Frozen Heart - 23. Chapter 23 - Crimson and laughter

Hand in hand, Aaron and Max met up with Alice and Mara before the first bell. Max had woken up well rested, relaxed, and happy. All of it felt so new for him, and at times he wondered in amazement if it was really real. Just a few weeks ago he had been Ghost, a gloomy and shy kid, who never talked, never dreamed, never loved, and never hated. He had been a puppet of his dormant mind. Then Aaron had come, his exact opposite, and somehow they had balanced each other out. Max wasn’t Maximilian anymore, he was alive. He had friends, and a boyfriend, even his relationship with his aunt had gotten better. Ghost had faded. He wore descent clothes now, and drove a really nice car. He still was shy, but at least his heart was open. He had slowly become a normal teenager. At the same time, Aaron had settled down. When Max first met him, he had been very talkative, full of energy (too much energy if you ask Max), and pretty nervous. Now Aaron talked a bit less, which Max appreciated, he wasn’t as exuberant, and Max could feel he was calm and relaxed. A lot of days, Aaron would, in a way, send soothing waves of calm energy out to the world.

This morning before school had been amazing, for starters they showered together. Max enjoyed being under the shower with his boyfriend, the intimacy, the hot water, he loved it! Well, it had started as a shower… then Aaron had seen Max’s morning erection. It hadn’t taken him long to think of the perfect cure for Max’s condition. He had quickly finished washing them, and had swooped Max in his arms, the smaller boy clinging on, trying not to slip. Aaron had set Max down on the counter, and had given him a proper blowjob. At first surprised both by the cold ceramic and by his boyfriend’s actions, Max had resisted, but, as Aaron worked his magic, he gave in to the feelings. Quickly, he felt his cum churning in his balls, getting ready for the fireworks. Soon the feeling became stronger until he couldn’t hold it anymore. He shot his seed in Aaron’s greedy mouth, while his muscles relaxed and twitched at random. After that they had to hurry up, and there had been little time for kissing and cuddling as they chugged down breakfast, and they had drove off to school at the very limit of the speed limits.

Alice and Mara had been waiting for them. The four of them entered the building as one happy group. Alice on Max’s right and Mara was on Aaron’s left. All of a sudden, Chris emerged from one of the other corridors, he radiated confidence today, and he came towards them smiling.

“Hey Max!” he called out.

“Hey Chris,” Max answered shyly.

“Hi Chris,” Aaron also greeted.

“Yo cousin.”

It took a second for Max to fully register what Chris had said: “cousin.” Out of all the reasons he had come up with as to why Chris knew Aaron, this one hadn’t crossed his mind. He looked at both of them, trying to find similarities, but except the size and build, they had nothing in common. Aaron had blond hair and brown eyes, while Chris had brownish hair and grey eyes. Similarities or rather dissimilarities that Alice noticed as well.

“Cousins? You two? But you don’t look remotely alike.”

“Yeah well, I take after my dad, and Aaron looks more like his father as well, though he has my aunt’s eyes. Our mothers are sisters. I don’t remember Aaron is your mom older or is it mine?”

“I think it’s yours,” Aaron answered after a brief hesitation.

“Anyways, yeah we don’t look too much alike…”

“We don’t really care, it’s not like we are brothers, even our moms don’t look that much alike and they’re sisters!” Aaron added.

“I thought you were part of Peter’s gang…” Alice was suspicious, and Max couldn’t argue with her on that point.

“Yeah well he’s a first class a-hole, so I decided to ditch them. Picking on kids isn’t really fun, and being racist and homophobic isn’t really my thing as well. Most of the gang is like that, but being part of that gang means you are ‘respected.’ Screw that though, I realized it wasn’t worth it.”

“Is Peter not going to want to skin you alive or something? Sounds like a thing he’d do…”

“Nah he probably doesn’t remember my name, his brain is too small for more than: Mom, and Dad.”

Max liked Chris’ easy going attitude, he made jokes naturally, and he had a smooth rhythm to his voice. He even found himself smiling at Peter’s not very flattering description.

“Max you didn’t tell me you knew Chris.”

“Yeah sorry about that, you know last night I had to go grocery shopping?”

Aaron nodded.

“Well your cousin was there, and our paths crossed.”

“I had told you to say for me…” Chris whined in exaggerated sadness.

“Well it kind of slipped my mind when we…”Max gulped hard, realizing what he had been about to say. “I mean after dinner, yeah after dinner, it slipped my mind.” He gave a nervous chuckle and blushed slightly. Alice saw it and narrowed her eyes.

