{Dylan}
Dylan woke up early that morning to make a small breakfast that would be easy for Max to eat. Last night, he found it a hassle to wipe Max's body down from the dried up blood. Dylan didn't want to risk the possibility of Max hurting himself in the shower since he hadn't fully woken up which would make Dylan have to bathe him. He would toss and turn throughout the night and would speak very short sentences when he would wake up for a little while. So, instead, he grabbed a bucket and a rag and cleaned his body that way. Part of him was glad that Max wasn't conscious because he would have gotten really angry even if Dylan was only helping. He was well aware that Max would get angry for even helping him and bringing Max back to his own apartment.
He poured the soup into a bowl as his mind kept going back to when he found Max lying in the snow without motion. It had scared him half to death. He remembered clearly how his heart had threatened to stop pulsing and his head was screaming at him to move into action, his body contradicting itself.
Dylan let out a long sigh and put the bowl on top of a longer plate. He opened a drawer softly and grabbed a spoon. Setting the spoon inside the bowl, he moved out into the living room and then towards the left door where his room was. Dylan pushed the door open and nearly spilt the soup on the floor as he didn't see Max laying down in his bed. He turned to look towards the bathroom door but the lights were off and the door was wide open. He looked towards the right and there Max was, leaning on the window sill, smoking a cigarette. He was wearing one of Dylan's black sweaters and grey sweats.
"The injured should just stay still and rest." He said with a smile. He walked in and set the soup on top of his small table in the middle of the room that had most of his school papers on it. Dylan grabbed his work. He remembered he had an essay due after break was over but figured he could put it off for another day or so. Either that or he would have to stay up all night the day before he went back to school.
"Where's my phone?" Was the first question Max had asked without tearing his eyes away from the outside view.
"I plugged it in." Dylan responded as he pointed towards the opposite side of the bed. "You were getting a lot of texts and calls last night. I figured it would have been bad if your phone died."
Max finally looked back towards Dylan. He saw that the band-aid he had placed on his cheek had stuck on pretty well and hadn't fallen off. It didn't appear to be bleeding through either. That's when Dylan realized how small and innocent Max really looked. Even with a cigarette between his parted lips and a scowl on his face. "Did you go through my phone?" He asked.
"No." Dylan said. "I didn't. Well, maybe? I didn't go through it per se but I picked up the phone when I saw Nico was calling-"
"You didn't tell him anything, did you?!"
"Uhm, shouldn't I have? I told him you were bleeding on the floor unconsciously when I found you. He offered to come pick you up last night." Dylan stopped and chuckled, "I say 'offered' but really he demanded for my address and told me he was coming. It sounded busy on his side so I had to argue with him to just let you spend the night here. He said that if I touched even as little as a single hair on your head, he would kill me as slowly and painfully as he could and throw me off a bridge."
Dylan could see a hint of a smile threaten to appear on Max's face. Max quickly coughed to disguise it and said, "You're an idiot. You should have just left me there. Now I'm going to have to explain things to Nico."
Dylan shrugged, "I would think its about time you did so. I would hate to see you that injured again."
Max took the cigarette out of his mouth. He turned towards the open window and blew out softly. "Hmm. Really?"
"Yeah." Dylan said with a smile even if Max wasn't looking his way. "Come eat before your soup gets cold." He said patting the spot beside him on the floor.
"Not hungry."
"What? At least eat a little bit. Even if you're not hungry it'll make me happy to see you eat something." Max turned his way with a skeptical look. Dylan considered his look and then flushed a bright pink color and shook his head rapidly , "No! I didn't mean it that way. I was just-"
Max broke out into a laugh, "Stupid~ I know you didn't mean for me to drop your pants and suck you off in the middle of your room with the window wide open." Max wiped the side of his eyes gently and walked towards the bathroom. Dylan could see that even walking was painful to him as he was limping. Dylan heard the faucet and peaked inside. Max was putting out his cigarette and then looked back at Dylan with a small glare as he turned on the lights and closed the door shut.
Dylan laughed softly as he could no longer see Max. He wanted to ask. He almost felt like he needed to know who had gave him so many bruises and left a cut on his face. Though, he felt like the atmosphere was nice around them at the moment and he didn't want to risk Max getting angry at him again. For now, he would just gain Max's confidence and take Nico's advice of making an effort to hear Max out instead of always accusing him of sleeping with someone. He had to drop his bad habit of always bringing it up.
He could only think of how guilty and horrible he had made Max feel in the past. Mentally, Dylan understood that whatever Max did with other people did not define him as a person. However, emotionally, he couldn't help but look at Max with a sorrowful expression. He had never been exposed to a person who slept with others for money. It was a new concept that he would have to get accustomed to if he wanted to stay by Max's side.
