Falling | Mxm (Completed) Chapter 54

edited

When Edwin woke up, Aiden wasn’t in bed. Panicking that he must have left already with how silent the apartment was, he jumped up and walked fast to check the living room. There Aiden was, sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter, his arms flat on it and his head laying on them. By him were a glass of water and the pills he took when his stomach flu bothered him.

Edwin frowned and pressed his lips together. Walking slowly not to make any noise, he got closer to the man.

“Aiden.” He called quietly. Nothing.

“Aideeen~” This time he received a weak hum.

“Why are you sleeping here? Let’s go back to bed.” He took the older’s bicep to help him stand. Aiden was cold. Unusually so.

“Are you sick? Does it hurt anywhere?” He checked his forehead, and it was sweaty but ice cold.

“I’m fine.” Aiden said without even looking at him and pulled his hands off of him gently. The older walked back to the bedroom with the help of the walls himself and got to the bed and under the blanket, still visibly shaking and slightly sweating.

Walking out of the bedroom after checking on Aiden, Edwin grabbed his jacket and phone and went out. He wanted to call Luis to ask what the hell was going on and why Aiden was in such condition, but he didn’t want the older to know about it.

“Luis, hi.”

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Do you know what’s wrong with Aiden?”

“Uh… what do you mean?”

“He looks horrible, and he’s so cold and shivering.”

Luis didn’t reply right away. He cleared his throat after a couple of seconds. “Edwin, give him some time. He had it rough the past week. He’ll be alright.”

“But what happened? Why is he like this?”

“He… I think you should ask him that. Later, though. He’s extremely moody now.”

After a very awkward conversation that did Edwin no good and only made him more confused, he entered the apartment again. He wanted to wake him up and ask him why the hell he was like that, but he knew it’s better to let him rest. Looking at his watch, it was time for him to leave. He had to practice for the show, so he called Max. He told him that Aiden was sick, but he had to leave and asked him to come there to take care of the older while he was gone. 20 minutes later, a worried Max arrived.

“Is it a cold or?”

“I don’t know, actually. He didn’t talk to me. He’s just freezing, so I need you to just be here in case his temperature lowers because that can cause the body to go into a shock.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll look after him. Off you go now.”

When Edwin left, Max walked into the bedroom and sat on the floor by his brother.

“You idiot.” He sighed, brushed Aiden’s hair out of his face and just sat there looking at the older who had a deep frown on his face while shivering still, although he had three blankets on him.

A couple of hours later, he woke up, and he was a bit better. He wasn’t shivering anymore and his body wasn’t as cold, but still not like normal.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” He asked while rubbing his eye and looking around. “Where’s Ed?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “He had to practice.”

“Hm, he should’ve woken me up. We could eat breakfast together.” He said while sitting up. “Why are there this many blankets on me?!”

Max was kind of panicking at that moment cos he had seen it all before. Aiden being cold as fuck and shivering and doing things he, later on, couldn’t remember at all.

“A-Aiden…?” He didn’t want to ask his question. He was too afraid of the answer. The older replied with a lazy hum.

“Did… did you do drugs?”

Aiden just sat there and stared at him.

“You did? YOU DID?” Max shouted and stood up, ruffling his own hair in frustration. “WHAT THE FUCK? Do you really wanna go back after having suffered so much? Do you wanna die???” He kept on shouting.

“Jesus, Max. SHUT UP!” Aiden shouted back while covering his ears. “It’s not like you think, okay? I didn’t intend on it.” He massaged his temples. “And it was just once and I’ve been trying to get it out of my system for a whole week.”

There were tears running down on Max’s face, and he couldn’t help them. The thought of his brother overdosing again and all the horror coming back just terrified him so much.

“Why the hell are you crying?” Aiden said in an annoyed tone.

“Why? Do you not see how you’re acting right now? You become this complete asshole when you use drugs.”

“Well, I’m just living up to your expectations then.” He said and got out of bed, walking to the bathroom.

Coming out and going to the kitchen, he poured a glass of wine for himself. But he wasn’t able to get a sip as Max yanked it out of his hand and smashed it to the sink behind them.

“THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

“The fuck do you think YOU’re doing? Is this your way of getting it out? Drinking on an empty stomach?”

“For fuck’s sake! It’s just wine! Wine’s not alcohol!”

Max really wanted to punch him. He wanted to punch him so bad. “What do you think Edwin will think of this?”

Aiden went silent. “Fine.” He put the bottle of wine away and drank a glass of water instead. Looking at his little brother again and the state he was at, all the tears and his facial expression, he felt regretful for yelling at him. Aiden hugged Max tightly.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice.”

Max hugged him back as he continued to sob. “I don’t wanna lose you. Please. Just please don’t go back to using that stupid stuff. Please.”

“I won’t. Promise.”

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Edwin came back at 8 PM together with Brad. They were all supposed to gather at Aiden’s place that night. It was only Aiden and Max there, but the two weren’t talking. Max was reading a book by the glass wall while Aiden was working in his little studio room.

Leaning on the doorframe, he greeted a very focused Aiden.

“Oh, hi!” The other smiled widely upon seeing him and stood up, hugging him tightly. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Feeling how he wasn’t shivering or cold anymore, Edwin was relieved, so he hugged back as tight. “I’ve missed you too.”

Aiden leaned back and look at each part of his face intently with a smile on his face. “So? Have you decided whether to run away or stay, yet?” He paused. “Wait, I should probably step back in case you wanna leave or… yeah.” He blinked a couple of times and let go of the younger so he could take a step back and listen to his answer.

Edwin chuckled and grabbed his hand, pulling him back in his arms, hugging him as tight as he could. “I’m not going anywhere. Sorry, but you’re not single anymore.”

Aiden let a breath he didn’t know he was keeping in get out of his lungs in a long sigh of relief, circling his arms around the slim waist again.

“Thanks, Eddie. I hope you won’t regret it later.”

“Well, you seemed like you were the one regretting things this morning.”

Aiden leaned back and loosened his arms to be able to look at the younger.

“What do you mean?!”

“You totally ignored me! I wanted to help you get back to bed and you just basically told me to fuck off with body language.”

“Wha-…” He couldn’t remember anything. “I’m sorry. I was just really tired.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Now? With you close to me, I’ve never felt any better.” He pecked Edwin’s lips.

“Ewwww, that was so cheesy!” The younger teased him and they both laughed.

Aiden was a bit uneasy about not remembering the shit he must have done and Edwin with the fact that he was sure something wasn’t right, but neither of them said anything.