They were all there. All seven of them at Aiden’s apartment, their usual gathering place. Aiden never really questioned them as to why they always hung out in his and not anyone else’s. He enjoyed having them there, though. It was nice to know his friends chose to come to him. It just felt good.
Finn brought food from his restaurant as usual and they ate gratefully, loving his cooking. Everyone else drank. Be it beer or wine or the vodka sodas Brad had brought. There were two people who didn’t. Aiden and Ian. Ian kind of didn’t drink much after his drunken sex with Joe, and Aiden just didn’t want to. Because of his brother and Edwin. So he just sipped on his cola instead.
The whole night, Max didn’t talk to him one word. He could say that the younger was mad at him, but he let it pass. He would make things okay once he was completely out of this mess.
Aiden was sitting at the corner of the couch with Edwin in his arms, basically leaning his weight on his chest and playing with his fingers. Max at the far end with his head on Joe’s lap. Finn and Ian sitting in front of the TV playing a game, and Brad sitting on the armchair by the glass wall, drinking his nth beer.
“I swear to god, man! Your liver is gonna stop working at this rate. What’s with all the drinking?!” Joe pointed out.
“What?! I love beer!”
“Anyway, when will you finally tell us the reason for your disappearance?” Brad asked and Aiden grew stiff.
Clearing his throat and sitting up a bit, he said, “Nothing important. There was just this thing we had to do.”
Max gave him a death glare before looking back at the game the duo were playing. Soon Finn lost, and the two turned around to face them and join the conversation as well.
“Even I can say that was a lie, Den! Just say you don’t wanna tell us if you’re not gonna say the truth.” Finn said, sipping on his wine.
“Fine then, I don’t wanna tell you. What I said wasn’t a lie though.” He shrugged. Finn rolled his eyes and huffed.
“Fiiiinn! I’ll tell okay? I just wanna sort out my thoughts first.” He felt how Edwin looked up at him in surprise, but said nothing and put his head on his chest again.
“So when did you two meet each other there?” Joe was the one who asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Huh?!” Aiden was confused. He knew the question was for him, but he didn’t know what it meant.
“You and Ian. You were both in Jakarta.”
Aiden widened his eyes in surprise and turned to his ex. “You were?!”
Ian grinned widely. “Yeah!” He laughed. “I didn’t know you were there though. I only saw you on the plane.”
“WHAT?!”
The other laughed some more. “You were on the phone and then just dozed off a second after that. I hadn’t noticed you either until I heard your voice.”
Aiden laughed himself as well, and Edwin? Well, Edwin was inwardly happy and relieved that the weird thought that kept swaying around in his mind wasn’t true after all. It wasn’t like he doubted Aiden or anything, but the thought was there nevertheless. Without him noticing, he hugged Aiden’s waist and placed a kiss on his clothed pec muscle. Aiden was quick to run his fingers in his hair right after and kiss him on top of his head. They didn’t really notice how everyone was looking at them with a smile on their faces.
The others left around 2 AM and they were finally able to spend some quiet and alone time together after almost two weeks of separation.
They were lying in bed. Aiden leaning against the headrest and Edwin’s head on his lap, lying on his back and facing him.
“Why are you so quiet tonight?” Aiden asked while brushing the younger’s hair out of his eyes.
“I’m just really tired.” He wasn’t lying.
Aiden looked at him in silence. All of him. His eyes. His lips, hair, forehead, everything. He couldn’t believe this beautiful human was now officially his boyfriend.
“So… you made things up with Joe?” He asked while drawing invisible patterns with his long fingers on Aiden’s clothed stomach.
“Yeah… I can’t stay mad at dimples forever. I just love him too much.”
“So you forgave him?”
“There was nothing much to forgive. I was just hurt for personal reasons. It was my own fault, not his.”
Edwin wanted to say how Joe was as well guilty in this, but he decided not to. He didn’t want to open the subject again. It was good this way, as long as Aiden was okay.
They remained silent for a few minutes until Aiden spoke up. His voice low and quiet. Almost like he didn’t want to hear himself talking.
“Edwin-“
The younger hummed lazily in reply, bringing his hand to his lips and kissing it shortly.
“I have to tell you something. I actually wanted to not tell anyone about it, but I also don’t wanna lie and hide things. Especially not from you.”
“Go on.” Edwin smiled to reassure him. Aiden took a couple of deep breaths before starting to explain what had happened.
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(8 days ago)
Aiden’s concert had ended, and he was going to go back to the hotel when the sponsor caught him off guard and told him to go to the small after-party he was having. He declined at first, but the sponsor, being one of those rich CEO brats who always knows how to have things their way, somehow convinced him and the whole crew to go.
