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five

Artemis looked over to where Tye was curled up in the chair he had claimed for himself. He was asleep and looked distinctly upset. Not that he blamed him, he'd had a rough day.

Lying against him was Noah, who was watching the film with vague interest. It was more Kit and Travis' thing, but it had been their turn to choose, so he hadn't argued. Kissing Noah's head to get his attention and gaining another few proper kisses from him, Artemis smiled. "You're perfect." He muttered against Noah' lips.

"Sure." Came the reply. Artemis smirked.

"What you don't believe me?"

"Mmm." Noah laughed, pulling himself into Artemis' lap.

"Oh you want me to show you?" Artemis teased, his hands straying the hem of Noah's shirt.

"Later." Noah whispered but he was still straddling Artie's lap. "I'm all yours."

"You wanna keep an eye on him too?" Artemis guessed. Noah nodded. "You sure bit into Car about him."

"He's going to punish me one way or another for yelling at him." Noah muzzled his nose in the crook of Artie's neck, kissing the warm skin.

"Oh you're not going to be able to walk when he gets his hands on you." Artemis laughed.

"It'll be so good." Noah replied dreamily, sucking on the skin of Artemis' neck.

"Are you trying to give me a hickey?" Artie frowned. "You're such an amateur."

"Oh yeah?" Noah challenged.

"Yeah." Artemis kissed him again, distracting him from his work.

They broke apart as they heard a loud, scared gasp. Tye had just woken up like he'd been shot.

"You okay baby?" Riley asked, noticing the fear on the boys face. "Nightmare?"

Tye nodded.

"Oh I'm sorry." Riley pouted, Tye shrugged, he wasn't used to pity. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

Tye shook his head. "No thank you, I'm um... upstairs." He replied nervously. They all stared at him at that, he'd spoken a near full sentence to them. He all but ran out of the room.

"Bless, he's having a day!" Artemis sighed, he like the others was worried about the boy, and he just wanted to hold him.

"I'll check on him in a bit." Alexis told them. Artemis was somewhat peeved that Tye was showing some sort of trust towards him, he wanted him to trust him. They all did.

"Poor baby." Riley pouted, "we can't even hold him."

"He must have let someone touch him, right?" Travis mused. "He must trust someone right?"

"I hope he had someone." Riley nodded. "Not that it matters, now he has us!"

"We'll help him." Kit nodded. "He's ours now."

"Our boy." Riley said softly, his eyes filling up with tears as he thought about the fear on Tye's face when Carter had brought him home.

^^^
Tye woke up feeling safe, it had been a long time since he had felt that way, and he wasn't sure that he liked that the house was where he got that feeling again. He sat up with a frown, he felt like something was off.

Maybe it was yesterday still on his mind, maybe it was something else, he wasn't sure.

Rubbing his eyes and grabbing his phone, he found it to only be four in the morning. Maybe that was what he found to be so strange.

He lay back down, hoping to get some more sleep, he wasn't about to go wandering around in this god forsaken house, he didn't even want to know what he'd find.

He must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to Alexis' voice.

"Tye, Tye!" Alexis was in front of him, trying his best to try and wake him without touching him. Tye let out a grumble. "Breakfast's ready."

He frowned at Alexis and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He still felt off and he didn't like it.

It was then that he realised what it was. He felt safe and he was beginning to trust, and if he trusted he would open up and if he opened up he'd have to face his own feelings. And he was not prepared to do that. The thoughts he dealt with on a daily basis were bad enough for him already.

The voices that told him that he shouldn't eat, that he was fat and ugly and that he didn't deserve to eat. He didn't want to deal with anything else.

"Tye? Are you okay?" Alexis asked, Tye jumped, in his thoughts he had completely forgotten that the other was there. He nodded. Alexis smiled at him. "Come on then, I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Tye thought it best to just agree, they were all up in his business with 'worry' any way. "Oh yeah, me too."

"Alexis gave him a wide smile and led him down to the dining room, where he sat in the spot that was quickly becoming clear to him as his designated spot.

"Do you want some toast love?" Carter said from beside him. He nodded hesitantly. "How many pieces, two?"

He shook his head, holding up his index finger. Carter sighed. "Alright love, do you want anything on it?"

Tye shook his head.

"Just butter? Love I really think you should put something on it." Carter tried again, Tye shook his head. "Okay." He pushed a plate towards the boy, the toast buttered and cut into triangles. Tye gave him a small smile, but made no move to eat the toast.

"Baby you need to eat." Riley said from Beside him. He sighed and nodded, picking up the toast and taking a bite. He somehow missed how overjoyed Riley looked as he did so, how they were all watching him with an air of protection, as though he was worth the world.

He somehow missed it all, whilst he dwelled on his own thoughts, still wondering why on earth he was in the house and why they all seemed to want him there.