Falling | Mxm (Completed) Chapter 27

2 months had gone by fast for Aiden while he was promoting his album. Between the shows, the concerts, the YouTube channels, the lives he did to meet his fans, traveling here and there occasionally, and not having time to even sleep properly, he wasn’t really able to have a phone call that lasted more than 2 minutes.

But now the promotion was done with, and he had 10 days before going on the world tour. He still had schedules in the meantime, but he was free for most of it. Coming home from his last show, he took a shower and collapsed on his bed, sleeping for 22 hours straight.

Aiden was lying on his stomach with his head deep in the pillows. He was awake but still didn’t want to move.

He heard digits and then the sound that resembled his front door opening. There were only 3 people who had his passcode, no wait- 4. He gave it to Edwin as well. He assumed it was Max, since he was the only person who knew he was back from his Singapore fan meeting, so he simply didn’t move an inch. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps getting closer and then someone lay beside him. Turning his head to see who it was, he saw a face he had missed dearly. Before he knew it, there were tears in his eyes, drops landing on the pillow under his head. The other came closer and put an arm around Aiden’s shoulder while wiping a few of his tears. They stayed like that, looking at each other for a long time. Aiden was the first one to break the silence when the tears finally stopped.

“You’re back?”

He was replied with a hum and a hand brushing his hair out of his face repeatedly. “You’ve lost so much weight. Where are my muscles?”

Aiden chuckled bitterly, “I haven’t had the motivation to work out that hard, really.”

The other just smiled at him and moved closer, hugging Aiden’s head to his chest while caressing his hair. Aiden hugged him back and fell asleep soon after cos the scent and the hand in his hair were like a sleeping pill to him.

He had just come out of the shower when his bell rang. Opening the door, he was met with the trio. He started joking around and bullying Max, as usual, smiling widely and laughing at every dad joke Brad was saying. Basically, he was on the fucking cloud nine.

“You’re in a good mood!” Finn stated.

“Hell yeah, I am!” He answered while having Max locked between his legs to prevent him from getting his hands on the remote.

Finn laughed at them. “Something happened or what?”

“Joe was here!” He replied, and the room fell silent.

Even Max stopped trying to free himself and turned to look at him. “He’s back?”

Aiden nodded repeatedly, smiling like a fool. The other three just exchanged looks between themselves and didn’t leave any comments on that.

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Edwin felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, but he was in a middle of a counseling session and had to ignore it. The vibration didn’t continue for long, but then he got a short buzz which indicated that he had a message.

After the session finished, he took his phone out and saw Aiden’s name, both on the missed call and the message notification.

‘Hey Ed, are you free tonight? The guys are here, so come here and bring Vin and Lili with you if you can. If you can’t bring them, just come yourself. I have someone to introduce to you as well.’

He started typing: ‘I’m free after 10. Would that be ok? Also, Lili is with Kurt but I’ll see if I can bring Vin.’

Soon after, he received the reply, ‘Yeah, the guys are coming around that time as well since they all have jobs and I’m the only couch potato here.’

‘You’ve worked your ass off for the past 3 months. I think you’re allowed to be a potato for now.’ Edwin replied. This guy! The first day of his resting time and he feels like he’s a couch potato! He knew Aiden was someone who had to be doing something all the time. Even when he was here, he always made himself busy with something, but he didn’t know it was this serious. The guy was feeling guilty for resting! And he had worked 25/8 nonstop for the past 3 months!

The doctor for the next shift came a little bit sooner, so he was able to leave at 9 with Vincent. They arrived there at 9:45 flat. Ringing the bell, he was met with a thrilled-looking Aiden, greeting them and hugging them both tightly.

“Come in, come in! God, I’ve missed you guys so much!”

Edwin couldn’t help but laugh at how hype Aiden was. He had never seen him like this. He was supposed to be tired as hell with big dark circles under his eyes or something, but here he was with a face as bright as the sun itself.

Vin didn’t waste any time and attached himself to Aiden, hugging his neck from behind and following him like that to the kitchen. The singer handed a glass of wine to Edwin and was about to pour some orange juice for Vin when the koala on his back whined. “I’m not a kid, bro! I can handle my wine, you know.”

