Another Broken Glass

It was a cold December day when it happened. Everyone was bustling about there busy lives. The only thing they had to worry about was getting through this day. It wasn't any different to them, except for the fact that it might have been a few degrees colder. No one was certain because no one had the time to check.

It wasn't normal for two though. This day was going to change these two men's lives, if they knew it or not. It didn't much matter.

He was restless in his apartment. He couldn't find a way to sit still. His mind wouldn't shut off today. He paced the normal apartment. He banged on the walls. He sat in the corner in the fetal position rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

He wasn't always like this. No, Max Green used to be very normal, but that was a while ago. To everyone else, he was fine, never better. In the outside world, he was just another rock star who did what he did best, rocking out, but the second he was only, all hell broke lose. The devil himself wouldn't have enough power to stop his demons.

Everything changed the day he left. Life got just a little bit different. It went back to normal for everyone else, but not for Max. He could never go back to normal, not unless he had something to do with it. Only his lover best-friend could fix him.

Max didn't know what day it was. Time slipped away in his mental prison. If you asked him, he wouldn't have a clue. The man on the other side of the door knew what day it was, and he was pissed. Ronnie Radke was let out of jail this very day, and he had come to visit an old friend.

He knocked on the door and waited. Max didn't bother to get up. No one came to visit him at this hour of the day. Besides, it was probably just his neighbors yelling him for being too loud. The silent man was never too loud.

Ronnie grew impatient. The boy was home. He knew that much. He knocked another time, but again it fell on uncaring ears.

His agitation soon overcame him. He reached for the spare key. He was the only one to ever really use it, and if he wasn't, that was another thing to be upset about. It was under the mat. How very cliche of him.

He let himself in silently not minding having to come in himself. It would be more of a surprise to the other man. He didn't want to hurt Max too much, but he wanted him to feel the pain he has over these many months away from society. He didn't expect this though.

Max was thin, very thin. Ronnie could see each individual vertebrae of his spine through his over sized t-shirt. His skin was the palest he has ever seen, transparent almost. Veins were clearly seen giving him an almost blueish color. His once gorgeous chocolate hair was now half way down his chest and darker than the night with a new moon. Max wasn't facing him, but Ronnie could guess there was dark circles covering his eyes. He had his answer for the use of lots of dark eye make up now.

Max didn't see him at first, but when he turned he didn't looked surprised. He looked angry. The voices in his head were snickering at him.

"Leave me alone! Why can't you give me a moment's of peace?!" Max screamed screwing his eyes shut and banging on his head furiously.

Ronnie was shocked he didn't know what overcame Max. He had no idea what was going on.

"It will go away in a second. It always does. It isn't the real him, Max. It will go away." Max said to himself over and over.

Ronnie raised his hand the slightest bit. Max caught the movement right away. They only moved when the voices wanted to make him miserable. The man all ready haunted his nightmares. They wanted to make sure he haunted his every wakened moment as well.

"No! I didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't my fault! I didn't mean to hurt him! It wasn't my fault! Leave me alone! I tried to help him, but he wouldn't listen to me! It wasn't my fucking fault!" He screamed again. Tears came out of his already blood shot eyes.

"Max?" Ronnie said very quietly. He didn't want to startle the broken down boy.

Max's head snapped in his direction. They didn't talk. They never talked. Why was this one? He took a subconscious step back.

"No, he isn't real. He isn't real." He chanted to himself grabbing fist fulls of hair and trying to pull them out. anything was better than this, anything.

"Max, I'm real. It's me, Ronnie." He tried desperately.

"NO! You aren't real! The real Ronnie would never visit me. He hates me!" Max screamed. It needed to go away. It needed to.

He wanted to get rid of this twisted dream, to make it leave his sights never to return, but there was a apart of him that didn't want this thing to go. It talked. It had the same angelic voice that the man he loved so dearly had, and it wasn't screaming at him this time. It was calm, sad almost. It was nice to hear it after all of this time, all of this time in a bitter silence.

Ronnie took a step forward, trying not to alarm the other. Trying does not always mean a success.

Max was frantic. Talking was one thing, but it never ever moved further than an inch. He was practically beside himself. He didn't know what to do right now.

"Go away! Please just leave me alone! One minute. That's all I want! So, leave me alone!" Max screamed. Eyes shutting once more.

"Max-" Ronnie started taking another small step.

This had to stop. This was going to far in Max's mind. The voices were never this cruel to him. They would spit hurtful words that made him want to end it all. They shouted profanities with screams of blame. They even sent visions of the man they say he betrayed to him with a glare that could stop the fires of hell, but they never took it this far.

Right now, they were laughing in his head. He thought they were laughing at him, him in his self misery, but they weren't laughing at him at all. No, they were laughing because they hadn't sent this Ronnie. This one was real. Everyone know that but Max up to this point, and no one was going to tell. They enjoyed watching him in pain. Why would they want to see him happy for once?

Everyone thought that it was Ronnie's life who was ruined after that deadly bullet shot through the air at speeds that made a cheetah look sluggish, but they were all wrong. It was a terrible tragedy that day. Not only did someone died, but Max lost all hope of being normal again. He lost his best-friend, his lover, his support system, and part of his family. That wasn't the worst of it, though. When that shot rang through, a boy lost his life, and Max , well, he lost his sanity.

Max was terrified now. This thing was escalating, and he did the only thing he knew he could do. It always worked before.

He picked up the empty glass and chucked it as hard as he could. All he wanted was this thing to disappear. It would only be another broken glass.

Ronnie's reflexes were fast now. Jail will do that to you. His hand shot up, deflecting the thrown object from his body. His hand wasn't quick on the escape though. Glass ripped though the callused flesh like scissors on paper. Blood started to drip on the floor as the sickening sound of shattering glass was heard.

