A/N: My apologies once again for both a short chapter and a late update. My health has been playing up even more than usual these last few weeks. I can barely focus on this as I type it, so I'm sorry if there are any errors in the chapter I didn't quite notice.

Basically, having most of my body be in pain literally all the time isn't fun. Especially when the headache part of it has been there for two and a half years and is pretty severe, and the worst parts of my body restrict me from both standing for even short periods of time (without huge pain, at least) as well as things while even sitting. At least I'm getting referred back to the hospital and physiotherapy, which I got released from both, for some reason.

But anyway, enough about me. I hope you enjoy the chapter, despite the length still not being my preferred length.

I'll Save You

Chapter Three - Encounter

It was quite shocking how quickly Seth began to trust Dean more and more.

Strangely enough, he felt more comfortable in his presence more than most people, and he had only met the man a few days ago. It was like his presence was completely comforting. He was caring, definitely, and protective, though it was also his humour that made Seth feel at ease. His jokes were always enough to make Seth laugh, or even just smile, even if they were told to Roman instead. It was quite clear that the two of them had been friends for a long time. Or, at least, just got along as soon as they had met. Their friendship was definitely something which one could easily be jealous of. Seth, however, didn't feel any jealously. He simply enjoyed witnessing the strong friendship with his own eyes.

He had never had true friends of his own. During middle school, he had always been far too shy and nervous to talk to the other students. He usually kept to himself, despite teachers encouraging him to talk to others. At this time, he didn't really get approached by others. He got called the odd name, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

His time in high school however, was much worse.

Seth, once again, kept to himself once high school started, being far too fearful to speak to others in this much larger environment. People didn't bother him a huge lot, with the exception of a fair few, but the problem was a crush Seth had on one of the people in the group. It just so happened that it was this particular guy who was the one who played a prank on Seth, rather than one of the others.

Seth had been sitting at the back of the classroom, when the boy came up to him and sat down next to him. What followed was a low voice saying he was sorry for how he and his friends had treated Seth, and how he had personally always liked Seth. He then 'confessed' about how he had a crush on him. What made Seth believe his words was how sincere he had sounded, and how he even laughed nervously. It was no surprise that he had taken acting classes.

So of course, Seth confessed his own crush, which he immediately regretted. This was obviously not the expected reaction, and soon enough, the word that he was gay spread like hellfire through the school. It was actually when he was being pushed around by some of these bullies that Randy had came along to stop it, and so, how they met.

This is what he had told Dean, when he asked. Somehow, saying this made him feel a little better.

There was a knock on the door on this day. Roman heaved himself off the sofa and came back a few moments later with a bearded man. He seemed to be an average height, but he looked small with Roman standing next to him.

"Brie is currently shopping with Nikki and I thought I'd escape for a while," the man chuckled. He then looked at Seth, who was sitting next to Dean, curiously. "Who is this?"

"He's name is Seth," Dean said. "Seth, this is Daniel."

"It's nice to meet you," Daniel smiled, walking over. His eyes flickered over the faint bruises which still lingered on Seth's face for a moment, though they quickly looked away. He seemed to realise that it wasn't something he should ask about.

"I thought you'd want to tag along with them," Roman said, smirking. "I know how much you love tagging along for some nice girly shopping."

"Oh, I adore it," Daniel laughed. "I just thought it'd be nice to come over and see how you guys have been without me. So, how have you been?"

"We've been fairly good," said Dean.

"Yeah, we adjusted quickly after you moving out and leaving us," Roman said jokingly. "Though at least we have Seth with us now. It's filled that empty space in our hearts."

"Don't be so dramatic," Daniel chuckled. He paused for a moment, clearly contemplating how he could ask one of the questions lingering in his mind without seeming rude. "So, uh, where did you meet Seth?"

"I came across him when I was making my way to meet you both," Dean replied. "He is the reason I couldn't come."

"Ah, that explains it," Daniel nodded. It was quite obvious that he was curious to know more. Why exactly did Dean meeting Seth make him cancel plans, where the boy came from, why he was staying, the healing, yet still evident, bruises... But it was also obvious that Daniel definitely didn't want to intrude. "So have you heard anything from AJ at all?"

"Yeah, a little," said Dean. "We've still talked over these last few weeks. It's not like the breakup made us want to lose contact completely."