Aiden looked at the doctor for permission and he was answered with a nod, so he gave Vin a glass of wine as well.

Edwin sat on a chair, sipping on the wine. “So the promotion is finally finished?”

Aiden was playing with Vincent’s hair, teasing him and poking his cheek while giggling. He answered without looking at Edwin, “Yeah. kinda. I still have the tour, though.”

Vincent was ready to fight back, so he took Aiden’s hand and bit him. Not hard, but it still left his teeth mark on the pale skin. Aiden was fake screaming cos let’s face it! Vincent didn’t have the heart to hurt him with a full-force bite. And then someone came out of the bedroom with a towel around his hips and one on his head, drying his hair furiously. Upon seeing them in the kitchen, the other stopped, looking a little bit shocked with his eyes narrowed and lips a little parted, letting a short ‘oh’ out. Then he continued walking toward Aiden and poured himself a glass of wine, looking at Edwin and Vincent enthusiastically. Vincent didn’t know him, and because he had come too close to Aiden (and he was still dangling from the man’s back), he detached himself from the singer and went to Edwin’s side, sitting there quietly.

“So are you gonna introduce us or nah?” The guy nudged Aiden and gestured with his head.

“Oh! Right!” Aiden giggled. He was being really hype! “The blue is Edwin, my doctor from the hospital and the blondie is Vincent. Dude, I forgot to tell you. He is Z. THE Z!!” The other’s eyes widened, and he choked on his wine, coughing roughly. Aiden started laughing out loud and patting the guy’s back rapidly, looking at Vin with heart-shaped eyes. The guy finally stopped coughing and stretched his hand toward the blond. Vincent shook it and smiled crookedly. The guy then stretched his hand towards Edwin. “This guy forgets his own name when he’s this hype, so I’m gonna introduce me myself. I’m Joe. Nice to meet you both.” Joe, right. The guy in the videos Edwin had watched a couple of months back.

Joe circled his arm around Aiden’s shoulder, being really close to him and having mere centimeters between their faces. “I see you still have the eyes for making friends with beautiful people.” He clearly teased the singer which earned himself a spank.

“Yo! You’ll make me look bad if you say it like that!” Aiden replied with pouty lips. That, the pouty face, Edwin hadn’t seen before either.

“Okay okay, got it. Put your lips back where they belong.” Joe moved his head up and down while talking with narrowed eyes and put his index finger on Aiden’s bottom lip, pushing it up.

The singer didn’t react at first, but then he slapped his hand away and poked a dimple on Joe’s face. “Go get dressed dimples. The guys will be here soon.”

Edwin and Vincent were just sitting there. Both in awe, but of different kinds. Vincent was genuinely enjoying the scene, while Edwin felt like there were butterflies in his stomach. Gulping down the rest of his wine, he went to the living room and turned on the TV. Aiden must’ve noticed the change in his facial expression when he asked, “Is something wrong?” while walking toward him. Edwin shook his head, looking at him. The older was still halfway in the living room when Joe called him from the bedroom and he turned around, going in that direction instead.

They could hear their conversation perfectly well in the living room since they were being so loud.

“Yo! Where are my favorite sweatpants?”

“Which ones?”

“HOW MANY FAVORITE SWEATPANTS DO I HAVE? THE DARK GREEN ONES.”

“Ouch, that hurtttt! They must be somewhere in there. I didn’t throw them away.”

“Well, I can’t find them.”

“Didn’t you take them with you when you were leaving?”

“Huh? I don’t think so.” silence, “I’ll just wear something else for now, but remember, this is NOT over.”

The bell rang again, and Aiden rushed to open it. Joe rushed out as well and Max literally jumped him, locking his legs around the dimple guy, unwilling to let go.

“Bro I missed you soooo much. He’s not wrong for calling you evil dimples. You’re evil for leaving like that.”

Brad made Max let go and hugged Joe firmly, patting his back and letting go, “Welcome back, J.” He smiled.

The last one to get close and hug the apparently recently back from god knows where, was Finn. He was happy, but there were also signs of caution in his eyes. “So you’re back to stay or…?”

