Words You Wouldn't Say

Ryan came to see Maxwell at work.

He blushed and shuffled his feet when Max approached him, and sat in a booth and waited for Max to get on break so they could talk. He twiddled his thumb, flicked through his phone a few times, ordered seven strawberry lemonades, and thanked Max profusely when he slid a basket of mozzarella sticks onto the table before sitting down, telling him it was on the house.

"Andrea told me you worked here," he said quickly. "Since you don't have a phone and none of us knows where you live. I figured I'd tell you what we're gonna do about the project."

Max nodded. He'd studied a few times with Andrea after work over a plate of chips and salsa that he'd get free from the kitchens. He nibbled at a mozzarella stick as Ryan explained that Max would be pretending to be the roommate of the guy who'd died.

"So we'll get your fake testimony written down, you're gonna say that your roommate went on a date and you thought it was fine when he didn't come back that night but started to get suspicious when he didn't show up to class or the rest of the day. You called his dad and have been keeping tabs this whole time." Max nodded. "Then when we meet in class next week we'll figure out how to go about prosecuting the murderer."

"Okay," he breathed out, suddenly no longer hungry. He pushed the mozzarella sticks toward Ryan and started to stand, but Ryan caught his hand.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go out on Saturday?" Max blinked, surprised. Ryan blushed and pulled his hand away. "I mean, I'm sorry, you just seem really nice -."

"Sure," Max said quickly. Ryan's voice died and he smiled tentatively at Max, who smiled back. "Where did you wanna meet up?"

Ryan gave him the name of a small bar on Main street and Max smiled at him before returning to work. He didn't exactly feel anything for Ryan, but there was no harm in getting to know him, right?

Mike didn't seem to agree.

Not only did he look a little hurt when Max told him he'd be going on a date that Saturday evening, he became angry.

"You want to go out on a date with a guy you barely know at night when there's a murderer on the loose?" Mike nearly yelled. Max gave him a bored look.

"I'm not gonna cull my social life just because some person's going around killing people." He turned back to the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair, contemplating how he wanted to leave it. "Besides, a guy needs to get laid every once in a while, alright?" Mike made an offended noise but Max gave him a withering look before he could say anything. "You should be worrying about your son and your divorce. I'm fine. I'll be fine."

Mike grit his teeth, tapped something on his phone, then held it out to Max. "Take this with you then." Max took it slowly. "I've invited Chester over, so if there's an emergency or you need me to pick you up or something, call him."

Max pursed his lips and tucked it into his pocket. "Don't break anything. I need my security deposit back." Mike rolled his eyes and swore he wouldn't break anything, and Max left the apartment in his hands.

Ryan had arranged for them to meet at eight o'clock at the bar. Max was hoping it woudn't take more than an hour to decide if he wanted to go home with Ryan, because it took forever to get to Main street from his apartment, and walking home alone in the dark wasn't an enjoyable process for him.

Max reached the bar first, so he sat down and ordered a drink and waited. There was still fifteen minutes left til eight, so he didn't mind that Ryan wasn't there already.

Eight o'clock came and went, and Ryan didn't show up. Thirty minutes passed, and Max was beginning to feel sorry for himself. He hadn't thought of Ryan as the kind of guy to stand people up, and he was beginning to dread showing up to class on Monday.

He ordered another drink to let himself wallow in self-pity. He didn't want to go home to Mike, and this way if he got too drunk he could just call Chester to come and pick him up and save him the trouble of the dark walk home.

At nine, the phone rang next to him. Max glanced over to see Chester's name glaring up at him, but he wasn't ready to go home yet. He hadn't had nearly enough drinks.

Rob's number flashed up next, then Brad's. Max frowned at the phone and picked it up to find Chester calling him again. He flicked the answer button and pressed it to his ear, slurring out, "Hello?"

"Max," Mike breathed out. "Max where are you?" Max frowned at the urgency in his voice.

"I'm at the bar," he replied.

"Which bar?" Max glanced at the sign on the wall and told him, the one on Main. "Stay there," Mike ordered. "I'm sending Rob to go get you." Max started to ask why, but Mike hung up, so he shrugged and paid for his last drink and set to finishing it.

Rob appeared at his elbow, expression grim, and dragged him to his car. Max tried to protest, to say that he knew how to walk, but as soon as Rob let him go the world began to spin. He climbed into the car and rested his head back, pulling on his seat belt before closing his eyes. When Rob got into the driver's seat and started to drive, Max asked him what happened.

"There's been another murder," Rob said simply.

"So Mike is overreacting?" Max asked. Rob looked at him and shook his head.

"Maybe he should be the one to tell you," was all Rob said. Max's eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Don't be all cryptic, that's weird," he chided. Rob pulled a slight smile.

