eating Disorder (Lando X Arthur)

#6

Saturday September 16

"Max? Everything okay?" asks Brad and Max shakes his head. "Look at Lando. He's not comfortable." he says softly as he watches Lando stare at his food. He is sitting at a table with 10 other people. Lando is always either alone with Jon or a few around him, but not that many. Everyone is also talking loudly or laughing. You could tell it was too much for Lando to eat. He looks at the others and he puts on a smile. He then brings his hand to his mouth and starts biting his nails. He stares forward.

"He hasn't been feeling well since Thursday, has he?" "No, but it started before that." mumbles Max softly.

Everyone starts laughing and Lando looks up. He bites his lip and looks around. His eyes linger on Max's and when he realizes that Max is watching, he quickly looks away.

"I'm going upstairs with him." says Max and he stands up. "What?" "I'm going upstairs with Lan. Come when we need to warm up." he says and he picks up his plate and he walks over to Lando.

"Hey." he greets everyone when he stands behind Lando. He gets several "hi" back and he smiles and he looks at Lando. "Would you like to come with me?" "Where to?" "Upstairs?" Lando looks at Jon and Max looks at Jon too. Jon nods and then looks at Max and gives him a grateful smile. Lando gets up and takes his plate. Max starts walking and Lando follows him. Around the corner, Max slows down and Lando walks next to him.

"Thank you." he says and Max smiles at him. "I realized that you couldn't find your peace there." says Max and Lando shakes his head. "It's all nice, but... Yeah..." "I get it. It doesn't help." Max says and Lando shakes his head. Max opens his room door and he lets Lando in first. They both sit on the couch.

"I want to eat... I-I..." Lando sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "Take it easy, okay? We're sitting here now and it's quiet. Otherwise, take a few deep breaths, that always helps me." Lando closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

Arthur had told Max that distraction can help.

Max had brought his photo books, suppose it was necessary.

"What are you doing baby?" Charles laughs as he takes the photo books out of Max's bag. "I'll bring them along." says Max and he takes them from Charles. "Why? You never take them." "Arthur told me that if Lando is having a hard time, it's nice if you can distract him. I thought maybe I could help him if I brought these books with me." Max mutters and Charles gets a big smile on his face. He walks towards him and Max follows him with his eyes. Charles puts his arms around him and he kisses his cheek. "You're sweet. I think you can help Lando with this." "Yes? Isn't it stupid?" "It's sweet Max." he says. "I just want him to feel good when he doesn't. I hope I can help him." "You are like a big brother to him, of course you can help him." "He hasn't said anything for a long time. At first I didn't even realize that he had problems with eating." says Max guiltily and he looks at Charles. "He was ashamed. You can't blame him." "I don't. I want to protect him and it feels like I haven't done that enough." "Believe me, you've probably helped him a lot more times while you didn't realize it yourself."

Max puts his plate aside and he walks to his bag. He takes out a book and walks back to the couch. "What have you got?" "I brought a photo album." he says and sits down. He looks at Lando who frowns at him. "Because?" "So I can look into it." he says. "Why are you grabbing it now? You don't want anyone looking at it." Lando says and Max shrugs and he looks at the book. "It always calms me down. I know how much you want to see the pictures since I always say no. Maybe it will help you calm down too." he says and he looks at Lando again. A small smile appears on Lando's face. "Really?" he nods. "I know how much you want it." he says with a chuckle and Lando chuckles. "Yes, I like looking through photo albums." says Lando and Max nods. "You always say that to me and my mom." he says and Lando nods softly.