That was another realization of his. He actually wanted to stay by Max's side. Though, many obstacles stood in the way. For one, Max's distrust of him. No matter how much he wanted to be by Max, if Max didn't want Dylan to then he wouldn't. He didn't wish to make him so uncomfortable. Dylan was just thankful that Max hadn't voiced a strong disagreement to having him around. Max's actions always went against his words, which Dylan always found too adorable. Another problem was Nico. No matter how close he got to Max, Dylan felt like Nico would always be right behind him, breathing down his neck. The last, and possibly the biggest problem at the moment, Max's age. Max was two years younger than him so he had already promised himself not to raise a hand with bad intentions on him until Max reached eighteen years old and of course, with consent.
Dylan sighed softly and let his forehead fall down on the table. He could already hear Mikhail and Dan throwing jokes at him for falling for a minor. He had spent nights wondering if there was anything he could have done differently to prevent himself for ever falling for Max in the first place. He came to the conclusion that there probably was no solution. He would have fallen for Max in every single situation he could think of. His eyes, blonde hair, his rude remarks, the way he scowled at everything Dylan said, the way he held himself despite everything that's happened to him. They were all points that Dylan liked about Max.
Dylan heard the bathroom door open and picked his head up. Max turned off the lights and closed the door behind him. He made his way over to the table and sat down very slowly across from Dylan. "You made this? What is it?" Max asked as he lifted an eyebrow and picked up the spoon and tilted it, watching as the soup fell back in.
"Chicken, potatoes, and carrots. My mom used to always make it for me when I felt sick."
"I'm not sick."
"No, but I figured I'd make it anyways." Dylan said with a small smile, "To get your strength back and all."
Max cut into a piece of potato to make it smaller. He made sure to get a small chicken on the spoon and blew on it. He place it into his mouth and looked surprised, "It's good."
Those words brought a bright smile on Dylan's face as he sighed in relief, "I was worried it would taste bad. I made it from memory so I worried that I completely butchered the recipe. I even look online to make sure I was doing it correctly."
Max continued to eat. It was silent for a couple seconds as Max seemed to be deep in thought. Dylan realized that he was staring at him like a weirdo so directed his eyes over to the open window. Max shivered softly and Dylan was about to stand up to close it, "Cold? I'll go-"
"I don't mind it. Leave it open. It's not so bad since there's a bit of sun."
"Ah, you sure?" He asked. Max nodded so he sat back down, "Okay." Another couple seconds of silence passed them. It wasn't an awkward atmosphere though. It felt nice. It was just them two in a small room with no conversation but it was like they didn't need to talk. They could just sit there and be in each other's company.
"You said used to when you talked about your mom." Max said suddenly that surprised Dylan.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. My parents passed away in a car accident when I was a kid. I was in the car as well but I survived with a couple broken bones. My grandparents took me in." He said telling him the short version of his story. He felt like telling him how he was passed down like run down clothes to different people in his family would ruin the mood between them.
"I didn't mean to remind you of it. I'm sorry."
Dylan's eyes widened slowly. Hearing Max apologize to him wasn't something he was use to, "No, don't worry about it. I've come to terms with it. It's completely fine. There's not much anyone could have done to prevent the car accident. It was raining and my dad stomped on the breaks to avoid hitting a deer. The car slid on the wet pavement and the car flipped over a couple times and hit a pole." Dylan said with a small smile, "I mean, we could blame the deer but that wouldn't be fair either. Humans were the first to build roads in their environment.
Max was staring down at the bowl but Dylan was sure he was still listening. "What were they like?"
"Hmm," Dylan said thinking about it, "Good people. Dad worked late but mom and I waited for him every night so they could tuck me in together. Mom was a stay at home mom so she would take me to school and pick me up. I'm the only child so all their attention was focused on me. We would often go to vacation since dad got paid well from his job. He was a photographer and I always looked up to him. I still do, even now. Sometimes I look back at his old pictures and wonder if one day I can capture the beauty in life like he did."
"That sounds... Really nice."
"Yeah." Dylan agreed, "I guess I took it all for granted because they were taken away in the blink of an eye." Dylan realized and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to talk so much about them and bring the mood down. We can change the conversation or watch something if you-"
"I can understand you to a certain extent." Max said, "My parents were also good people in the past."
"Did they pass away?" Dylan asked carefully, seeing if Max was going to open up to him or refuse to answer.
"You could say that." Max said, not looking up from the almost empty soup in the bowl. "They both worked normal jobs and struggled to get by but we lived well. My grandparents lived with us and we all always had smiles on our faces. I also was an only child at first so when my mom got pregnant and brought home a baby girl, you can imagine how jealous I was." He said with a small scoff.
"You have a younger sister?" Dylan asked with a single raised eyebrow, "Does she look just like you with long hair?" He said with a teasing smile.
Max didn't smile as he said, "I don't know."
"Huh? You don't know? She doesn't live with you?"