"You're very honest when you've been drinking," he said conversationally.

"You'd know that if you guys hadn't left me as soon as you made it big time." Rob's lips pursed, but he said nothing, parking in front of Max's building. Brad was standing next to his car and moved to help Max get out, which Max accepted gratefully.

The landlord was waiting to lock the doors. "You're lucky," he said as Max stepped in with Brad and Rob behind him. He nodded at where Mike was standing. "If it weren't for him, I would've locked these doors already."

Max looked over at Mike, who was rushing toward him and pulling Max into his arms before he could ask any questions. Chester, Brad and Rob were all talking to each other quietly, and Max leaned into the comfort of Mike's embrace. He didn't want to talk about the fact that he'd been stood up, but the comfort made him feel better.

After a while, Max asked, "What happened? Why are Rob and Brad here?"

Mike pulled away. "They went looking for you while Chester and I tried to get a hold of you. When we heard about the murder, I was really worried..."

"Why?" Max asked sluggishly. He was beginning to feel tired, which reminded him, Brad and Rob were now locked inside his building. "How come the others are still here?"

"They're staying the night. We wanna make sure everything's secure..."

"Why?" Max said with more force. Mike was rubbing his back soothingly, which was making him more sleepy, so he knocked his hand away. "What happened?"

Mike bit his lip. "The victim, it was... It was your date tonight, Max." Max blinked, and suddenly he wished he hadn't asked or that he hadn't knocked away Mike's hand. "He, um, the reason they found him was because he had an alarm on his phone, and it kept going off, so someone went to investigate. And the alarm said Date with Maxwell Meza..."

Max blinked. His hand gripped at Mike's arm and his vision went white, panic bubbling in his throat. A murderer killing gay men in his class knew that his victim was going on a date with Max that night. He knew, and Max was probably next.

Mike was gripping his shoulders, trying to get his attention. The others were standing behind Mike, careful not to crowd Max, eyeing him carefully like he was about to break and truthfully, he probably was. His nails dug into Mike's arms, but Mike didn't protest.

"Where's Otis?" Max said suddenly. He noticed, for the first time, that Chester was holding the baby. Everyone stared at him, surprised, but Max stepped up and took Otis into his arms before starting up the stairs toward his apartment. The other men followed.

Max tried not to listen to them as they whispered to each other. He didn't want to think about the fact that he was probably now on a hit list. He didn't want to think about the fact that his date was dead. He definitely didn't want to think about how he wanted Mike to wrap him up and hold him until he fell asleep.

Otis curled up against his chest and yawned, and Max cooed at him gently. "Way past your bedtime, isn't it?" he said, reaching the apartment and waiting for Mike to unlock the door. "It's okay, we're almost there." Otis was already asleep, breaths falling down Max's neck as he snored a little. As soon as Mike had unlocked the door, he stepped inside and into his room to put Otis in his crib.

He gathered up some of his pillows and moved into the living room.

"Chester, you can sleep on the couch, since you're the shortest." Chester grumbled at him but took a pillow and moved toward it. "I don't have anywhere comfortable for you guys to stay," Max said to Brad and Rob, "so it looks like you're taking the floor." They took the two other pillows in his hands and moved toward the living room, flipping on the television, and that was definitely cable news. Max was too tired to get angry at Mike for buying him cable.

Mike bit his lip and Max turned to him, his voice falling quiet. "You can stay in my room," he said quietly, "and take the other side of the bed. I don't think I'm gonna wake easily tonight, and someone's gotta keep an ear out for Otis." Mike nodded, eyes saying that he clearly didn't believe the lie that Max had come up with, but he didn't question him. Max took a deep breath, then went to curl up against Chester on the couch. Chester slipped a comforting arm around him as Rob leaned against the couch, his back catching on Max's toes.

After a while, everyone began to yawn, so Max stood and made his way to his room, throwing some of his and Mike's pajama pants to everyone. Mike didn't protest when Max closed the door to get changed, just waited until Max was done before slipping into the room.

Max curled up on the side of the bed closer to the wall and closed his eyes, breathing shakey. He wasn't going to think about it, wasn't going to think about how he was slotted to die like a pig for slaughter. The bed dipped and suddenly he was pulled against Mike, who said quietly, "It's okay."

"How can you be so sure?" Max asked.

"I promised to take care of you, and that also means keeping you safe," Mike whispered against his neck. "And those guys out there, they want you to be safe, too."

"You all left me," Max whispered.

"I know," Mike said. He didn't try to lie or make excuses. "It was stupid of us. But we're here now, and we care about you, Max."

Max couldn't help the way he relaxed into Mike's arms. He didn't feel any less panicked, but he did feel a little safer.

"We're gonna work things out and make sure you're never alone, okay?" Max nodded.

"Nothing is gonna happen to you."