“Aaron can I borrow your Max for a sec?”

“Your Max?!” Aaron and Max reacted together.

“I’ll take that as a yes, now come on Max!”

She grabbed his arm and led him away. Not very far, but out of ear shot of anyone.

“Say Max, what did you and Aaron do after dinner?”

Max turned cherry red, and tried to disappear in his shirt. He let his hair fall over his eyes, enjoying how he liked how his hair fell smoothly now that he had gotten proper haircut.

“Aha! I knew it! So who bottomed?” Alice carried on mercilessly.

“Alice!” Max gasped, turning crimson.

“Whaaaaat? I’m curious!”

“You don’t just…”

“Don’t just what?”

“Never mind!”

He stormed off and his behind Aaron when Alice came back giggling. He playfully took a timid peek, and when she feigned coming for him he twisted around so that she was still on the opposite side of Aaron. Aaron was grinning, and when Alice tried to get around him he grabbed her and started tickling her.

“Aaaaah Aaron stop it!!!”

“What did you say to my boyfriend?”

“No Aaron don’t!” Max cried out, but it was already too late.

“I asked who of you two bottomed last night!” she said, laughing openly now.

Aaron gasped and tickled her even more in revenge. Mara held her hand over her mouth, repressing a giggle, while Chris rolled on the ground, holding his stomach from laughing so much. Max just stood their mortified. He soon realized Alice didn’t really care and was only teasing him. Then he had the most brilliant idea ever! He joined Aaron in a tickle fight, that suddenly became completely one sided. Alice was only saved by the bell!

At lunch they went to eat outside as they were accustomed to now. However, today Chris went out with them. They were a perfectly good time until Peter showed up.

“Chris what the fuck are you doing with the queers?” he shouted angrily.

“Having a good time? You should try it sometime!”

“So you’re a queer as well?”

“No, I’m spending time with my cousin, what’s wrong with that? Or do you assume that because he’s gay and my cousin that I am gay?”

“Which one is your cousin? You fags all look alike to me.”

“Peter that’s enough!” Alice as usual intervened.

“What are you going to do about it sissy queen?”

“Watch it dumbass!”

“Why are you defending them? Bunch of homos that’s what they are!”

“Peter back off, NOW!” she shouted, angry now.

“This time I’m going to teach you respect!” Peter was angry as well, and he stepped closer to Alice.

Aaron shot up and got between them, Chris joined them. Max just stood there overwhelmed by the turn of events.

“This is none of your business fag! Out of my way!”

The shouting was slowly rising to Max’s head, he didn’t like shouting. It made his heart hurt, and made him remember The day. He wanted them to stop, but he couldn’t move he was terrified for some obscure reason. No one saw him, no one except Mara that held him when she saw his distress.

Aaron and Peter were angrily shouting at each other now, and Peter’s gang was holding their leader back. Things were about to get ugly when a teacher came running and broke things up. Because of his notorious reputation, Peter was taken to the office for some explaining. Aaron watched him go until Peter disappeared inside the building. When he finally turned, horror filled his eyes. He rushed to a hyper ventilating Max.

Max was back in the past, his last line of defense had broken, and all hell had broken loose. He was a little boy again, and he was in his mother’s arms. He had just finished his ice cream, and his parents and him were heading for a bank. Max’s older mind screamed, pleaded for them to stop. They went in anyways.

The whole scene happened all over again, every last gruesome detail came back in agonizing detail. Max sat next to his little self, a ghost witnessing the scene, he held his head as it throbbed and sent wave after wave of pain through his body. Like an old tape, the memory was frozen, a scream frozen in time, a bullet frozen in space. It was his mother’s last scream.

From the outside came a voice.

“Max!” it shouted.

“Max!” it shouted again, and again, and again.

Max held on to the sound, a sound he knew was out of this dreaded memory. He held on for dear life, and he let it carry him back to the surface. As if he had been drowning and a hand pulled him up from under the water.

Max gasped loudly, resurfacing back to reality. He was back under the tree, Aaron was holding him, and Aaron was crying. Seeing that he was back with them, Aaron held him tightly against his heart. Max was crying, his biggest fear had come true. The memory had surfaced, and if not for Aaron he would have gone mad. He had felt on the edge of sanity and insanity, he had been so close to taking a plunge down a dark path that led to nowhere. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn’t stop shacking. He felt Aaron getting distant again, and he plunged back down into darkness.

When he opened his eyes he was in the infirmary, and the nurse stood over him.