#goooooooooo

“Dad…?”

Richard looked up from his paperwork and towards the door of his study to find his son standing there, looking nervously in, like he was expecting to be hurt for bothering him.

“Yes, Reynold?” he asked as he turned back to his desk.

“I… I have to tell you something…”

“Well, spit it out.”

“Uhm…” Roy took a deep breath, “Do you remember how you’d send me off to my uncle… whenever you and Mom went on business trips?”

“Yes, and I’m also aware that now that he’s dead, I have to send you off with your little friends. What does it matter?”

“Well… I-I… whenever you did, I…”

C’mon Roy, be strong. He’s gotta know, or you’ll never get over it!

“Whenever you did… dropped me off, I mean… he… h-he would…”

“Let me stop you right there,” Richard interrupted him, setting his pen down. “I know.”

“You… you know?”

“I know. In fact, that was the point.”

Roy took a step back, shock and fear beginning to take over. “What do you mean…?”

“Me and my brother… We had a deal. As long as I allowed him to have his… ‘time’ with you, he’d continue to fund our company. And as long as he funded our company, I told him he could do as he wished,” he stood, “And so our ‘business trips’ weren’t as much business as they were me and Carmen having alone time. I told Carmen that you simply wanted to visit my brother, and surprisingly, she fell for it. Never questioned how nervous you obviously were.”

“W… what…? You just… let it happen…?”

“Yes, I did, Reynold, were you not listening to me?”

Roy thought he was going to throw up. He just… let him do all of that to me? For money?

“You basically sold my body… to my uncle?” his voice broke on the last word. 

“No, I didn’t ‘sell your body’. I merely made a simple business deal. With time and kids, you’ll understand as well.”

“N-No, no I wouldn't! I’d never sell my son’s body to some… some perv, just because he’s funding a company for me!”

“I don’t like that tone, Reynold…” Richard warned as he turned to face his son, towering over him. He slowly walked towards him, watching as the short boy started to cower, his sudden confidence fading as fast as it had come. Kneeling down to meet his eyes best he could, he kept his tone low. “So let’s try this…”

He suddenly grabbed Roy’s face, covering his mouth and preventing him from crying out to his mother.

“Should Carmen find out about this, because of you, or anyone else, I will not hesitate to bring violence into this household. Is that what you want, Reynold? For your father to turn violent, because you just so happened to slip about his business deal?”

The young brunette shook his head the best he could, tears budding in his eyes and slipping down his face, grabbing at his dad’s wrist until he let go.

“Good. Now get out of my office, I have work to do.”

~~~

“Your dad really said all that?” Ross asked, him and Robert having just been told the horrible story of what Roy’s dad had told the young brunette.

“Mhm…”

“Roy…” Robert mumbled, before enveloping the shortest in a hug.

“”I-I still can’t believe he’d…” he trailed off before reciprocating the hug with a small, shuddering sob that he tried to keep from growing.

“I know, but it’s ok. You told us, and now we can try to do something about it…” the ravenette assured him, gently patting him on the back.

“Who’s gonna believe us…? And besides, what if my dad finds out I told you guys…? H-he might beat me, a-and I… I don’t want to…”

“Shh, it’s ok. Just… thanks for telling us. That was really brave of you, y’know,” the blonde encouraged him.

“Yeah, a lot of people don’t talk about that. It’s really good that you did,” Ross agreed.

“It… it wasn’t easy…”

“Yeah, we guessed that… but you were strong and did it anyway. You could’ve held it in, but you didn’t. That takes guts,” the ravenette pat him on the back.

“Thanks, guys…” Roy mumbled into Robert’s shoulder, feeling Ross join the hug and relaxing a bit, feeling safer in his friends’ arms.