Max looked hesitant to answer, "No." Was as much as Dylan could get out of him. Dylan bit his lip and knew better than to force an answer out. "I don't meet with her often. She lives with a relative of mine."
Dylan swore that he heard him say 'relative' with a angry tone. "I see. I'm sure she's alright."
"Yeah." Max said as he finally looked up from the bowl and looked at Dylan in the eyes. He pushed the plate to the side leaned carefully over the table. Dylan felt himself go completely motionless as Max was inches away from his face. Dylan didn't trust himself so he kept his hands clasped tightly on his lap.
Dylan looked at Max carefully as Max seemed to be doing the same to him. Dylan held his breath as he felt his heart skip a few beats. It was crazy to him to think that a kid two years his junior could make him so flushed just by being so close to him.
"What are you-" he started to say but stopped once Max took his glasses off his face and sat back down.
"I've never seen you without your glasses." He pointed out and said bluntly, "You look different without them."
Dylan always felt almost naked without his glasses since he's used them since he was a kid. He needed them so see things far away so he was still able to see Max just not as perfectly as before. Everything was just slightly fuzzy around the edges. "A good different or a bad one?"
"Not in a bad way." Max reassured Dylan. "How blind are you?" Max asked putting on Dylan's glasses. He squinted and then blinked multiple times, "Is this how you see without them?" He asked with a small smirk on his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He held up three fingers and then changed it to four quickly.
Dylan rolled his eyes playfully, having heard the same question multiple times throughout his life from many people, "One out of five possibility of guessing correctly. I'll have to say six."
Max smirked and put his hand down, "Ha. Ha." Max placed his elbow on the edge of the and put his chin on his open palm. "So funny."
"Well, I try to switch up my answer every once in a while when I get asked. I can still see without them just not as well as when I have them on." Dylan explained.
"Oh." He said tilting his head slightly. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't.
Dylan smiled and leaned over the table, "I think my glasses look quite good on you. My clothes as well." Slowly, he slid his glasses off of Max's face and grinned. Max parted his lips slowly and alarms were going off in Dylan's head. Dylan opened his mouth as he was going to try to backtrack but jumped slightly as the a phone behind them rang. He turned back and saw it was Max's. He turned back to Max with a sheepish smile and backed up, placing his glasses on his face. Max looked embarrassed as he seemed to realize the mood around them had shifted and they had almost kissed. He stood up and went for Max's phone. He took off the charger and saw Nico's name on the screen. He walked back and handed Max the phone.
Max thanked him quietly and picked up the phone, "What? Huh? Hold on, speak slowly... Yeah. I'm fine.. Yes, I promise I'll tell you everything. No, not now. Okay. Exactly. Room number?" He looked up at Dylan as he tried to appear nonchalant.
"Five-B"
"Five-B" Max repeated. "Okay. What? That happened? Seriously? Since last time-" he stopped and looked cautiously at Dylan.
Dylan grabbed the bowl and said, "I'll be in the kitchen." Max nodded slightly and waited until he was out of the room to continue talking to Nico over the phone. Dylan could hear him slightly but couldn't make out what he was saying. He placed the dishes in the sink and began to wash them.
He sighed again slowly. He had almost kissed Max. The events from a moment ago kept replaying in his head. He knew it wasn't a good idea but he couldn't stop himself from getting closer to Max. He would have pulled back if Max would have said no but it looked like he was going to lean in closer. He had to be careful around him from now on. He wouldn't be able to rely on his self control anymore. It all flew out the window as Max looked completely adorable in his clothes and glasses.
He placed the back of his hand over his mouth as he tried to hide his smile. He could feel himself getting flushed as he recalled the way Max looked at him when they were inches apart from one another. He tried to calm himself down as he recalled Nico was most likely on his way to pick Max up. He wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye to Max, much less seeing Nico's face so early in the morning.
Put put the dishes to dry and then dried his hands with a cloth. He threw the cloth gently on the counter and turned around to see Max coming out of the room, "Where are my clothes from last night?"
"Ah." Dylan said suddenly remembering. "I washed them last night because they had blood on them. I didn't want them to get stained." He said heading towards the laundry room. He grabbed Max's clothes which he had folded nicely and walked out, "Here you go." Dylan said handing them to Max with a slight shiver as their fingers touched.
"Thanks." Max said with a stubborn look on his face as he hugged his clothes tightly against host chest. Dylan made a mental note of the number of times he had said some kind of "thank you'. One so far. "Nico is practically here. He was just down the street when he called and already in front of your apartment when I hung up-" he stopped as someone, presumably Nico, was knocking loudly on the door. "and that's probably him."
"Yeah. Take car of yourself, okay? I was scared last night when I saw you in such conditions. I worry about you." He said as they walked to the door.
"Mm," Max said in agreement, "I will. Uhm, you too or whatever." He said shyly as he frowned.
