Falling | Mxm (Completed) Chapter 23

Edited✔️

It was the third night Edwin was spending at Aiden’s home, and he was utterly impressed and fascinated by how much effort the man put into his work. He was always busy, not having a second to himself, even working at home after he and Vincent both had fallen asleep. Aiden had told them to sleep on his king-sized bed from day 1. He had opposed, but the singer told him he wasn’t going to be able to sleep that much anyway and the little amount of time he had to do so, would be on the chair in his studio cos it had a massaging function as well so it would help him relax a bit.

Right now, it was 2 AM, and there was company staff there at the house, arranging this and that about the upcoming album. Aiden looked like a zombie, literally. He was exhausted but still went along.

“So these are the concepts we have settled for. Tomorrow we’re going to shoot the music video and then you’ll have a few days to rest before the album release.” Luis said.

Aiden nodded and sat back, sinking into the couch. “Ah… I forgot to ask,” He spoke, rubbing his eye. “Was the song I gave Patrick well-received?”

The staff laughed at him. “Haven’t you checked the charts?” One of them said, still laughing.

“I haven’t had the time to blink.”

“It’s been #1 ever since the release, Aiden!” Luis said.

“Really? That’s a relief.” He said, sounding like he was talking in sleep.

“Do you want coffee?” Edwin asked him upon seeing his state. The other nodded. He stood up and went to the kitchen. When he came back, Aiden had already fallen asleep. He looked at Luis in question.

“Leave him be. We’re done here.” They stood up. “Oh, and don’t wake him up. He won’t be able to sleep again if you do. Just let him sleep here.” And then they left.

Edwin felt bad for letting the man sleep in that position but it was better than not sleeping at all so he just put a blanket on him and went to sleep next to an already asleep Vincent in the most comfortable fluffy bed he had ever felt under his body.

When he woke up the next morning, Aiden was already gone. He saw a note on the fridge

‘Tell Vincent to call Luis when he wakes up. They’ll send someone to pick him up. Also, I ordered soup. Warm it up before eating.’

Edwin wasn’t the type who ate breakfast, like ever, but he had been eating for the past 4 days cos Aiden kept forcing him himself or just ordered and made him eat cos otherwise he’d feel guilty for not eating the food the other had prepared for them.

Edwin ended up bringing Vincent to the hospital with him cos the younger told him he missed Lili and Lucas. When they went home that night, at 9 pm, they found Aiden deep in sleep on the couch with the outfit he probably wore when he left in the morning. He was basically one with the furniture. They just showered quietly and went to bed themselves. Edwin had a day off tomorrow, so they’d all be at home if nothing came up.

Aiden was asleep until 1 pm the next day. Only waking up to his phone ringing nonstop. — Edwin and Vincent had woken up at 8 and just stayed quiet so that the singer could get some good rest. — He searched for his phone, which was on the carpet, with closed eyes, picking it up and placing it on his ear without sliding the green circle on the screen, and then when the ringing didn’t stop he whined, “Why are you still ringing?”

It was obvious that he was still half asleep. Edwin chuckled, taking the phone from his hand, sliding the answer icon, and placing it on the older’s ear, keeping it there.

“Hm?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Ok. See ya.” He answered and turned his head the other way, pushing his face further into the cushions. His voice was so beautifully hoarse that Edwin had secretly wished for the call to last longer.

He had ended the call with a ‘see ya’ but he had gone back to the dreamland. Edwin didn’t know whether he had to make him wake up or not, but decided to let him be cos he had learned if something important was up, the other would act super responsible toward it. So it must have been a casual thing.

One hour later, the bell rang, and Aiden didn’t even flinch. Edwin opened the door and was met with 3 guys. The exact ones that visited him at the hospital.

“Edwin? What are you doing here?!” Brad asked while walking inside.

“I’m staying here for a week. Long story.”

Brad nodded.

“Where is the bunny?”

Edwin raised his eyebrow at the nickname Finn had used but decided not to comment on it. “Asleep. Actually, more like passed out.”

“That sounds just like him. Tiring himself to the point of actual death.” Finn grumbled before walking into the living room and the Couch.

Max just said a quick hi, looked at him with an unreadable expression, and followed the other two inside.

“Denny, wake up.” Finn said nicely. Aiden still didn’t flinch.

“Aiden, come on. I have bourbon with me.” Brad tried to trick him.

“I’d kill for a sip, but my doctor is right there and he’s scary.” A very sleepy, hoarse voice giggled, still not moving an inch.

“Fuck this shit. Wake up already! I ditched my class to be able to see your stupid face today.” A whining Max said while spanking his brother hard.

Aiden yelped at the hit but remained the same. “I want to, but I can’t move my body. It doesn’t listen to me.”

“That’s what you get for not taking proper care of it. You’ll die out of exhaustion at this point.” Finn said.

“Brad, help him stand up and take him for a shower while I cook something.”

Brad took Aiden’s body and made him stand up in one go, actually carrying his whole weight while grabbing him by the shoulder and leading him to the bathroom.

“Does this happen often?” Edwin asked after sitting down in the kitchen chair. Max went to the bedroom after the two.

Finn looked in the bedroom’s direction. “Yeah… he always overworks himself. He actually had a near-death experience due to it. Ian found him cold on the floor of his studio. Thank god he doesn’t have the company’s work on his shoulders anymore.”

“Ian? The one who hates tomatoes?”

Finn looked at him, surprised. “How do you know that?!”

“He told me once. I have a good memory so…”

“Yeah, the one who hates tomatoes.” He chuckled. “He can give some parts of the job to others in order to have some time to rest, but he likes to do it all himself. It’s not perfect otherwise, he says.” The chef continued.

