Edited
"But promise you'll be easy on them? I was just angry talking when I said those things." Edwin said as he continued unpacking.
"There's no such thing as angry talking, Edwin. You wouldn't have said it if there wasn't a reason behind it." Aiden said as he ruffled his hair with the towel, walking out of the bathroom.
"Yeah, but... it wasn't to the degree I made it look. Joe and Max visited every second day. Ian called me every day. Brad and Finn messaged every day as well. They weren't gone gone, you know." He said as he stood up and walked to Aiden, taking the towel from him to dry the black strands himself, knowing that it would calm the other's nerves.
"But did they ask you how you were doing?" Aiden asked as he looked into his eyes.
"Ian did..." Edwin answered quietly as he bit on his cheek.
"Ian has too much love in his heart, he gives it to everybody. I would be shocked if he didn't care for you." Aiden said as he took Edwin's hands in his and rubbed his thumbs over them. "Look, I'm not looking for a fight. We're all grown-ups. We're just gonna talk. There's nothing for you to worry about. Really." The older leaned in and pressed his lips on the plump ones. The sound of the bell stopped them.
"Oh god, they're here! They're gonna kill us for ignoring them, Den! What are we gonna do?" Edwin was panicking as he looked at his boyfriend, perplexed.
Aiden laughed as he spanked the younger. "Don't worry. They're my friends! They're used to getting ignored. Go let them in while I get dressed."
Edwin actually felt guilty for causing this whole mess. If he hadn't said anything, none of this drama would have happened and therefore he wouldn't be so goddamn nervous about how to confront them after having ignored their calls and messages for days. There had been times he wanted to just reply to them, but then again, he didn't want to go behind Aiden's back.
Walking to the door, he opened it and was attacked by Ian hugging him instantly.
"My koala, I missed youuu. You okay? Why didn't you answer my calls? The only reason I didn't track you down was that I knew you two were okay. You've gained some weight, I see! It's looking good on you!" He ranted as he squeezed Edwin in his arms. He hugged back and giggled at the nonstop words that came out of the other's mouth, throwing questions at him without giving him a chance to reply.
"Where's he? Where's that asshole? I'm gonna beat the shit out of him." Joe said with a deep frown on his face, making his eyes almost disappear. He looked intimidating like that, although Edwin knew he was basically one of the sweetest people ever.
"Uh,... he's..." Edwin leaned back from the hug and pointed at the bedroom. Joe didn't wait for him to say that the older was getting dressed and just stormed off to the room.
"Den's naked. Do you think Joe will scream?" He asked Ian with a smirk.
"Nah, they've seen everything there is to see." The other answered, laughing as he closed the door and walked inside. "Eddie, we were really worried. Why didn't you guys answer our calls?" Ian said as he put the wine they had brought on the kitchen counter.
"Ian, I messed up! I got angry at Den, and then said I was left all alone and then he held some kind of grudge against you guys, I guess." He sighed and sat on one of the chairs by the counter.
"Well... I mean, you weren't completely wrong there. Finn went completely MIA, which I will bite his head off for as soon as he gets here, that brat. As for Brad... I don't even know why he got himself that busy all of a sudden! It was so unlike him to act like that. And Max... he's just a hot-headed kid. He was too caught up hating Hector's ass that I'm sure he didn't stop to wonder how you were doing. So what I'm saying is that you are entitled to feel a bit abandoned." Ian said as he got two crystal glasses from the minibar and poured some wine for the both of them, sliding one of the glasses on the counter to Edwin.
"I'm not gonna lie. I did feel alone. To the point, I actually considered calling my parents and asking them to come here for a while, but... I don't wanna be insensitive. Everyone has their own coping mechanism. I don't know about others, but Brad got himself busy to be able to deal with all of this. He even went on and got himself a date to help distract him more! I don't really blame him. Or any of you." He said, taking a sip of the wine. It tasted amazing.
"Brad is dating someone?!!! WHO?! Why do I not know about this! This is IMPORTANT news!" Ian practically screamed the words, but before he had the time to answer, they were distracted by the sound of Aiden's pleas for Joe to stop hitting him.
DeleteCreated with Sketch.
Aiden was putting his shirt on when he heard fast footsteps and two arms wrapped around him from behind tightly. He knew this way of hugging by heart by now. Joe had back-hugged him like this whenever he was really stressed.
