Starkid one shots (Pete And Ted

7.Chapter seven: He Can't Know, Ever! -part two

(TW: sexual assault aftermath and flashbacks, swearing, sexual assault survivors looking down on themselves because of the assault, talks of almost throwing up, freak out).

Paul almost threw up when he found Ted, his pants were missing and his legs were covered in blood and other substances, there was a decent-sized gash on Ted's forehead and his lower jaw to the waistline of his boxes had a trail of hickeys.

Ted was unconscious his phone next to Ted's limp hand he'd passed out while on that call as Paul had suspected.

Paul's instinct was to pull out his phone to call an ambulance but he knew Ted was very clear that that wasn't what he wanted, Paul instead rushed back to his car grabbing a throw blanket from his boot to lay over Ted's bottom half to give the other man some decency.

"Ted?" Paul kneeled at Ted's side hoping he'd be able to wake Ted without touching him or drawing the attention of people outside the alleyway.

"Ted" Paul spoke louder pocketing Ted's phone.

Ted's eyes fluttered open, his eyes landing on Paul's before Ted broke the eye contact.

"Ted I think you should go to Hospital" Paul voiced.

"P-Please...Home" was all Ted managed to say.

Both men understood that what had happened was very clear, Ted had been assaulted,

There was no denying that and Ted didn't want to anyway, he wanted one thing and one thing only to get out of that ally and home where Nathan couldn't come back and get him.

Ted understood logically that Nathan wasn't coming back but he was still just scared plain and simple no logic required.

Even though Paul wanted Ted to go to the Hospital he was not in the business of forcing a scared pained man into doing something they were very against doing.

"Okay, Home" Paul nodded.

"Can you get up? Walk at all?" Paul wondered unsure what to do if the answer was no which it of course was.

"I, I can carry you, are you alright with that?".

Paul waited for an answer but Ted's expression turned vacant.

"Ted stay with me yeah? We've got to get you home remember?" Paul slowly placed a gentle hand on Ted's shoulder, Ted flinching away in fear.

Paul had never seen Ted in any way other than the sleazeball womanizer that everyone saw him as and he hated that this is how he saw another, real, side to his friend.

"Can I carry you to the car so I can get you home?".

Ted nodded very slowly as silent tears ran down his face, he hated this, the fact he was crying, the pain, what Nathan did to him, the fact that Paul was seeing him so bloody weak.

He tried hard not to but he recoiled away from Paul when he went to pick him up.

"It's okay, nod when you're ready for me to try again" Paul smiled somberly.

After gathering his breath for a few minutes Ted nodded, allowing Paul to lift him and carry him to the car.

The car ride to Ted's apartment was quiet, Ted was shaking and kept zoning out, there were a few times Ted's head fell limply to the side and Paul worried that he'd passed out again but then his head would pop back up.

Paul was trying really hard to stay calm and respect Ted's boundaries and wishes not to be taken to the Hospital, but god Paul wanted to take him there, Ted was clearly in bad shape.

"Ted, your brother he'll be home, at your home" Paul sighed.

"No, can't...he can't see me like this" Ted started freaking out, his breathing becoming rapid and clearly that was painful as Ted was both whimpering in pain with each attempt to take a breath and forcing himself to breathe.

"Ted, Ted! Calm down, you need to calm down" Paul's eyes widened as he looked for a place to pull over.