Vincent came out of the studio due to the new voices he was hearing. He earned himself a questioning look from Finn, but the other didn’t say anything about it.

That was when Brad rushed to the kitchen, taking a glass, filling it with water, and taking a bottle of pill out of one of the cabinets. While he was at it, Finn asked in a panicked tone, “What’s going on?”

“He threw up.” Brad replied and ran back to the bedroom.

It shocked Edwin and Vincent. They didn’t know what was going on, and Edwin couldn’t recall anything related to this in Aiden’s folder. So they rushed to the bathroom. Max had closed the curtains, but they could hear Aiden throwing up again and again and coughing roughly in between.

Brad kept rubbing his back, and when he was not throwing up anymore, he gave him the pill. After washing up, Brad and Max carried him out and helped him lie down on the bed, covering him with 3 blankets, as he was visibly shivering and paler than ever. The two were panicking, not knowing what this was all about.

“He has an allergic stomach. The stomach flu? He gets it upon eating something he shouldn’t or when he exhausts his body beyond its limit. He’ll be up in a couple of hours. Let’s give him some space for now.” Brad explained.

Edwin looked at the shivering figure with worried eyes and left the room, taking Vin with.

Max came out later than everyone and closed the door quietly behind himself.

“I swear to god, we’ll have to break his legs to make him take some proper rest someday.” he said, huffing.

“Chill Max. You know how he is.” Brad said, patting the spot next to him for the boy to sit.

“I know, but still pisses me off. Does he have to really die to finally see what he’s doing to himself?” He sighed deeply, falling down on the couch. “What are you two doing here? Who are you even?” He then asked while pointing at Vincent.

Vincent hid himself behind Edwin a bit, grabbing his shirt a little but still looking at the faces in front of them from Edwin’s shoulder.

“You know me, Edwin, and this is Vincent. Your brother’s roommate from the hospital. He’s staying here for a week and I’m here to… observe the changes.” He didn’t want to say he was there to ‘monitor Vincent’ so he changed it to that.

“I’m not gonna bite you, Vincent. I’m probably even younger than you.” Max said while approaching them, stopping a meter away and stretching his arm toward Vin.

The other watched him and his hand closely before detaching himself from Edwin’s back. He took Max’s hand and shook it while smiling brightly, showing his teeth, looking as adorable as ever. Something changed in Max’s facial expression as he, too, smiled widely. He put his hand over Vin’s shoulder and took him to the couch. “Do you like my brother?”

“Hm, he’s a very good person.”

Max hummed but frowned as well. “He is, but he also can be such an asshole.”

Vincent only laughed.

“Wanna see some embarrassing things he’s done that we have on tape?” He asked the blond guy with a smirk. Vincent nodded repeatedly, like a kid.

“You should go watch those, too. You’re gonna end up laughing your ass off. He can be such a stupid bunny sometimes.” Finn told Edwin while cooking.

The doctor took the advice and sat beside them. Max connected his phone to the TV and started playing all kinds of videos they had recorded from ages back to the ones Aiden had the same hair color as now in. Finn wasn’t wrong. Edwin laughed so hard he literally shed tears cos he couldn’t laugh out loud. This singer was really something else.

There was a video of him testing if the oil had become hot enough by pouring water in it and resulting in a fire that would for sure escalate had Finn not come to the rescue. The one where he kept on singing out loud at the top of his lungs while clearly being wasted as fuck and face planting the muddy ground soon after. He didn’t even attempt to get up but started crying like a baby caressing the mud and saying, “You’re so warm. I love you.” over and over again. The one where he was tricked into losing the game and him thinking it was all fair and square, paying the huge food bill like an idiot. And of course, the one where he was tickled and his immediate reaction was to get away from the person by doing a BACKFLIP.

There were two other people in addition to the ones here in those videos. One was the Ian he had heard of and the other was called Joe, or as they called him evil dimples?! They all looked really happy together, and all of them were really touchy with each other. And then this video played, which made Edwin’s heart melt at how much of a softieAiden was. They were walking, and this kid ran into him, pouring his chocolate milk all over the singer’s pants. Edwin knew those pants cost a lung because when they were put on sale, it made an uproar on social media for costing more than what most people earned for a whole year of work. And yet, Aiden only smiled at the kid, ruffled her hair, and bent down to play with her a little until she wasn’t panicking anymore. He even reassured her parents that it was nothing.

It was in the middle of one of the videos with all of them in it when the bedroom door opened and Aiden came out. Edwin noticed how they turned the video off quickly, trying to look nonchalant. Aiden just looked at them without saying anything and went to the fridge. He looked a little bit refreshed. Taking out the orange juice box and taking a sip, he noticed everyone was looking at him. He looked silly, standing there looking back at them while blinking with pouty lips and having a juice box in his hand. “What?!” He finally asked.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” Max shouted out of nowhere and rushed toward him, stopping right in front of his brother.

“Try scaring us one more time and I’ll make sure to kill you myself.”

Aiden started laughing softly, taking Max’s head down, locking him with his arm to his side, and ruffling his hair harshly with his other hand. “Oh my smol mad max is angry at me again. I love you too, little brother.”

Max successfully freed himself after struggling for a moment — or rather Aiden let him go — and punched the older’s bicep.

“I’m serious, dammit.”

“And I’m Dumbledore. Nice to meet you.”

“Not funny, like at all.” Max rolled his eyes and rubbed his neck, probably sore from Aiden’s Jujitsu attack.

“Come on, guys. Food’s ready. Let’s eat.” Finn called them.

They all sat or stood around the counter, eating the delicious food the chef had made for them. Edwin couldn’t help but be curious as to why the other two he saw in the videos had never visited Aiden. Not in the hospital, not now. Was one of them his ex? If yes, then why was the other one not there?