"What the hell was that for?!" He hissed gripping his injured hand.

"You're real." Max whispered in horror. If this was really happening, Ronnie should be pissed at him, nice and pissed.

"Of course I'm real! I've been trying to tell you that for ten minutes!" Ronnie yelled. Max flinched. He hated it when people raised their voices, especially when it was Ronnie's voice doing the yelling.

"Do you have a first aid kit I could use?" Ronnie asked softer. Max nodded his head quickly and passed him to the kitchen.

It pained Ronnie do see him like this. It really did. He never really hated the kid. That was all a big show because he was hurt that he would leave him in that place by himself. Sure, he was angry when he came here, and he was going to give Max a piece of his mind. That changed though, the very second he saw the boy. He wasn't healthy.

Anyone in his right mind could see that. It was so strange though. The last Ronnie heard, Max was doing great. The last album got them a huge world tour that sold out a bunch of shows. He was gaining respect in the music skill. Hell, his fans grew about a hundred percent. But even with all of that, even with all of those people watching his every move, no one knew about this. Max was a good liar, but he was never that good.

Max walked back slowly to where Ronnie was on the couch. He could quickly make himself comfortable in this apartment. He spent about as much time in this place as he did his own. It wasn't any different. All of the pictures of him were turned down though. Ronnie noticed that and frowned at the thought that he hurt him that much. Max couldn't even look at him behind glass.

Max handed the decorated white box to Ronnie's good hand. They didn't make eye contact, and Max went out of his way to not touch the man in front of him.

"Can you help me? I was never really much of a lefty, remember?" Ronnie laughed trying to lighten the mood. Max nodded his head quickly sitting a safe distance away on the couch.

A task like this shouldn't take that much time. There wasn't any glass in the wound, but max was still not touching him. It ended up making it take longer. Ronnie, on the other hand, desperately wanted some sort of contact, a bump of the arm, a flick of the wrist, and touch of the finger. He didn't care if Max had to hit him to get that contact. He never really realized how much he missed the other until now.

"How long have you been seeing things?" Ronnie asked quietly.

The tensity seemed to jump up to an entire other level with one simple question. You could cut it with a butter knife now. It has never been this tense between them. Not even the time Max ended up in the hospital with stitches because of him. It took him two weeks of begging to get Max to ever speak to him after that, let alone take him back.

He was never a very good person when he was high, especially to Max, and he has the marks to prove it. The last time they were this close, well, Max still has a scar from then.

"I don't see things." Max denied after trying the bandage.

"That's a lie and you and I now it." Ronnie said sternly.

"I'm fine. It isn't any of your concern." Max replied bitterly back. He had every right to be bitter.

"It is my concern."

"No, it isn't. It's my problem. I'll deal with it. Besides, I don't see things." Max said getting quieter with each word. He was looked down, still not making eye contact.

Ronnie didn't know what else to do. He couldn't help him, if he didn't want to help himself. All he could do was try.

"Max, can you look at me, please? I miss those big, green eyes of yours." Ronnie said hopeful. It was the only line that had ever worked on him. Max couldn't really resist it when Ronnie said it, and it always ended the same exact way, always.

He looked up slowly, biting on his lip ring. They both knew what was going to happen, and neither was trying to stop it.

Ronnie lifted his good hand to move some of Max's hair from his face. His hand traced the edge of his face, resting right above the jaw. His thumb ran over the now apparent check bone.

"See, gorgeous." Ronnie whispered. He was close now. Closer than Max would have thought he would get.

"I missed you, ya know." Ronnie said. His breath fanning over Max's face.

"I m-missed you, t-too." Max stuttered out a reply, making Ronnie smile all the bit.

He got closer than. It was strange to Max. He hadn't been this close to another since, well, since Ronnie was last here. He missed this. He missed this a lot.

Ronnie was all but an inch away now, but he wasn't going to go further. If Max wanted what he wanted, then that's great. If he didn't, he wasn't going to push him. Luckily for him though, Max wanted exactly what he wanted.

Max quickly closed the last of the distance between them. It was like two years hadn't passed. Their lips moved in a synchronized dance. They were throwing every single emotion they had felt for the other, anger, fury, sadness, lust, love. All of it, and they didn't miss a single beat.

They explored every single cavern of the others mouth. Their hands ran over flesh like it needed it to survive, and deep down it probably did. They needed each other like they needed air.

After a good while, they disconnected for air purposes, and even then, they were still all over each other, panting, touching, wanting.

"I never stopped loving you." Max said almost silently. Ronnie's grin couldn't get any bigger.

"Good, because neither did I." He replied. It was Max's turn to smile.

They kissed again after that, and it wasn't the last of the kisses. They kissed in every room, eventually ending up in Max's bedroom. They both ended up very satisfied with the result of said kissing. Ronnie also ended up staying the night, and it wasn't the last time.

Ronnie would stay a night here and there, nothing too frequent in the beginning. He wanted to make sure Max got healthy before anything else, and he did get healthier. Mas started to go to therapy after that, and the episodes slowed and then stopped all together. The nightmares took a little longer, but with Ronnie's help they also went away completely. He gained the much needed weight as well, and he got the hair cut he very much deserved.

Ronnie became the boyfriend he thought the other deserved. He didn't feel like shit every time he saw Max anymore, and he had been clean since the beginning of his convection. So, that wasn't an issue anymore. It made their relationship grow.

They moved in together eventually, not at Max's though. They didn't needed the bad and haunting memories to follow them. No, they needed a fresh start, so they got one. They got a cute little place together where they both could enjoy it.

Did I mention that Max eventually changed his name? Yes, it changed to Max Radke over time. Not all stories have to end bad.