Too Late to Turn Around » M&J
Somewhere along the line things had gone seriously wrong and thinking back on it, perhaps Max should have known it would be coming. Perhaps he should have seen it and been able to protect himself before it got too late, but that was such an easy thing to think when he knew the truth. Beaten up with half his body one giant bruise, blood trickling both from a swollen cut right under his eye and from where his lip had split, his entire body pulsating and burning with pain, he knew he should have stood up and walked out the first time Marcus had laid a hand on him. But then there was that part of him that had genuinely believed the apologies, who loved the man and let himself relax in his arms in a naive belief that it would all be okay. A year later, things had only gotten worse and Max cursed himself for staying, over and over.
Shivering from the drizzle of rain outside that had found a way to creep itself into his very skin, Max was staring at a front door he had been starting to see all the more often over the past few months; bleeding with a steady stream of tears rolling down his bruised cheekbones, breathing shallow and with his barely healed arm clutched to his chest. He’d only removed the cast a few days prior and Max was certain it was broken again, going by the nasty cracking noise he’d heard around the third time Marcus had slammed him into the wall of their living room. Although he supposed the sound could just as well have been coming from where the back of his head made contact with the wall simultaneously, but somehow he doubted it. There was a much larger probability that he’d been passed out if that had been the case.
While he was standing outside his ex-boyfriend’s flat door, Max didn’t know how long he’d been hovering there or how long it had been since he’d decided that he needed to leave his actual boyfriend- for his own safety over anything else. All the curly headed boy knew was that he was scared, completely terrified out of his mind. Maybe he had a habit of overthinking things, or maybe he didn’t want Archie to see him in the state he was in, still knowing him well enough to foresee how he would absolutely lose his mind. But as his body was slowly decreasing in temperature, Max also knew that he couldn’t be standing there, wet, cold and hurt, for much longer, so he practically forced himself to ring the doorbell with his unharmed hand, flinching from the loud noise that cut through the silence, and took half a step back to wait in silence, still shaking from quiet sobs.
There was something about simple quiet evenings at home that Archie held close to his heart ever since returning. Not even a year ago he thrived off having music played at the highest volume possible or being right in the center of the busiest place he could find, for the simple reason of not feeling so alone. Travelling for several months had changed him more drastic than he ever thought to be possible. When you nearly always had to share sleeping quarters with other backpackers or were huddled together like a flock of sheeps in a bus that had reached its capacity 20 persons ago, you learned to appreciate those fine moments on the loo where all you heard was the sound of your own breathing and well... Though privacy wasn’t always ensured there either. Those first few nights back at home had been much too odd for him, having gotten so used to background chatter, just any sound coming from any place, it had disturbed him to be enveloped by- nothing. It hadn’t taken him long to adjust though, as soon as his body had acclimated to the different environment the blue eyed male had welcomed the numbing silence with welcoming arms. Claiming his own wing in his parents house, temporarily while he sorted himself out, it wasn’t hard to find that desired peace with his parents always out and about. After months of endless chatter surrounding him wherever he went it was awfully nice when he could catch those nights when all that was heard throughout the house was the ticking of the old grandfather clock in the living room corner. To him, there was something soothing about the continual tick tick tick. It settled his mind, calmed him down until all he could focus on was the swing of the clock, his eyes going back and forth with it like he was brought into a hypnose. After a never ending week of his father wearing him down by continuously asking him about his plans now that he was back home, it went without saying that Archie needed a evening of peace and quiet. Just a couple of hours without the headache induced questions that he never truly could find an answer to. His father was all too aware that his son had no true direction in his life, but Archie suspected that he found a strange pleasure in seeing his youngest son trying to squirm around the question. Which spoke volumes about the kind of father he really was. Running a hand through his still dripping wet hair, a shower truly was the best way to start a proper stress free evening, he settled himself in the corner of the couch pulling his legs underneath him. He rested against the back of the couch, the cushions nearly swallowing him whole as he did so, feeling the muscles in places he hadn’t been aware ached relax under the soft material. Perfection came in small things, he decided. It was the buzzing of the doorbell that had his eyes fluttering open, confusion etching across his face as he wasn’t aware of anyone coming by tonight. Dragging himself up from the comforts of his loveable seat, a place he promised himself he wouldn’t leave for the rest of the day, he padded on bare feet over to the door, silently praying to himself that whoever was outside hadn’t planned on staying. The last thing he could handle at this moment was have his silence disturbed. However he couldn’t have prepared himself for the sight before his eyes as the large oak door opened to reveal Max, blood mixed with water drops running down his entire body as the heavy rain kept pouring down on him. “Max?” his voice was barely above a whisper, afraid of startling the poor boy who seemed to be worlds away, rushing forward to catch the younger boy as the blue eyed male noticed Max’s legs giving out underneath him.