Yellow

thirty four

Tw: effects of self-harm

Carter was met with pure anger when he opened the door. "Is he okay?" Riley was first to speak, his eyes were red from crying.

"Why was he screaming?" Travis asked immediately after.

"I had to clean the cuts on his thighs." Carter explained. "He's fine, he broke down because of everything, he's had a lot just piling up on him."

"Can we see him?" Alexis whispered, Noah had his head in his lap, he was crying as well.

"Of course. I'm sorry for shutting you out, I had to get him calm, and safe." Carter said quietly. None of them said anything, Riley was the first to get up from his spot on the floor. He walked passed Carter and climbed onto the bed in the centre of the room. Sitting down beside Tye's sleeping form.

"He hurt himself?" He asked gently, noting the bandages on his wrists. Kit came to sit on his other side.

"You're not sending him away, are you?" He asked, placing a kiss on the boys forehead.

"No, no. We're going to help him here." Carter replied. He worked with mental health hospitals in his rehab programme, but he couldn't abandon Tye like that. They were going to help him themselves.

Travis came to sit down beside Artemis, resting his head on his shoulder. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"We're going to help him." Carter nodded, pulling Alexis into his arms. The green haired boy sighed and hugged him back. "He's going to be okay."

^^^
Tye awoke feeling heavy, his throat was painfully sore, as were his arms and legs. He was in Carter's room and he wasn't sure quite how he had gotten there. He sat up, disturbing Kit who was lying beside him.

"Hey baby." He turned to see Riley smiling at him.

"What happened?" He managed to croak out. Kit passed him a glass of water.

"You had a break down sweetheart, you don't remember?"

"I remember kissing Riley."

"You don't remember anything after?" Riley frowned, rubbing his back gently.

"I was scared."

"Oh baby." He carefully hugged the boy, at first it was tentative, but as Tye seemed perfectly fine with it he held him properly. "How do you feel?"

"My... what did I do?"

"You cut yourself baby." Riley replied. Tye looked down at the bandages on his arms.

"I-I did?"

"Yeah sweetie. It's okay." Kit replied. Tye shook his head.

"I was clean for so long." He whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise Tye." Riley said, kissing his cheek gently. "Its okay to need help."

"Did I do anything else?" Tye whispered.  

"You cried mostly." Kit replied. He sighed. "Im sorry I couldn't help."

"I'm tired."

"Come here baby." Riley gently pulled him into his chest. "You get some rest."

"I love you." Tye murmured into Riley's chest, his eyes feeling heavy with sleep.

"We love you too sweetheart."

^^^
Carter awoke early the next morning, Artemis was lying on top of him, head buried into his shoulder, he used to sleep like that when they first got together. He smiled and kissed the top of his head, looking over to see Tye in Riley's arms, head resting against his chest, Kit immediately beside them, curled up to Tye. Alexis and Noah were nowhere to be seen, which wasn't that much of a surprise. Alexis hated sharing a bed with more than two others, he said it made him feel trapped, so he had Noah had more than likely gone back to one of their rooms. Travis was on Kit's other side, asleep on his front, hand dangling off the edge of the bed. If he wasn't holding someone or being held, Carter could swear he never slept normally.

He let out a sigh of relief. His boys were all okay. He gently moved Artemis off him, kissing his forehead as he got out of bed. Going round the other side of he bed he gently shook Tye awake. His bandages were stained red.

"Tye angel, I need to change your bandages." He whispered. The boy stirred, offering a weak smile and then he wearily climbed over Artemis and Riley to get down.

"Mm kay." He followed Carter into the bathroom, where he grabbed the first aid kit and slowly unwrapped the bandage on his right arm. Tye pointedly looked away from his cuts as they were revealed.

"How are you feeling?" Carter asked gently as he dabbed antiseptic on the angry marks.

"I'm sorry, about yesterday." Tye whispered. "I don't... I don't remember anything, but whatever I did-"

"Baby it's okay." Carter paused in his cleaning so he could look at the boy. "All we want is for you to heal and be happy."

"I don't want to hurt you." Tye sniffled.

"I hurt because you're hurt." Carter replied. "Tye I need to clean your thighs, is that okay."

Tye nodded, tracing the edge of the bandage on his right hand. "Okay."

"I can wait a bit-"

"Its okay Car, I trust you."

"I'll be as gentle as I can." He promised, gently unwrapping the soft material from Tye's thighs.

Tye managed to keep composed as Carter worked as quickly as he could, but he couldn't stop himself from crying as he saw the marks he made and the marks those monsters had inflicted upon him.

"Oh love." Carter held him tightly as soon as he finished. "I wish I could change what happened, and even though I can't I'm going to do what I can to help you." He paused. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Tye sniffled. "You, all of you, are the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Love..." Carter was at a loss for words, he felt like his heart was about to burst. "You complete us, you know that?"

Tye buried his head in Carter's chest and hugged him back tightly. "I'm so scared of losing you."

"Never. You'll never lose us." Carter replied. It was a promise and one he intended to keep. "How are you feeling? Do you want to get some more sleep?"

"I don't know." Tye replied. "Maybe breakfast?"

"You want to eat?" Carter asked, trying his best to hide his surprise. Tye nodded and looked down at his hands as though he had said something wrong. "Alright." He took Tye's hand, he hated how the bandage felt against his palm and hoped that he would be able to remove it soon. "What do you want to eat?"

"Toast?" Tye climbed up onto the counter beside Carter, his eyes still glued to his hands.

"Of course." Carter would have liked him to have something a bit more substantial, but the fact that he had decided he wanted to eat was substantial in itself. He poured Tye a glass of water and offered him some painkillers, they included an anti-inflammatory and he hoped they would help with the healing of his cuts.

He ate with Tye in the kitchen, before heading to the living room, putting cartoons on and sitting down to cuddle with Tye. Tye seemed to always be captivated by kids shows, and he did wonder whether it was because he hadn't really grown up watching them. He was glad at least he seemed so calm, his breakdown had been awful, but perhaps there was light in the darkness for him.

Carter pondered this as he held Tye close to him, the younger had been insistent he had to sit in his lap, and who was he to tell him no?

"How do you feel baby?" He asked.

"I love you." Tye said as though it answered his question. Carter had to smile at him.

Yeah, they were going to be okay.