He was very close to blubbering in Mackey's office. Mackey was looking at him with great concern.

"W-what if, if he thinks I raped him? Oh gods did i?!" it came out almost a wail, as Raven leaned forward in the chair, doubling over, his hands clutching at his head.

"N-now Raven, let's take a few deep breaths, mkay. Come on, let's do a breathing exercise so we can discuss this calmly, mkay."

He struggled, but eventually, with Mackey's help, Raven got himself back under control, mostly. His bottom lip still quivered occasionally, and he couldn't look at his therapist.
"What if that's what happened?"

"Have you talked to him?"

"No..., I mean..., we haven't hung out in person, our texts have been really boring, surface level stuff."

Mackey let out a long breath, during which Raven finally looked up at him, his eyes piercing.
"You two obviously need to talk this through. You are both adults. Yes, you have had your differences, but this is the first... difficulty since your reconnect, right?"

Raven only nodded, looking away from Mackey, a far-away look blooming.

"You said you've liked him in that way, since you were kids, I remember you two used to be inseparable. Now, that doesn't mean everyone who has such closeness is attracted to each other in that way, but ...," Mackey paused, "You're going to have to talk to each other Raven. Mkay, it won't be easy, especially if it goes poorly. Would you like a few Dear Man, give, and fast sheets to help you plan your conversation?"

Raven thought about it for a few minutes, still looking far away.

"Yeah, yeah I would. Can we..., can we go over them again? If, if we have time?" he asked, still not looking at his therapist.

"Of course, mkay," Mackey replied, digging in his cabinet for a few copies of each sheet.

Silence, broken only by the sounds of the ancient filing cabinet and shuffling papers enveloped the office.
Raven closed his eyes and practiced his deep breathing some more. Trying to center himself. To calm down. He rubbed at his eyes, glad he hadn't bothered with his usual eyeliner that day.

He looked back to Mackey, who was sitting patiently, his hands folded atop the worksheets.

And as Raven leaned forward, Mackey passed him copies of the worksheets and they began to go over them.
The session ended and Raven slowly walked out of the office, gazing down at the worksheets. He had what he and Mackey had done together, and a few spares for him to work it out for himself.

He sighed and folded the papers in half, stuffing them in the back pocket of his jeans and gazing around the early morning streets, mostly empty still given the hour. He was tired, but didn't want to go home just yet. He had worked the previous night, and had work the coming night. After which, he would have a couple days off. His feet took him to Tweek Bros. where he ordered a caramel latte and sat in a booth in the back of the shop, digging his worksheets out and smoothing them upon the table. He reached into his other pocket and found a pen, clicking it and he poised above the paper to write, but his mind blanked. He frowned at the paper for a while, occasionally having a sip of his coffee. He leaned back in the booth, finally looking away from his papers, Tweek saw him looking and came over to sit across from him.

"Hey," Raven greeted.

"How's it going?" Tweek responded, sipping from his thermos.

"Not well, I can't focus."

"Can it wait?"

"Sort of...," Raven mumbled, looking back down.

"Why not take a break?" He twitched once, before taking another sip of coffee.

"You're probably right...," Raven muttered, refolding the papers and stuffing them back in his pocket.

"You could try, meditation, if you can't focus."

"I always forget you're really fucking zen," Raven laughed.

Tweek chuckled too, "Well, I don't know about all that, I've just had a lot of practice."

"Thanks."

They sat in silence for a while longer but Tweek had to return to the counter and Raven realized he should probably get home and try to sleep. He waved a farewell to Tweek, and walked back home.
Pete was cooking a late breakfast in his boxers and a tank top when Raven walked into the apartment.

"Want any food?" Pete called as Raven removed his boots in the entryway.

"Nah, thanks though," Raven replied as he walked through the living room on the way to his room.

"You doing okay man?" Pete asked, turning to him with his plate of eggs and sausage.

Raven grimaced, though his back was to his friend.
"I dunno man."

"I'm here you know, if you need to talk." Pete said, walking over to the couch to watch tv and have his food.

"Thanks," he mumbled quietly, continuing to his room.

He undressed once in his room and laid on his bed, plugging in his phone and double checking his alarms for work. He thought for a while, about texting Pete.

'Yeah..., yeah you know, like that night you went to Michael's so me and Kyley-B could have the place for our gaming and shit? Well, I think I fucked up. I think I fucked up bad man. We drank, like a fucking lot, you know I don't drink much anymore. ...but I drank too much. I slept with him, I was safe about it, but dude, I don't know if he wanted it too. I don't know if we were both really drunk and it just happened, if I forced it, if maybe I was more sober than he was...'

He sent the text and lay there, anxiously awaiting his friend's reply.
Raven almost jumped off the bed when a knock came at his door.
"Dude you decent?"

Clad in only his boxers, Raven replied, "I'm in my sleeping attire."

Pete opened the door and sat on his friend's bed, looking at him in that way he had, calm, concerned, caring.
"Are you okay?"

And just like that, Raven lost it again, but really this time, not holding back like he had with Mackey, he sobbed and Pete surged to him, wrapping his arms around his friend's shaking shoulders, hugging him close.
"Dude..., dude, it's all right, it's gonna be all right," he murmured, rubbing small circles on Raven's back, holding his friend as he cried.

Raven sobbed wordlessly into Pete's chest, balling his hands into fists in Pete's tank top.

Pete continued to murmur quietly to his friend, as eventually, he calmed down and just sat with his face pressed into the other man's chest.
"Feel a little better?" Pete asked quietly.

Raven nodded slightly, not letting go.

"I'm going to guess you two haven't talked about it yet, right?"

He nodded again.

"I'm sure you know, but you'll never know the answers to your questions until you talk to him. You guys were super best friends once, even if he doesn't feel anything other than friendship for you, I don't think he will hate you for what happened. You two just have to talk it out."

"B-but what if he does?" Raven whimpered.

"If he does well..., that's his problem, you'll go to therapy and you'll hang with us, and we'll all help you through it. You're not going this alone Raven," Pete spoke softly, confidently.

Gradually, Raven released his friend's shirt and wiped his face. They sat together for a while longer, but eventually Pete went to his own room and Raven laid back for some much needed rest.
Pete and Mr. Mackey were right, he and Kyley-B would have to talk things out.