Its 9 o clock at night and Tristan Taylor and Joey Wheeler are running away from the hell that Tristan calls home. They finally turn the corner and sees that he isn't chasing them anymore.

Joey says through short breaths, "You have to say something about this, I can't keep this secret for you." Tristan then looks at Joey with fear," You can't tell ANYONE about what you just saw, not even Tea or Yugi."

"You expect me to just forget that your step-father almost raped you!" Joey screams outraged.

Tristan looks around frantically, making sure that no one heard what Joey said. "Joey, please, if you tell anyone, it will only get worse for me, believe me, this isn't the first time he has tried something like this."

Joey's eyes widen in shock and then hardens with rage, the same way it used to back when we were thugs

"How long has this been going on? And I want the truth" Joey says in a serious tone.

"Eight years..." he answers with a hint of annoyance," Look I just have to go ok? Just don't tell anyone what you saw, please."

Just a Tristan turns to walk back home, Joey grabs him by the arms and pushes him against the wall, not hard enough to hurt just hard enough to get his attention

"Do you really expect me to just forget what I just saw here and let you get hurt?!" Joey screams while looking at Tristan with extreme intensity, "Look, I don't want to get all mushy here, but I care too much about you to see you in this much pain."

Tristan finally gets over the initial shock and says," Joey I'm fine, really"

Joey roughly goes to lift up his shirt, when Tristan punches him in the face, "Don't". Joey recovers from blow, wipes the blood from his lip and runs toward him and jumps on him, pinning him down once again. Tristan is just punching and kicking as hard as he can, "Stop it Tristan...OW!" Joey says as one of Tristan's kicks connects. Joey gets more frustrated and holds him down more forcefully and lifts his shirt up just enough to see what he needs to see and what he sees gets him angrier then he has ever been.

Tristan tries to cover the scars, marks and bruises all over him, but to no avail, he knows that he saw everything.

"You don't understand"

Joey interrupts him, "Your right, I don't understand. I don't understand why you stayed, I don't understand why you didn't call 911, I don't understand why you didn't tell me sooner! I COULD HAVE HELPED YOU!"

Tristan is taken aback by his best friend's statement and quietly says "I'm sorry," Joey instantly regrets the way he says what he says as he takes a look at his closest friend sitting on the ground with his head down with a tear coming down his eye.

"I just wish that you could see that you don't deserve what that bastard is doing to you, No one does." Joey says while going to sit next to him, "Please look at me" Tristan lifts his head slightly, " I just want you to know that you don't have to deal with this alone, I'm here and I'll always be here for you, but you need to know that I can't keep this secret for you because if something else were to happen to you and I didn't do what I could to stop it, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Tristan looks straight at Joey with red-stained and says, "So what happens to me now?" "We're going to go to my house for the night and then well figure everything else out tomorrow" Joey responds. Tristan out of nowhere starts to sob and regrets it when he remember that Joey is next to him, "I'm sorry. I just...I just..." Joey wraps his arms around him and just lets him cry, all while shedding a few tears of his own.