“I’m back to stay, Finn.”

“Wow. Y’all completely forgot about me here. You haven’t seen me in 2 months as well.” Aiden complained, crossing his arms on his chest and leaning against the wall.

“We see your stupid face on TV all the time. But come here, cos I’ve missed you so much.” Max said before basically suffocating his brother in the tight hug.

After all that, they finally noticed the presence of Edwin and Vincent in the living room.

“Hey, you two!” Finn greeted them. “Let’s eat first, guys. The food I brought would be no good if it gets cold.”

Gathering around the counter as usual, Edwin, Vincent, Finn and Max seated and the other three standing, Vincent shouted all of a sudden, “I JUST REMEMBERED!” They all stared at him. “Joe! I’ve been thinking about where I saw you before! The producer of love letters, right?”

Joe’s dimples appeared due to smiling. “Yeah, I kinda got disappointed when you didn’t recognize me.”

“I’ve never met you!! But I love the music you make. Wow.” Vincent smiled widely.

Edwin caught Aiden staring at him, but lowered his eyes to his plate immediately. Still, he could feel the man’s eyes on him throughout the whole night.

They were all going to sleep there that night. Edwin didn’t know they were supposed to be staying there beforehand, so he didn’t have any clothes with him. Or for Vincent. So he told Aiden that he’ll take Vin to his apartment with him, but all the guys who overheard this shouted and said they had to stay.

Vincent became really comfortable around the guys, especially Max, and they kept fooling around, earning a few scoldings from Finn here and there while Joe laughed and encouraged them.

“Edwin, don’t you wanna take a shower?” Aiden asked him at some point when the other guys were playing video games.

“Why? Do I stink?” He said with a straight face.

Aiden frowned shortly. “No. But you’re getting sleepy and you always wash before bed so I think it’s time you took a shower.”

Edwin assumed Joe overheard them cos he gave Aiden a quick glance but couldn’t keep it for long due to the game he was playing.

Edwin walked to the shower and noticed the toothbrush he used while being here was still there. So was Vincent’s. And now there was one more. He just took his and brushed his teeth before taking a quick shower and coming out with a towel around him. Aiden walked into the room as he walked out of the bathroom.

“Why didn’t you wash your hair?” He asked while going to the cloth room, searching for something.

“It’s not dirty.”

Aiden came out with a t-shirt and sweatpants in his hand, giving them to Edwin. “Wear these and then sleep if you want. The guys are gonna keep playing the whole night, probably.” He paused and looked at him intently. “Edwin, what’s wrong? You’re not being yourself.”

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just a bit tired.”

“I’ve seen you tired before, so don’t lie to me. Is something wrong with Lili again?”

“Should Lili be the only reason for me feeling bad all the time?” He snapped before knowing the harsh tone he had used.

“So you are feeling bad.” Aiden took his hands and led him to the bed, making him sit and then kneeling in front of him, looking up into his eyes. “What is it? You can tell me.” His voice was so gentle, and he kept rubbing Edwin’s hands that he was still holding with his thumbs.

“It’s… nothing.”

Aiden just kept examining his facial features. “You know, I… I really missed you. I so wanted to hug you more than just 3 seconds when you arrived tonight, but you’re being really distant. Have I done something to upset you?”

Edwin just kept looking at the eyes that were looking back into his. So soft, yet having a strong gaze to them. He couldn’t hold the eye contact for over 10 seconds and looked away.

“So that’s a yes.” Aiden grabbed Edwin’s chin and made him look at him, his hand still in place. “Tell me what I did to make you look like this.”

“I…” He paused, thinking about what he wanted to say. “I’m just really tired. Could you close the door behind you so that I can sleep in quiet?” He said, taking Aiden’s hand off his chin and freeing his other hand from the other’s in an attempt to stand up.

“Sure.” was all Aiden said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Edwin was happy that he was successful at turning the subject around but also felt bad cos Aiden had left. He kind of wished he had stayed more. Maybe ask him one more time what was wrong, but then he knew he still wouldn’t be able to tell the truth. Not while the singer was all touchy with this Joe guy.