So there he was, tired and tipsy from all the alcohol he had to drink, cos he literally had no other choice if he wanted to keep this sponsor for the rest of his little Thailand tour. He took a mental note not to let the company give this guy a sponsorship ever again. He could handle this mess only once.
These kinds of things happened sometimes. Celebrities had to do things they really wouldn’t want, but sometimes they just had to.
All of his crew were happily dancing and drinking, not really minding anything except for him and Luis. Well, Luis was the manager, and he wasn’t allowed to get drunk, so they really didn’t make him. But in Aiden’s case, he felt like he was drinking all the alcohol there was on earth. His stomach began hurting, and he was about to excuse himself after three hours of putting up with this shit, but that was when things got really screwed up.
Someone came to them. It was a boy, but the sponsor didn’t seem to know him at first. He had a tray of drinks in hand. Aiden wanted to throw up at the thought of fresh drinks, but he faked a smile and took the glass he was given, emptying it in one go without paying attention to what he was really drinking. And it burnt. It burnt, and it made his whole body ache until he wasn’t even able to recognize who was who and where he was. He became so dizzy the world was spinning around his head.
‘This is why I never go to the after-parties.’
This was his last thought before everything went black.
He woke up to a beeping sound. Opening his eyes, he was in a hospital room. Again. He sighed deeply. How many times was he going to wake up in a situation like this? What was it this time, even?
Upon noticing his open eyes, Luis rushed to his bed.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. My whole body hurts. What the fuck did they give me?”
“They put drugs in your drink.”
Aiden’s eyes widened. “WHAT?!”
“The last drink, there were drugs in it. The CEO realized it at first sip and tried to stop you from drinking, but you had already drank it all. Not ten seconds later, you passed out.”
Aiden was terrified. He was beyond terrified. He had promised Edwin and his friends not to take drugs ever again.
“Wha- what about today’s concert?”
“I was about to call in and cancel it. You can’t perform like this.”
“NO DON’T!” He yanked the phone out of his hand and canceled the call.
“What?! Aiden, you’re really in no condition to perform!”
“I am and I will. I don’t wanna make people worry by canceling it. Please. Let’s just get me discharged.”
Luis knew it was for the best, but he was seriously worried about the younger. They did the concert anyway and Aiden, despite being in terrible pain, did his best and performed like always. When the concert finished, though, he just collapsed. They had to take his unconscious body back to the hotel room and call an in-door doctor.
The rest of the week went by the same. He would take enormous doses of painkillers and some liquid that was supposed to help with the detox quickly. During this process, he told Luis how he didn’t want his friends to see him like this. Luis offered to go to Jakarta for a few days as he had a friend there and they could chill while Aiden would rid the drugs out of his system.
That was how they ended up there. Aiden was in great pain for three days as he didn’t take any painkillers either, but on the fourth day, he was feeling a lot better, so he told Luis to get tickets to go back. He missed Edwin to the bone, he couldn’t take it any longer.
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Edwin listened to everything while looking up at him silently. No expression on his face. When he was finished, he was honestly terrified of Edwin deciding to leave him because he had broken his promise. He kept looking at everything except for the younger’s face. Edwin sat up, moved over his lap, and hugged him, putting Aiden’s head in the crook of his neck and caressing his black hair softly.
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Yo-you’re not mad at me?” He stuttered.
“Why should I be? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I promised you not to do drugs ever again…”
“Would you have drunk it if you knew what was inside?”
“Of course not!”
“Then you didn’t break your promise.” Edwin shifted and hugged him closer, smelling the older’s scent. “It’s okay. There’s nothing to feel guilty about. Everything’s okay. You’re okay.” He kept whispering next to his ear.
Aiden’s body shivered slightly, and he finally hugged the younger back as tight as he could, burying his head in Edwin’s neck. Before he knew it, a few tears had made their way down his cheeks.
“Why are you crying?” The boy kept caressing his hair and rubbed his other hand over his back smoothly, kissing the skin of his temple gently.
“I was scared you’d leave.” Aiden’s voice cracked in the middle of the sentence.
“Look at me.” Edwin leaned back, made Aiden lift his head up and look him in the eye by cupping his face.
“Hey, I’m here to stay. You wouldn’t be able to get rid of me even if you wanted to.” He smiled and wiped the tears away with his sleeve. He leaned in and pecked Aiden’s lips. They tasted like tears, but he continued placing short, closed-mouthed pecks on his boyfriend’s lips repeatedly until he felt Aiden relaxing a bit.
Aiden swallowed and hugged his neck tightly, burying his head in the scent of Edwin’s hair, sniffing him.
“Thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much.” He repeated while nuzzling his head deeper.
Edwin chuckled cos it felt tickle-ish. “I love you too. You’re like a kid like this.”
“I’m your kid. Yours only.”
“Hm, just mine~” He smiled, feeling his heart as warm as it could ever be with the man he loved the most in his arms.
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