"You have to understand how hard it's going to be for me to relive this. Please be patient with me while I tell you this."

"Theo. You don't even have to tell me-"

"I do. This involves you now and at this point, you already know a large chunk of it anyway. It's better if you know the whole story."

"Ok. I'm all ears."

Theo took the deepest breath he felt like he could possibly take. It hurt. Still. Thinking about what happened with Brett. It was hard. It was painful. He needed to get past it. If he couldn't tell anyone other than the people who were there for it, which he still doesn't talk about it, then he felt he'd never get past it. This was a clear sign that he wasn't as 'moved on' as he thought he was.

"Brett and I... We met sometime after I dropped out of school. He's a few years younger than me, probably your age. He was still in high school when we met. I was technically too old for him. That's what makes it even worse. He was a minor when we were together."

Liam's eyes were wide with curiosity. He hadn't expected that. Not thinking about the fact that he was a sex-worker.

"I started working for the Hales when I was... seventeen? Maybe younger? I was a server. I didn't do anything with alcohol until I was of age. Although I didn't meet Brett until years later... Brett's mother died six months into our relationship. He was about to be put in an orphanage, but he was seventeen so I thought 'Hey come live with me. We basically live together anyway'... His sister, Lori already had people she could stay with, but Brett..." there was a sadness in Theo's voice that Liam knew all too well... guilt... "he only had me."

"Are you sure-"

"Liam. Please let me get through this. I need to talk about it."

"...ok..."

"Thank you" Theo sighed. Not aggravated or mad, but as if he was struggling. He was trying to be vulnerable and Liam kept interrupting. "Anyway... Brett stayed with me. I told him not to drop out of school. I wanted him to have the experiences I didn't get to have, you know?" Liam nodded. "Anyway... he moved in. Things were great at first. He got through his senior year and everything and I got promoted to bartender as soon as I turned twenty-one. I was making more in tips because I was right in the action. People talked to me and I was relatable. People felt kinda sorry for me because I was so young and had to drop out of school for undisclosed reasons. It was none of their business and most of the time they didn't ask. They would tip more the more they saw me. They didn't know my real name. When I decided to move back to Beacon Hills, I changed it. The only people who knew were the people who helped me change it, people I worked with, and of course, Brett."

"Why did you have to change your name."

"Well, just like you, I had something happen to me that wasn't my fault. My family had to move away and when my parents became statues, I got emancipated. I moved back here and got lucky as hell that Derek and Peter took pity on me."

"I'm so sorry..."

"Shit happens. Anyway. not a part of the story. When Brett and I were together, he wanted a job with the Hales. He thought they'd be good to him like they were to me. They let him do kind of an unofficial interview; had him come to the bar while I was tending. He got insanely jealous that one of the customers was flirty toward me and after that, Peter and Derek made their decision. I begged them to reconsider. We needed the extra money. I didn't think about it when I offered to let Brett live with me, but that was more food, more lights, more gas... I just really fell for him you know?..."

Liam nodded again. He really understood that much.

After dinner they laid in Theo's bed and Liam finally spoke.

"Do you have to work tomorrow?"

"No. You?"

Yes. "No." He didn't have to lie. He could be there for Theo and still go to work tomorrow. It just seemed... loaded. The whole thing. And they barely scratched the surface. This much Liam knew.

"Awesome. So like I was saying. We were in love. We were stupid. I had never seen that from Brett. I wanted Peter and Derek to revisit the idea of letting him work there. It wasn't that bad. All he did was tell the guy that I was taken and to back off. I didn't understand why they were making a big deal out of that. He was standing up for me. Protecting me."

'I was protecting him' Brett's words flashed in Liam's mind like a horror movie. More like a true crime documentary. "I really hate that you had to believe that..."

"It was easy to believe when no one offered you something like that... Not even your parents..."

"I'm so so-"

"So they finally listened to me. Brett was eighteen and graduated so our relationship was technically legal now and he was no longer underage to be working in a bar. They gave me time to kind of... prepare him? Let him understand what he'd have to accept and the fact that this was a bar and that he's not losing me to drunken rando's and let him know it didn't bother me when people would flirt with him, because... it's just a job. I was coming home to him and I was happy with that. I loved him. I wanted him..."

Liam pretended not to notice the crack in Theo's voice or the pain in his eyes. This was killing him.

"They actually ended up giving Brett an interview, officially. They couldn't before he was eighteen. Anyway, he passed it. He was trained to wait tables. It was good for about a week. He ignored the women flirting, even though they were surprisingly more handsy than the men. The last night though... Brett was already kind of moody. He wouldn't tell me why. Just that he wasn't feeling well. The shift, it was a weekend shift during like summer or something. I don't remember. Anyway... He was hostile all afternoon. Not just toward me, but apparently Corey and Malia noticed it too. Derek had been observing him since he and Peter hired him and they noticed him being particularly... erratic. The middle of the shift comes. He is doing great. At least from what I could see. He has a perfect smile and it undoubtedly charming."

"Debatable"

"Well you don't exactly charm my pants off like you did when we first met either"

"Excuse me, but I'm hella charming. Way more than that jerk."

Theo just laughs and nods before continuing.

"Well, customer service persona was killin' it regardless. I was at the bar mixing a drink for this group of guys that were with my friends, you may know them, their names are Scott and Stiles. The people I lived with when I moved from my parents' house."

"Oh my god what happened?!"

"Well... all it took was seeing me pull out my phone to take pictures with them, and all reason left his mind. He pulled them both from the barstools and put them on the ground. Peter and Derek weren't exactly excited. Scott and Stiles were very close with the Hale family and this... this would be what got Brett banned from Halefire. Not just fired from a job. He was lucky they didn't press assault charges. It was because of me..."

