My head is killing me.

I swear I am never drinking again!

Why on earth did I drink so quickly too?

Groaning as my head pounds in time with my heart beat, I bury my face under my blanket to sleep this horrible feeling off.

Wake me when I feel human again.

***
"Ari.."

*Poke*

"Aria, wake up."

*Poke*

Groaning, I can't help but think of ways I'm going to hurt the person trying to make me face this agony right now.

"Come on, I got you a bacon and egg Mcmuffin. Perfect cure for your hangover." Pat's gentle voice floats throught the haze.

"Leave me to die." I moan, turning my back to him.

I hear him chuckle before the poking starts back up.

"Trust me. Have some aspirin, food, and a shower. You'll feel a lot better, I promise!" He says before pulling my safety blanket away.

Glaring at the evil little person, I take the pills he's offering with a glass of orange juice. Drinking it as quickly as possible, I hand him the glass as he hands me a bag filled with food.

"Thanks Pat. Are you going to have some?" I ask, holding one of the Mcmuffins out to him.

"Nah, I'm good." He chuckles at me.

"What's so funny? Huh?" I ask, nudging him with my shoulder

"Well, It's just that it's 1:00 already. I've had breakfast, and lunch." He smiles that sweet smile at me.

"Oh." I mumble, realising how late I've slept.

After I finish my food, Pat tells me to have a warm shower and come join him in the lounge room. We were have a day together apparently. Eddy will sleep a lot of today, and Remy is checking on his brother.

Stepping out of the warm water, my head feels smaller and my stomach seems to have settled a fair bit.

I quickly change into a t-shirt, trackies, and a jumper. Opting to go braless today, I drag myself out to the lounge where Pat is waiting for me.

"So what are you making me do during my suffering today?" I ask, plopping down next to him.

"Aww, it won't be that bad. We'll just have a movie day together. I'm not really in the mood for much anyway." He says, clearly trying to smile but failing.

"That sounds good." I smile back.

He scrolls through netflix before stopping on Megamind. As he's getting comfortable next to me, I can see the restlessness practically radiating off him.

"Sweety, talk to me." I try to gently pry. "You don't have to go into detail, but perhaps getting it off your chest will be good for you."

He sits there oddly silent, just staring at his hands for a while before releasing a deep breath.

"I had a nightmare last night. I know I get them a lot but this one felt too real." He explains, so quiet I strain my ears to hear. "I don't want to go into detail or anything, at least not yet. But before I came here, I was umm forcefully used." He tells me as his voice cracks at the end.

My heart breaks having one of my theories about this young boy confirmed. He didn't deserve this, no one does but he's only 17. How horrible it must have been to live through that kind of thing.

"How long for?" I quietly ask, slowly moving closer to the breaking boy. Making sure to watch him for any signs I'm unwanted.

"2 years." He says, letting a single sob out before pulling it back in. A lone tear sliding down his cheek.

"Okay sweety. I want you to look at me." I tell him, now closer enough to be in reach without touching.

He takes a moment, clearling trying to get his bearings before turning to look me in the eye.

Seeing the happy and free kid, suddenly so broken absolutely shatters my heart to see.

"I'm sorry you went through such horrible things. You didn't deserve any of it, and I'm so sorry that you have to relive it in your sleep." I whisper, hoping to show how sincere I am. "You're so strong to have made it out the other end, sweety. I'm so proud of the man you are becoming."

I gently wipe his tears away, while he keeps staring at me with pain filled eyes.

"How can you look at me, and call me strong? How could you feel anything close to pride about me? I'm disgusting." He sobs out the last word.

Seeing him break before my eyes, I pull the seemily smaller teen into my arms. He crawls into my lap like a small child seeking confort, nestling his head into my neck at his body shakes from sobs. 

Feeling him put his arms between our chests, I wrap mine around his shaking frame. Gently stroking his back while shushing him slowly, slowly calming him down.

"I call you strong, because you're still here. And I am proud of you because you have courage when you want to flee, study to complete high school, and still remain the sweetest person I'll ever know." I tells him as I comb his hair out his face. "And I can promise you, you are far from disgusting. You are sweet and beautiful. One day all of this will be put behind you, and you'll be having your happily ever after." I tell him truthfully.

He sits up quickly, adjusting himself so he's stranddling my legs, before wrapping his arms around my neck and crying into my shoulder again.

Rubbing his back, we stay like that for a while until he calms him self down. Pulling back, he just stares at me a moment before a small smile forms on his face.

"Thank you." He whispers.

"Any time. I'll always be here, remember?" I smile, holding my pinky finger up to him.

"And a pinky promise is pretty binding" He smiles as he entwines our pinkies.

"Now let's watch this movie, I haven't seen this one." I point out to the paused screen.

Pat nods with a small smile, before climbing off my lap to lay down next to me. Resting his head on me lap, I stroke his hair as we get comfortable on the couch.

"I was scared you'd want nothing to do with me." Pat says a few minutes into the movie.

"Pat, nothing will ever make me want to remove you from my life." I tell him truthfully before we drift into silence watching the movie.

I feel a small wet spot of my leg but decide it's best to ignore it, some times it just takes a minute to pull your self back together.

Soon enough we're laughing at Minion and Megaminds banter. The heavy mood seemingly lifted from his thoughts.

Putting a second movie on, Pat falls asleep five minutes in. Clearly more tired than he realised. I get about another ten minutes of the movie before I feel my lids get heavy.

My brain shutting down, welcoming the blissful darkness that wants to help me finish recovering from my hangover.

And there I stay.

Sleeping a hang over off, with a troubled teen on my lap, and a disney movie playing in the back ground.

If only I could help him, even if just in his dreams.