They both stopped in front of the door, seeming reluctant to open the door. Dylan figured it was probably for different reasons though. Dylan didn't want to see Max leave yet and Max seemed scared to face Nico. He remembered how Max had thought he was Nico at first and was apologizing for lying to the point where Max had started crying.
Nico knocked on air one last time as Max swung the door open. "You're disturbing the neighbors." Max said with his usual annoyed tone.
Nico looked over him carefully, without saying a single word. He eyes searched his entire body carefully to the point that Max shifted uncomfortably and flinched from the sudden pain. "Lift up your shirt." Nico demanded.
"What? No, can we just do this at home?"
"Max. Lift it up."
"Hey," Dylan said slightly as he put a hand forward, "Just calm down. It's better than you probably imagine. There's no need to make him feel-"
"I don't think I asked the advice of a donkey. Stop talking." He said staring coldly into Dylan's eyes. He took a step back and didn't step back in. Dylan even pretended to zip his mouth closed and throw away the key. "Lift. It. Now." Nico said again stressing each word.
Max frowned but lifted Dylan's sweater up to expose Max's stomach. Dylan look away, hating how the bruises formed along his ribs. They were dark blue spots with red along the inside. "For fuck's sake, Max." Nico said, anger evident in how he spoke. "You're explaining everything once we get home. You better not even leave out a single detail. I want the name, description, age, gender, and address of the person who did this to you." Max nodded softly as he let the sweater fall back down. Nico grabbed the clothes that Max was holding in his arms. He handed him back the pants and put the sweater over his shoulders. "Go wait in the car with Sera. She'll fill you in about yesterday."
Max looked at Dylan as if not wanting to leave him alone with Nico. Dylan ruffled his hand through Max's hair and smiled, "It's fine. He can't exactly kill me when it day outside and with thin walls."
"That's what you think." Nico said moving aside to let Max pass.
"Fine." Max said and swatted away Dylan's hand. He started walking but stopped beside Nico, "Don't... He saved me last night, so-"
"I got it. I just want to talk to him." Nico said and Max nodded and walked down the stairs gently. Nico looked behind him and waited until Max was inside the car waiting downstairs. He turned back to Dylan. Dylan was bracing himself to be choked out or punched in the stomach for touching Max but instead got Nico to say, "I didn't want any witnesses around when I said this, "Thanks for helping Max yesterday. You had no obligation to. You could have left him to die in the snow, but you didn't."
Dylan gaped at Nico, "You're thanking me?"
"Yes. Don't get used to it. I don't like you. If you touch Max I'll call the cops on you. I'm letting you off this time because you helped Max." Nico made himself clear, "If I could, I would make you disappear from both Max's and my sight forever. It only takes one phone call and you won't live to see the next day. However, I can't do that anymore. It's gone past the point of return. That doesn't mean I have to acknowledge your existence. Do Max and I a favor and stay away. I could really do without another problem on my hands. Bye." Nico was about to walk away but reached over and grabbed Nico's wrist to stop him from leaving. Nico looked down at his wrist and frowned deeply, "I'm going to break your hand off."
Dylan removed his hand quickly and said, "I won't just leave Max's side. It's impossible. I'm saying this now, you can't scare me off." Nico glared at him, which almost convinced Dylan that maybe Nico could scare him off, "I think... No, I know my feelings for Max. I like him so I'm staying by his side. I'll protect him so you won't have to." Dylan said feeling jealous over Nico again and his relationship with Max.
Nico didn't say anything at first. He was just looking at Dylan in the eyes with an angry look, "You have to wait another two years to touch him."
"I know." Dylan said holding his ground, though his knees were slightly shaking.
"He doesn't like you."
"Even so, I still like him. I'll make him see that there's more to me."
"Fine." Nico said reluctantly, "I'm going to hate myself for this later, I know it, but I give you two years to change his mind. If by the time he's eighteen and you haven't managed to change his opinion of you, then you leave us alone. You won't pursue him any longer. You'll pack up and leave so that we can live in peace, got that?"
"Right-"
"If I find out you placed your dirty hands on him before then, I'll torture you painfully for everyday. I'll bring you down to the brink of death and heal you back up only to torture you some more. If you turn out to be just another guy after his body, I'll never forgive you. Got that?" Nico threatened. Dylan couldn't say anything, he only nodded his head. "Good, glasses. You're learning." He said and walked out, shutting the door behind him.
Dylan leaned back against the wall and slid down as his legs gave away. Honestly, as much as he disliked Nico, he commended the way he protected Max. He couldn't just take Nico's threat lightly. Not that he was ever going to have sex with Max as long as he was a minor. Nico scared Dylan, as much as he hated to admit.
He closed his eyes and let out a nervous laugh. He could feel how Max was slowly starting to treat him differently. He just needed to take their relationship slowly.
Baby steps.