He put his hands on Joe's, patting them lightly and waiting for the other to calm down. They stayed like that silently for a few minutes, with Joe resting his forehead on his shoulder as he held him as tight as he could.
"You bastard." He heard his best friend whisper before the arms unwrapped and the other started punching him. "You fucking bastard! Do you know how scared I was? I thought I lost you for good."
He tried running away, but Joe just ran after him and attacked him wherever he went.
"Joe, stop. Ouch! Stop, man! Violence isn't the answer!" He shouted between his screams in pain — Well it wasn't that painful, but he had to exaggerate for the other to stop! —
"Violence isn't the answer, but ignoring the fuck out of your friends is? What kind of shitty logic is that?" He got hit once again, this time really hard. "It wasn't cool, man. You got us worried. If it wasn't for your paparazzi fans taking pictures and reporting live, we wouldn't even know whether you were alive!" Joe stopped and looked at him like he had betrayed the whole country.
Aiden grabbed both of his wrists to prevent him from further punches. "Do you really think I would have ignored you if I didn't know the fans would update 24/7? I am an asshole, but not to that extent! I just... I needed to show Edwin that he is my priority. You know how fragile he can be sometimes. Plus, I was really mad at them for not being there for him. Ed said you visited often. Thank you."
"Well, I did what I could. By the way, they sent Luis to Tokyo for some messed-up situation. He got updates on you every day from me." Joe said as he was about to sit on the edge of the bed.
"WOAH!" Aiden nearly shouted as he stopped Joe. "No sitting on the bed with dirty outside clothes, remember?!"
Joe was looking at him like he was an alien as he blinked repeatedly. "Yeah yeah!" He said as he nodded his head, mocking him. "You and your OCD for bed sheets." He grinned and started walking out of the room. Aiden followed him. Ian and Edwin were sitting by the counter, drinking wine.
"Edwin, there's something I'm really curious about." Joe said as he sat beside them. Aiden was standing a bit away cos there was wine there, and he preferred not to drink, but it was safer to stay away cos wine always attracted him. His boyfriend took a sip as he hummed in question.
"Does he force you to get up and shower right after you finish fucking because your bodies are 'dirty'?"
Ian burst out laughing as Edwin choked on his drink and started coughing. Aiden walked toward them, took the glass out of his boyfriend's hand, and put it on the counter before he started patting his back.
"Of course I don't! What do you take me for?" He hissed at Joe who was laughing and enjoying it way too much.
"Well... he doesn't ask you directly. But he does ask you to have a shower with him if there's too much cum involved. So, in a way, he does ask you to stand up on your feet right after he fucks you to oblivion, and honestly, it was torture!" Ian replied enthusiastically and took another sip of his wine, blowing him a kiss.
Edwin was as red as a tomato and was fiddling with his sleeves as Aiden stood behind him and hugged his shoulders, making him lean back on him.
"Shut up. Both of you. I don't do that to Ed and now stop."
Before anyone got a chance to say anything further regarding their sex life, the bell rang. Aiden squeezed Edwin's shoulders once before he walked to the door. It was Finn and Brad, with hands full of packets and containers.
"Did you bring the entire restaurant?!" He chuckled. "Come in."
Neither of them said anything and simply walked past him into the apartment.
Brad put the stuff on the counter, turned around, and pulled him in a hug so tight, he was about to throw his lungs up.
Aiden patted the older's back repeatedly. "Woahwoah, this is the first time you hug me!" He teased in order to brighten the mood as it suddenly seemed so gloomy.
Brad didn't say anything and held on to him as tightly as he could. A couple of seconds later, he felt a tear on his neck. His eyes widened at the realization that Brad was crying.
"Hey, please! You know I'll start crying if you cry. I'm okay now, aren't I?" He said as he rubbed the older's back, attempting to calm him down. Brad wasn't someone who cried often, so it was hard for all of them to see his tears.
"We thought we lost you. For real this time." The guy said as he leaned back and let go of him, wiping his tears with the tissue Finn handed to him.
"I'm sorry." He whispered as he smiled bitterly.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's just that with Edwin being there, I thought you'd finally be stable, so it really caught me off guard. I was expecting you to be happy, not... pressured to the point that someone else had to take over." Brad said, ruffling his hair.
