edited
(A few days back)
Aiden had just dropped Edwin off at the younger’s place after they came back from the beach and was about to go pack his stuff. His phone rang, and it showed Ian’s name. He was hesitant to answer at first, but did so anyway.
“Fucking finally! Where are you?”
“Why?”
“We need to talk.”
“I’m busy, Ian.”
“I’m busier. I’ll be at your place in 40.” He hung up.
They arrived together at the entrance of the building. Walking inside the house in awkward silence, Aiden grabbed two glasses, pouring red wine in them and handing one to Ian. The other was looking out of the glass wall at the view and just stood there drinking.
“Why are you avoiding your friends?” Ian suddenly spoke up as he turned around and leaned on the glass behind him.
“What do you mean avoiding?” He asked calmly after taking a small sip and twirling the liquid, sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter.
“I mean-” Ian leaned off and walked toward Aiden, placing his drink on the coffee table and stopping a couple of steps away from him. “Why are you ignoring Joe’s texts and calls? And why are you not hanging out with the guys as much?”
Aiden looked at him but didn’t say anything. Ian closed the gap between them in fast but smooth steps and took the glass out of his hand, placing it on the counter. Aiden flinched at the action and wanted to stand up and put some distance between them, but decided to stay still and not show weakness. This was how it was with them. A battle to see who would give in first. It wasn’t always a bad thing, it was so much fun at times, but other times it was just exhausting. So the only thing he did was to look away from the person standing in front of him.
“Aiden! answer me. Didn’t you tell him you’re okay with us being together?”
Aiden turned his face back to Ian, watching him intently. “I did and I am.”
“Then why on earth are you avoiding him? He’s devastated.”
Aiden chuckled sarcastically. “Devastated? He didn’t seem devastated when he decided to sleep with you while we were together.”
“What?” Ian seemed really surprised. “Are you… are you still blaming him for that?”
“Am I not allowed to?”
“Aiden, I thought we talked about this. And you didn’t seem to have much against him before, well, apart from the big fight you guys had after we broke up… but why are you bringing it up again now?” Ian was talking with much hesitation, as he didn’t know what really was going on in Aiden’s head. The older sighed deeply, looking down before looking at Ian again.
“Me not talking about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t eat me up all the time. Ian, I’m really exhausted right now. I’ll call him later some time. Right now, I have bigger problems to deal with.”
“Problems? So Joe is a problem now? Or is it me? Then you should have talked about it when it was time instead of holding it in.”
“Same goes to you, though. You could have talked instead of letting it pile up and ending up sleeping with my best friend.” Aiden said in a harsh tone, a little louder. His gaze was intimidating, but he seemed calm as well.
Ian seemed taken aback by the sudden outburst. He spent a few seconds staring at the man in front of him with his mouth slightly open. The singer broke their eye contact and looked around the place, let his eyes stay on the book Edwin had left on the corner of the counter.
“You’re not wrong. But now it’s all in the past and we have agreed not to bring it up again.”
“Oh we did, and I wasn’t the one who started this conversation.”
“No, but you are the one who stopped talking to Joe.” Ian said a bit loudly.
Aiden didn’t even flinch, he just kept his intense gaze on him.
“Look, I know it must be hard to see us together, but you have your own person now. Let’s just leave it all in the past and move on. We’re all friends. You shouldn’t ignore your friend like that. You know how sensitive he is toward you.”
Aiden licked his lip and narrowed his eyes. “Friends, yeah. I’ll call him later, Ian. Promise. Can you leave now?”
“Do you hate me that much, you can’t even stand me for two minutes? Do you even have the right to?”
“I don’t hate you. I’m just really tired and there is no point in this conversation. You did what you did, and yes, I don’t have the right cos as you said I should have been there and that is what I believe as well. I should’ve been there, although it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that you two were attracted to each other. Don’t think I didn’t notice that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Aiden shrugged. “It’s not supposed to mean anything. I’m gonna take a shower now. You can stay, but no more talking about this. I’ll call him when I wanna call him.”