"I overheard Brie and Nikki gossiping about how they think they saw AJ and Paige together," Daniel chuckled.

"It doesn't really surprise me," Roman commented. "AJ had never really bothered covering the fact that she likes girls too, and let's face it, Paige could never be straight."

"Punk is bound to be pissed off when he hears the news, though," Dean laughed. "It's obvious that he still has a thing for her. Maybe if he didn't spend so long getting annoyed at me, he would have got to her before Paige did."

"Well, you know what he's like," Daniel said, shaking his head. "I better get going; they'll be home soon and will, no doubt, want to show me all of the things they bought today."

"Sounds like fun. I'll walk you to the door," Roman chuckled.

"Well, aren't you a gentleman?" Daniel said jokingly, before he followed Roman out of the lounge. Dean's eyes finally glanced back at Seth, who had been silent for the whole time Daniel had been there.

"Hey, you alright?" Dean asked, his voice softer than it had been a couple of minutes ago. "I'm sorry if that was awkward for you or anything. We tend to get carried away."

"Oh no, you don't have to apologise." Seth said quickly. "It wasn't awkward or anything. I just..."

"Yeah?"

"I've never had a friendship like that. I don't know what it feels like to have something like that and... Well, I guess I just didn't want to intrude or interrupt or anything."

"You wouldn't have been intruding. Both Roman and I don't mind you staying here, and Daniel is friendly. He's easy to get along with," Dean said reassuringly.

"I can tell," Seth smiled. "How long have the three of you been friends?"

"Since high school," Dean replied, leaning back against the sofa. A grin grew on his face. "Roman and I met while we were playing football in gym class. I kicked it right in his face, we laughed about it after class, and then we became friends. He introduced me to Daniel, Brie and Nikki, while I introduced him to AJ and Paige."

"You've known each other for quite a while, then."

"Yeah, five years now."

"Worst years of my life," Roman said, appearing in the doorway. He grinned and shook his head. "Nah, I'm kidding. It's more like the best. I'm going to go for a shower, I'll be back soon."

"Alright, I'll try to not miss you too much."

"You'll have to give it a very good try. I know how much me not being in your presence upsets you," Roman said jokingly, before he left the room, Dean and Seth watching as he did so.

There was silence for a few moments before Dean broke it.

"So how long, exactly, have you known Randy?" he questioned, his voice slightly slow as though he was somewhat worried about asking something which would upset Seth. He, however, didn't mind at all. He was starting to realise just how much speaking about what had happened within the last year was actually beneficial. It was better for him to talk about it rather than keep it bottled up inside.

"It was just over a year ago, when he walked over to me and those bullies that time," Seth started. "He gave me his number, and told me to call him if I ever needed someone. We talked a few times, and soon enough it was clear that there was something between us. I know it might have seemed stupid of me, being with a guy four years older than me when I was just fifteen, but I honestly thought that it might have worked out well between us."

"Maybe it would have, if he hadn't... Well, turned out how he did," Dean replied softly.

"Maybe," Seth said, shrugging. "It really was great, for the first few months. It was nice to actually have someone who I could talk to properly. I was never able to speak to my family about my problems and feelings, and I didn't have any friends to talk to. He really did help me. But then... Well, it was small things at first. Getting frustrated over things easily, becoming stressed, having a somewhat smaller temper than usual. It kind of just went on from there, until one night, he just snapped."

"How was work today?" Seth asked as Randy walked through the door.

"Fine, until Corey fucking decided to open his mouth and start pestering me the whole afternoon," he said through gritted teeth. He threw his bag off his shoulders and onto the sofa before he walked over to the kitchen."You know, it would have been nice if you at least showed you're grateful that I let you live with me and actually had made me food for when I got home."

"I'm sorry, I only got home from school half an hour ago and I've had a heap of work to do," Seth replied, slightly hurt at Randy's tone of voice. He followed him into the kitchen, watching as he put food down on the counter slightly forcefully.

"I don't even know why you're bothering with school when you could actually be working and help me pay the rent."

"But... I did ask you last month if you wanted me to get a job to help and you told me to focus on my education and future."

"Well, things change, Seth," Randy said, turning to his boyfriend who could immediately see his anger. "I can't fucking pay for everything around here anymore."

"Alright, I'll see if I can get something part-"

"Part-time? You can barely handle school on its own. I doubt you'd be able to fucking handle both that and a job."

