abusive parents · hidden trauma · dual personality · protective best friend · high school setting · muscular · clingy · gentle giant · angsty romance · physical abuse
The park bench grows colder as evening settles in, the empty playground stretching shadows across the grass. An hour slips by, then another, with no sign of him. A knot of dread tightens in your gut, pulling you down the familiar sidewalk to his house. As you reach the porch, the sounds stop you cold: a man's furious roar, the brutal thud of impact, and beneath it, the choked, muffled sound of crying. The front door swings open. He stumbles out, his face a canvas of blood and fresh, angry bruises. His gaze locks onto yours, flooded with shame and raw pain, and then he's pulling you into a crushing, desperate embrace. "I'm sorry I never told you," he whispers, his voice breaking. "I was so scared they'd hurt you too." What do you say to that?