When Aiden came out of the shower, Ian had left. The fact that he had let the last words slip out of his mouth made him want to punch himself in the face real hard. He never mentioned noticing the little flirtings and the looks they sometimes threw at each other, ever. When they were together, he didn’t think of it as anything he should be cautious about. For him, it was just the typical super touchy-flirty Ian-Joe thingy, but after finding out about them sleeping together, everything had clicked in his mind. The fact that his boyfriend and his best friend were secretly attracted to each other for a rather long time.
He never doubted Ian’s love for himself, though. He knew the other loved him madly, but Ian was the kind of person who could love more than one at a time even though he himself hadn’t noticed his attraction toward Joe. He was the literal sunshine. He simply had too much love within him to shower people with.
Basically, Aiden had always known about Joe’s crush on Ian. From the very start, when they first kissed each other in front of him and he noticed the look on his best friend’s face. And in the last year of their relationship, he noticed how the two would spend so much time together while he wasn’t around or were just touchier than before, even with him around. But he just shrugged it off, thinking it was good that the two had each other’s company, that Joe was there to take care of Ian while he was away.
And that’s why it hurt so much. He trusted them with all he had. Sure, their group of friends kept insisting on the alcohol, putting all the blame on the poor liquid, but he knew they knew better. There is always the thought first, and the alcohol just gave you the bravery to do it.
But on the other hand, he had just confessed the night before. He had confessed to the most beautiful human in the whole world. One that he loved with every cell in his body. He wasn’t lying when he told Edwin he made him feel things even Ian hadn’t been able to evoke in him. He knew with Edwin, it was like they were really meant to be. He didn’t believe in such things, but with the blue-haired beauty, it was like they were the mythical soulmates.
That was why he decided to take the next step. He decided to really leave it all in the past and focus on Edwin with all he had. The hurt, the fights, his past relationship with Ian, the way his heart ached every time he thought about Joe, he decided to let it all go.
He loved Joe so much. They had grown up for most of the years together. The other had always stood by him when they were kids and was rather shy. Joe would yell at kids who were bullying him, as he used to have no muscles and was a really small kid compared to Joe. He remembered this one time he was wearing a pair of shoes that were so destroyed and used, they were torn apart while he was running around and he fell to the ground in front of three of their school bullies. He was 9 at the time. He looked up, feeling ashamed of his torn shoes and his wounded knees. He saw their eyes on him, the way they mocked him and laughed at him cos he was poor and his shoes had just given out. He remembered how Joe appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of him, yelling at the three kids to leave him alone. Joe was a year younger than him, but it almost felt like he was the older with the way he took his hand, helped him stand up, and cleaned his wound with his small hands, telling him he shouldn’t pay attention to those brats. Aiden remembered how he smiled in between the endless tears running down his cheeks.
And then when high school came around and they met again, they clicked just as fast. He wasn’t the small kid anymore. He was young, but he had muscles no one else at their school had. He didn’t want to be weak anymore. He didn’t want people to be able to laugh at him because he was poor or he didn’t have a father or whatever, so he built an appearance that would scare people off although in his heart he was still the soft kid he always had been. That was why people didn’t get how he could easily break into tears with that mass of angry muscles. And it was his turn to take care of Joe when the bullies were attacking him for being gay. He had walked past them, throwing them across the hall, and kissed Joe in front of them, saying, “He is my boy. Whoever has any problems with that will have to face me.” He knew taekwondo so no one really dared mess with Joe after that. Of course, they never talked about that kiss, as they both knew it didn’t mean anything.
It was an endless queue of memories like this that couldn’t stop him from missing and loving Joe. He picked up his phone and texted his best friend.
“Yo dimples. Wanna grab a bite?” and like that, it was okay between them. None of them talked about the issue or Aiden ignoring him for a while. They just focused on spending a good time while eating their meal together as if nothing had happened in the first place.
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