath, “please just leave Markus.” I said as calmly as I possibly could at this point.

“I thought you wanted to talk about the weird feelings? I’m lost now.”

“Why on Earth would that be the first thing I’d want to talk about out of everything I just said?”

“What would you like to talk about first then?” Markus asked, starting to get frustrated with me.

“How about the fact that you had a half-naked man in your house?! Oh and not just any half-naked man, the one that cause Roy years of stress and tried to have Vincent fucking raped! Why the fuck would he be at your house? And why the fuck was he shirtless in the middle of your living room?” I snapped.

“You need to lose the attitude, Owen.” Markus snapped back, still not answering me.

“OH MY GOD MARKUS! Get out! Just get out! I can’t deal with this right now.” I was at my wits end already.

“You can’t deal with what? Me?”

“Yes. I cannot deal with you, if you can’t fucking answer a simple question. You just keep avoiding it. And I won’t be a part of a relationship with secrets like that. If you won’t answer why he was at your house, then you can just leave, and consider us over.”

“That’s so immature of you Owen. I’m trying to talk to you about this and now you’re saying we should just break up because of something insignificant?”

At this point I was so frustrated with his non-answers, that I couldn’t stop the tears of anger from falling. Why wasn’t he just answering the damn question?! Was he hiding something? I mean hell, even ‘go ask him, it’s his personal stuff’ would be better than blatantly ignoring the whole question all together. And now I’M the one being immature because I don’t want to be with someone who can’t be fucking honest? I’ve dealt with that enough in the past, I don’t need it now.

“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt you two… But there’s another guy here now… and he seems pretty upset… should I let him in?” Manny intervened.

“Who is it now?” I huffed.

“Don’t know. Tall, tan, scruffy, and gorgeous. I didn’t open the door yet, just looked through the peephole. But he’s shouting for you.” He told me.

“Sounds like Roy. I really don’t want to deal with him right now. He’s probably just here because I upset Vincent. Markus, why don’t you leave, and take Roy with you.” I told them.

“Seriously? You aren’t even going to give me a chance to respond to the fact that you just dumped me?” Markus snapped.

“Oh so that you’ll respond to? But you won’t tell me about what was up with Dominic. Seems like you trying so hard to avoid answering just leaves me to believe you were doing something behind my back.” I shrugged my shoulders, then went and locked myself in the bathroom. I heard Roy pounding on the front door now that I wasn’t distracted fighting with Markus.

“Owen! I know you’re still home! Get out here now!” He shouted. I ignored him.

“Owen?” Manny’s calming voice from right outside the door.

I heard the front do slam shut, then I could hear they were having muffle conversation outside the door. There was another round of pounding on the front door. I crouched down and covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut.

Loud pounding on my bedroom door made me jump in fear. It’s been a year and a half that I’ve been dealing with Todd’s harassment and the rumors he’s spreading about me. I was terrified of who would be on the other side of the door. The space around me was pitch black, except for one bright red light shining under the door.

“OPEN THE DOOR OWEN! DON’T YOU HIDE FROM ME! YOU NEED ME!” Todd’s angry voice shouted. I was scared.

More banging on the door. More fear filling my body. Why was this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?

“Please go away, please go away, please go away.” I began whisper chanting to make the scary guy disappear. I felt my body convulsing, readying itself to vomit.

A sudden loud bang made me jump in absolute terror, and let out a loud scream. I was pulled into a warm hug faster than I could open my eyes to see what had just happened. Initially, I tried to push the unknown body away, afraid it was just Todd or one of the guys he convinced to harass me. Why were these memories coming back now? It’s been years… why all the sudden? More fear wracked through my body. What was going on with me? I really needed to throw up right now.

“Owen, sweetheart, you’re okay. I’m right here, baby. I’m right here.” Markus’s deep calming voice cooed to me. I relaxed into his arms. He shushed me softly, and held me tight. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I saw my bathroom door had been kicked in, and Manny and Roy were standing in the doorway watching with scared, worried looks in their eyes. I closed my eyes tight so I wouldn’t have to see the fear in theirs.

“Owen… what happened to you to make you have such terrifying nightmares?” Markus asked.

I didn’t want to talk about it. What if telling him made him start looking at me with pity? I didn’t want his pity. But I also didn’t want to be left alone right now. I had no idea why I was having all these nightmare flashbacks suddenly, and it was scary. When I opened my eyes again, I looked up at Roy, who gave me a look of empathy. He may not know what I went through exactly, but it was clear he could give a vague guess based on the way he was looking at me. I could tell he saw the fear in my eyes, a fear that once match something he used feel. I wasn’t sure if Roy still had PTSD from what had happened to him in the past, I doubted it ever just disappeared. It seems like one of those things you just learn to navigate over time rather than forget the trauma that caused it.

“You know what… Markus, why don’t you let Owen spend the day with me. I’ll call and get someone to cover my shift. Can you figure out Owen’s work stuff for him?” Roy suggested. The idea of spending the day with Roy made me feel very timid, because I knew he was going to want to talk about this.