"I still don't know what caused me to break, though." He pursed his lips and shrugged. "Anyway, what did you bring us, mom?" He asked Finn with a nasty smile, knowing the chef hated getting called 'mom'. The room went silent for a second, like everybody was frozen before Finn talked.
"Fuck you." He earned himself yet another punch. "But come here." He said as he hugged him as well. Thankfully, not as strong as Brad had, but still tight.
"I swear to god, I'm gonna end up crying a river tonight if y'all keep this up."
"Did you two come together?" Ian asked as soon as they were apart.
"No, I bumped into him in the parking lot. Thankfully! Cos there was no way I could've brought all of this up by myself." Finn said, sorting the containers out.
All of them started chattering about this and that. They told Aiden about all the things he had missed. Brad and Joe about the company's tea, Ian about this new program he wrote Aiden understood nothing about, and Finn kept making them taste the food he was making. Edwin and Ian started playing games at one point, Brad was helping Finn with the food and Joe was playing him the new song he made, asking for his opinion on a few bars.
"Is my little brother not coming?! It's almost 11!" Aiden asked as he was terribly missing the little brat.
"Uh, he was at the hospital. Texted me about 30 minutes ago saying he was on his way." Joe replied, not looking away from the game.
"Why was he at a hospital?!" He nearly panicked, thinking he was hurt or something.
"To visit Joshua." His friend simply answered.
"The long-haired boy, Joshua?!" He looked down at Edwin, who was sitting between his legs, leaning on his chest on the couch. "But why?"
"They became friends while we visited you. Not you- Hector. Wait, was it you we visited or him? Ugh, I don't know. Anyway, the boy is really lonely and Max enjoys being around him and I quote that!" Joe said, tilting his head and looking confused.
He didn't quite understand it, but decided his brother was old enough to choose his friends. The mention of the other boy's name reminded him of the way he had looked at him. That look, that sad look in his eyes, didn't seem to leave him alone. He wanted to talk to Joshua, but he didn't want to risk upsetting his boyfriend.
Feeling the younger's gaze on him, he looked down and met those big eyes, looking at him with an unreadable expression. Aiden smiled at him and placed a kiss on his forehead. Edwin kept looking at him a couple of seconds more before looking back at the screen.
Just when they were about to start dinner, Max arrived. He stood there staring at him with his wolf-like eyes without saying a word. As much as he wanted to let the younger dig that hole he seemed to want to put in his head with that gaze, he had missed him too much, so he was the one who took the steps forward and squeezed his brother in his arms. Max didn't even hesitate as he hugged back eagerly.
"If you do this one more time, if you ignore me again, I'm gonna hate you for the rest of my life." The younger mumbled into the hug as he tightened his arms.
"Understood." He chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair, which had the younger letting go of him and pushing him away.
"Stop. I'm serious! You nearly died so many times and put me through so much trauma. I don't deserve to be ignored like that. I didn't do anything wrong for you to treat me like that." Max literally snapped at him, shouting.
The room went completely quiet as everyone was watching the two of them. Aiden looked at the younger with a slight frown and a serious expression.
"You're upset I ignored you for five days? Why did you ignore Edwin for 5 months then?" He simply said like it was facts, no anger in his voice whatsoever. "Let's eat. We'll talk about it after dinner." He said, walking to the living room where the others were already sitting, and sat beside Edwin.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I visited the hospital every second day. I didn't ignore him. As much as I love you, bro, don't you think you gave him the wrong info? That you're being unfair?" Max asked, looking at Edwin.
"Yes, I actually did give him the wrong info, and I told him about it. And yes, you visited several times a week. For Aiden and Joshua." Edwin replied and smiled one of his smiles that actually looked like a threat combined with the look in his eyes.
"What do you mean? I met you on each day!" His brother defended himself, voice still a bit loud.
