Evenfall

"A teddy bear was a soft, comforting thing, like the stuffed elephant, whose insides had been spread across the sidewalk to be trampled upon by the people who passed by. Theo was all hard edges and sharp shadows because he had been determined never to end up like that-although he was pretty sure that there was no stuffing left to pull out of him anyway. He was hollow, no more than a shadow.
But how he wished to be something soft and comforting. For Abel to feel as much satisfaction from gathering him into his arms and cuddling him as he felt being held. Maybe he could restuff himself."
-Or-
Living under Ken's thumb will kill Theo someday, until it doesn't. He finds himself free, but has to pick up the pieces of a life he has not been living in order to move on. This novella covers a single day that marks the transition from exploitation and suppressed traumas to a different kind of future than one Theo ever expected for himself with a helping hand from Abel, the one who set it all into motion.
Content Warning: This is pretty dark and explicit, although most of Theo's trauma is fade-to-black, off-screen, or only heavily implied. Specific content warnings are included in the Author's Note (some of which are spoilers for things not revealed until the very end of the story).