The words stung Seth a little, and he found himself getting angry as well.

"There's no need for that," he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

"It's the truth!"

"Just calm down, Randy!"

Suddenly, the back of Randy's hand slammed against Seth's cheek. His head jolted to the side from the force, his hand reaching up to cover the stinging red skin. He was then immediately pulled into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Seth, I didn't mean to. I'm so fucking sorry..."

"Of course, that wasn't the last time," said Seth. "It seemed like his anger just got worse and worse, and I seemed to be the easiest thing for him to take it out on."

"You deserve someone who would treat you completely better than that," Dean said, his voice fairly quiet, as it always was when Seth spoke about Randy.

"Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that," Seth admitted, looking down at his hands. His words made Dean frown.

"Why is it hard for you to believe it?"

"Because after all that happened, after everything he said, I sometimes feel like I did something to deserve it. I started to believe the things he said to me after a while. I guess it's because I was called useless and other things by my family in the past as well. Randy saying the same things made me start to believe it is true."

Dean sighed, and slid off the sofa so that he could crouch in front of Seth. He held onto the smaller pair of hands, making Seth look up a little at Dean's eyes.

"Listen, you. What they've said isn't true, alright? You're such a sweet person, one of the sweetest I've met. You don't deserve anything like that, not one bit. You've not done anything wrong, only they have. So please don't believe what they've said, and especially don't believe that you deserved it. You're worth so much more than those words."

Dean squeezed Seth's hands softly before he stood up, his eyes still fixed on Seth's.

"That is what you should believe, instead."

There was silence for several moments while Dean's words sunk in. It had been a long time since someone had something so positive to say about him. In fact, he couldn't properly remember a time when he had been told something like this.

"Thank you..." Seth said softly. "You have no idea how kind of you it is to say something like that to me. I'm very grateful."

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just saying the truth," Dean said. His eyes looked over at Roman standing in the doorway.

"I hope I'm not interuppting anything," he chuckled. "But we're running short on a couple of things again."

"Another trip to get food it is," Dean laughed, and paused for a moment before he turned to Seth. "The three of us could all go, if you want. You don't have to, of course."

Seth pondered over this. It would be good for him to leave the house for a while. He hadn't left since he had first arrived there. What was the worse that could happen? If he did end up bumping into Randy, which he doubted, he'd have Dean and Roman there by his side.

He slowly nodded his head.

"Sure... I'll go. It'll be nice to be out of the house for a while."

Both Dean and Roman smiled, and gestured for Seth to follow them to the door. Dean threw him a jacket from a hanger when they reached it.

"It's one of the smallest I have," he chuckled. "It's a bit cold out there. It's best if you wear it."

Seth nodded and pulled it on. In his rush to leave the apartment, he had completely forgotten to bring any of his jackets. The thought hadn't crossed his mind during his panic.

The fresh air hitting his face made him realise how much he had missed being outside. He had always used to love taking a book outside to read in the park, before things got too complicated for him to even leave the apartment. It was clear that he had made the right decision.

The walk to the store only took about ten minutes, but he still appreciated the time outside. He wandered behind Roman and Dean while the two of them were looking through the shelves, and quietly laughed as the two of them argued.

"That cheese is fucking horrible, Dean. You're mental."

"Feel free to get the one you want, but I'm getting this one."

"We are not getting two different types of cheese! I'm on a tight budget, you know."

"No you're not."

"Shut up. We're not getting two."

A hand on Seth's shoulder startled him while he was watching the two men argue, though due to how much he felt at ease, it didn't worry him.

"What is it?" he said as he turned around, thinking it would be someone asking him to move out of their way, though his heart stopped when he saw that it was the very person he had hoped not to see.

"Well, well. You're the last person I expected to see here."

A/N: I hadn't even planned to have any cliffhangers in this story, but... Well, I always include them. It seems to be a natural thing with me.

I've had a guest reviewer ask me twice now if I can include them as Seth's sister. I'm sorry, but it really wouldn't be fitting. Seth only has his brother, who I made up for this story, and a sister wouldn't really be fitting. If he had one who he got along with, he would have spoken to her as soon as he was kicked out of the house, and probably would have moved in with her as soon as the abuse started happening.

Anyway, thank you for all of the positive feedback so far. I'm very grateful! Also, thank you for putting up with my incredibly long author's notes and updates. I'm annoying, I know.

Until next time!