"Oh my god. So he had a history."

"Not before that. Not that I knew of. They even got the sheriff involved just to see if he should even be living with me..."

"Fuck..."

"Yeah... So after that, everyone started watching him. Started over-observing our relationship. They may as well have put cameras in every square inch of our apartment..."

They both laid there silently looking at the ceiling, nothing but the glow of the very dim yellow light of the lamp to see by. It was only minutes before one of them spoke again, but they both felt like it was a lifetime.

"Brett blamed me for getting him banned. He said it was my 'boy-toy' that I was protecting and that I couldn't hide him forever."

"But Scott-"

"It didn't matter to him. It was me giving someone attention that wasn't him. The women, he didn't care about. He knew I was gay and apparently that was all he knew. That's all he cared about."

"Wow... that's-"

"Insane? Absolutely. But I stayed with him. I needed him to know I would never do that to him. Rather than leave and accept that he didn't obviously trust me, I chose to try and make him believe me. I felt like I had to prove to him that I loved him. Which was exactly what he wanted... After that he started getting drunk and breaking stuff and making wild accusations. He'd hang out in the parking lot during my whole shift. He'd video call me during work and he almost got me fired. Which I believe is what he wanted, but Derek wasn't going to play into his bullshit. He convinced Peter to let me stay on and Brett actually stayed the night in jail for trespassing. They didn't really do what they could have. Still Brett blamed me. I wasn't even aware what they decided until a week later. It was our anniversary."

"You didn't notice he spent the night in jail? didn't he have a phone call?"

"I'm getting there. Anyway. Our last night together was the last time we saw each other. I had been taking the verbal abuse for a while now and coming to work with cuts from me trying to clean up where he threw things. He'd always apologized and tried to make it better. He never put his hands on me. He broke replaceable objects, but he would never touch me... until our anniversary."

"Theo you really don't have to-" Liam said as he sat up on the bed looking down at Theo, but Theo cut him off.

"Liam. If I can't talk, I can't heal. I felt for so long like what happened was my fault. Like I should have seen it coming. Like... if I had left sooner or whatever, it wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't be this..."

"Be what?" Liam looked at him openly hurting for him.

"Liam... I'm a whore... I get paid to have sex with people... I'm broken..."

"No you're not. You are just... utilizing your ass-ets" Liam said with a playful smirk that Theo, even in this dark moment, found completely endearing.

"Shut up" Theo cracked a tiny grin and threw a pillow at Liam's face.

"This is child abuse"

"Oh very nice. How very inappropriate of you." Theo smirked.

Liam knew just by the tone in his voice that he was kidding, but the evil smile didn't hurt.

"I just know my audience. Plus I needed to break the tension. I almost felt like you were gonna cry on me. Then I'd never believe that mysterious disinterested façade you try and use to get me to like you."

"Oh I don't have to try to get you to like me. You're like a Care Bear. Full of it"

"Wut"

"It made sense before I said it."

They laid like that and laughed and talked lighter for a while and then eventually the mood shifted back.

"I started stripping. That's what drove Brett over the edge."

"But people aren't allowed to even touch you. Honestly, you're more protected doing that."

"Brett has his own mind. He couldn't see reason. I tried to see things his way, but in the end I needed to pay the bills and Derek told me I'd make twice what I made bartending... He was drunk and he accused me of cheating because I brought home good tips one night. I was glad because it was the night of our anniversary, but I ended up staying out past the time I'd originally told him. He got drunk and... when I got home he was no longer Brett..."

"He not only accused me of cheating but he then insulted me by saying that no one would pay to have sex with me... and he didn't even know why he's stayed with me as long as he did... so I told him I wasn't going to argue with him and that I was tired and said goodnight. He chased me to the room and tried to break in. I was just hoping he'd pass out like normal. He'd been doing this since everything happened at the bar, but this was a whole other level. He busted the door down and he made his way over to me and threatened me. He pinned me against the wall and still he talked about how he didn't understand why I would do this to him. He thought I was seeing Corey, which for the record, not my type"

"Yeah I kinda wondered, but Mason never mentioned it so I figured, probably not."

"EXACTLY! That's exactly what someone with logic would understand. Plus, don't poop where you eat."

"I will never understand that analogy."

"So... He grabs me... I'm begging. Pleading. Considering quitting my job at this point if that would please him... I told him I'd do whatever it took to make him see how much I loved him... and that was the only time I ever felt like a whore... he did awful things to me. He hit me. He cut me up. He used me and if I tried to refuse or run... He overpowered me... he made it worse... I had to endure it and go along with it until he was tired of it and I could get out... I still loved him though... So I couldn't bring myself to call the cops..."

"Who did?"

"Technically, Derek. I bunked with Corey the night it happened and when I called out, Corey called out too. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going home to him. Derek came and found out what happened, and no amount of begging or pleading could keep him from calling the Sherriff, who coincidentally, was Stiles's father. The charges they never pressed the night Brett attacked Scott and Stiles came to surface and they took pictures of me as evidence, and I stayed with Derek and Peter until they tried Brett in court. He thought I was in with Scott and Stiles and... I don't know. I never said anything though. People just saw it."

"I'm so sorry you had to put up with that... You are... honestly the bravest person I know... and thank you for trusting me with something so personal..."

"Well... I thought you should know before you let him get to you..."

"He's not getting to me. Or you. Or anyone."

"Thanks... now... I'd like to change the subject if you don't mind."

"Ok. Whatcha got?"

"Well... There is still that sex dream-"

"Forget it!" Liam huffs and smacks Theo with his own pillow.