"Yes, you did. You did say 'hi, where is he' every time you came." He replied calmly and sighed right after. "Look, the point is, I have no one. My life was dedicated to Lili so I never bothered making friends, and the ones I have are our mutuals who I don't talk to right now. You guys always told me to hang out when Aiden was away and that I am your friend regardless of him being there or not. People usually need others in these kinds of situations. Someone who pats them on the shoulder and says, 'hey, everything's gonna be alright.' Or just someone who sits beside them and they don't even say anything. Just them being there is enough. But I was left completely alone. Now, I don't hold any grudge. The past is the past and I'm happy we're all here together right now, but I just wanted to make this clear on my side so that we'll get over with it. Fact is, we all would have a much easier time dealing with it if we had stuck together. But everyone has their own coping strategy, and I understand wanting to be alone and away than face it. It's completely understandable to me, and I shouldn't have said that about you. Now that we're clear about me and the fact that I'm not upset with any of you, let's just talk about you guys because the tension in this room is actually suffocating me and you're all just avoiding 'the talk'." Edwin said and looked at each one of them briefly with bright eyes and a small smile on his face, expecting them to start talking. Moments like this, when Edwin appeared so wise and like he was the oldest among them, were so hot to Aiden. He felt so proud that, out of all people, Edwin had decided to love him.
Brad was the first one to break the silence.
"I...'m sorry, Edwin. I should've stuck around. It's just that, I don't know, I couldn't even think about the situation. I tried everything to keep myself so busy that I didn't have time to think and worked myself to the point that I would just pass out from exhaustion. The least I could've done was to text you and ask you how you were doing, but I guess I was just too busy trying to silence my pain that I forgot to consider yours. I'm really sorry."
Edwin smiled widely at him and they 'bro' shook hands. "Thank you for saying that. I appreciate it." He paused and looked at Finn and Ian, who hadn't talked to each other all night apart from the greeting. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at them expectantly.
"What?" Ian said.
"You know what! Why are you two acting so weird? Aren't you supposed to be best friends?!" Edwin said, crossing his arms on his chest and leaning back on Aiden who was sitting next to him.
"I thought so too, but then apparently not." Ian shrugged.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked, laughing.
"Don't you dare try to escape it too, Finn. Where the hell have you been this whole damn time? Everyone was somewhat around, or at least we knew what they were up to, but you just disappeared." Ian emptied all his anger on the shorter man.
Aiden looked at Max, who was still standing quietly, looking at his feet or something. Calling his name, he told the younger to come sit next to him, but Max betrayed him and sat next to Edwin, circling his arms around him and burying his head in the crook of his neck. His boyfriend circled one of his arms around the younger as well.
"I had my own reasons, okay? I'm sorry for bailing on you Edwin, but... my life became totally messed up for a while and I had to take care of so many things all at once. Can we eat now? The food is already cold." Finn said as he gestured toward the neglected food.
Ian narrowed his eyes and was about to say something when Brad cut him off.
"Yeah, let's start. I'm starving."
As if on cue, everyone grabbed their plates and filled them with the food they wanted. All except two. Max who was still clinging to Edwin and the other who couldn't move because of the wolf hanging on him.
"Let's eat, baby. How was Joshua? Is he doing okay?" Edwin asked him as he patted his fluffy hair.
"I'm sorry... I didn't look at it from your perspective at all. I was just thinking about myself and how alone and miserable I felt. I was being so selfish..." The younger mumbled into Edwin's neck, which made him tilt his head and shoulder and giggle.
"Don't speak into my neck. It's ticklish!" He giggled again. "It's okay. Really. If you look at it correctly, I didn't approach you either. These things are supposed to be two-sided. I can't put all the blame on you."
With that, Max leaned back and looked into Edwin's eyes. "You're the best, bro. Seriously! You are the bestest and my brother doesn't deserve you at all." He stuck his tongue out at Aiden, who was chewing on his food and adoring the hell out of these two's interaction.
"Yeah I don't deserve him and I know that. Now let go of him and start eating and let your bestest bro eat his food as well."
They ate while talking. Joe and Ian were putting food in each other's mouths, which was utterly unnecessary as both of them had two fully functioning hands, making everyone cringe.
Soon, every little tension was forgotten and even Ian and Finn started laughing at Brad's dad jokes together, teaming up and teasing the hell out of Max, making him pout. Edwin just enjoyed his food quite vocally, calling Finn the god of chefs over and over again, praising him for his cooking. Max was texting through the whole meal and afterward, which was a new thing because he was one of those 'be in the moment, don't use your phone while you're with others.' kind of people.
After they were done eating and were sitting with their delicious tea that Finn had brought, the mentioned guy cleared his throat, announcing that he had something to tell them.
"There's something I need to tell you guys. Uh..." He paused and bit on his bottom lip, looking hesitant.
"I'm becoming a father."