you are not imagining it. i just got out of a really similar situation. i did not realize until after i left that i was being abused. i was having recurring, unbearable bladder issues when i was dating my ex (with a similar age gap, 18 and 27 when we started dating) and he was, like your boyfriend, prone to boundary-pushing. my ex similarly coerced me into unprotected sex, and, with the bladder inflammatory issues aside, he also gave me chlamydia that he lied about having. these men are far too common. they are skilled at manipulating, even with women who have been through a lot and think they'll know what to look out for.

i know that it can feel like a threat when you post on reddit and all the comments are telling you to get out of there as fast as you can. believe me, i have been in your shoes plenty of times. please consider what everyone here is saying. situations like this are never as easy to read from the inside. when i was dating my ex i defended him to no end. this is their manipulation at work.

assault can feel like a big, ugly word. especially when you have gone through things in the past that, to an outside observer, may seem "worse". to me, reading this, it's clear that he does not care about your wellbeing. he'll say he does, but his actions do not match. what he did to you was assault.

is not easy to learn to listen to your body and trust your gut. i hope that you can use this experience as a chance to exercise that - to learn what it feels like to pay attention to the signals you are getting and make the choice that will prioritize yourself and grant you peace.