Andrew was doing his best. He really was, but between his hands trembling, the fact that the sll of everything was overwhelming him, and his lack of hunger, the best he could manage was about 7 bites of the huge plate of food before he had to stop.
He felt terrible for it, because it was clear that May had put a lot of work into this, but she just smiled, working away on her own plate.
"If you need to throw up, I also made sure that there was a bucket nearby. Do aim for it if the ti cos." She told him cheerfully, and Andrew felt his heart twist.
"Why are you...being so kind?" Andrew asked and May didn’t stop moving, but her hands twitched.
"Why? Does there need to be a reason?" She asked, her tone unchanging, and Andrew grew nervous. He felt uncomfortable hearing those words from her, especially since they had only just recently reunited. He might have felt more comfortable if soone like Kim had said that to him, not May.
He wasn’t used to this anymore. Hadn’t been for a long ti. Suspicion and anxiety had been his close friends for years now, even before his Mom died. He had made sure that everyone liked him for so long, that he just wasn’t used to people just...being kind to him. Maxwell had been a bit different, but it turned out his suspicions had also been correct there.
Duty. He’d started dating him out of duty. It still stung to think of that. Andrew wasn’t sure if it was ever going to not sting.
"I...I think there does." Andrew mumbled and May’s face did change this ti. She frowned.
"When did you get that silly idea in your head? I never raised you thinking that there was a reason for it beyond that you needed so help and I could do it, so don’t expect there to be a deeper aning to my actions, nor that you owe anything for them. Are you feeling bad that you can’t eat as much as you normally do? Well, that’s to be expected. You nearly drank yourself into an early grave over the last four days." Andrew winced. Here it ca.
"It wasn’t-" May put down her fork and knife, staring at him.
"When we spoke to the hotel staff, after I verified that I wasn’t trying to hurt you and instead was a concerned family mber, they told about the complaints, and the concerns that they had over you for the last four days. You called them consistently to bring more booze, but rarely called for room service. They eventually had run out of their cheaper whiskey supply and had to start sending wine and beer, and you didn’t even seem to notice the difference. They were going to call soone shortly to check on you, like the cops or sothing similar because they were worried about you dying in their establishnt." Andrew sucked in. He hadn’t realised that at all, and as he glanced up at May, her gaze was firm on his face.
He flinched.
"Now, I am of course concerned, as anyone would be after being told sothing like that, but I am even more concerned that when you were brought in you were just..." She trailed off, swallowing thickly and shaking her head. "Andy, why didn’t you co to us? If you were hurting so bad, why didn’t you co to us?" May’s voice was quiet, and it felt like knives in Andrew’s chest.
Why hadn’t he co to them? To him it was obvious. He had relied on them so much when his Mom was dying, and before that too. They should get so rest. He’d given them so rest from being around him. He knew that they wouldn’t say it, but Andrew had felt the weight of everything after his Mom had passed.
How much he had relied on, leaned on all those around him. He felt like a burden. He was a burden, so, he had run away. Gone to school, tried to get his life together on his own. He was on his own now, since he didn’t have his father to rely on, and he hadn’t known about his Mom’s side of the family at the ti.
His current situation wasn’t exactly the sa, but it felt similar. So relationships did feel like a death in the family, and Andrew did believe that this one would be similar. Andrew didn’t just lose his partner, he’d also lost his best friend. Because he changed into a monster against his will and that friend felt obligated to be with him to help him.
The knife May had placed in him didn’t hold a candle to the one Maxwell had.
"Andy?" May called, stirring him from his thoughts. Her expression was tense, but her eyes were big and round, staring at him, begging him to answer. Andrew swallowed thickly, before turning his gaze down, towards his hands.
"I didn’t think I had a right to." Andrew mumbled.
"You didn’t think you had a right to." She repeated, before a sigh left her lips. "Dear lord, it was worse than I thought." She muttered, and Andrew winced. "This isn’t just because you and Max got into a fight, is it?" May asked and Andrew didn’t like how she said it so casually. A fight.
If that was all this was, Andrew would still be at Maxwell’s house, and things would be smoothed over.
"It wasn’t just a fight." Andrew protested and May chuckled.
"No? It wasn’t? What was it then, Andy, if not a disagreent between you two?" Andrew bit his lip, his hands tightening into balls in his hands.
"It was more than that." Andrew protested again and May chuckled.
"How, Andy? Because what I’ve seen so far is a temper tantrum from a man who didn’t like what he heard, got upset, and then cut everyone off who cared about him only to feel guilty once the dust settled. That might not be completely accurate, but that’s what I am seeing." Andrew felt his anger rise, and his heart pounded in his chest. He still hadn’t taken any pain dication, so his head throbbed.
He was sure that it was affecting his ability to think. That was why the next words ca out as a roar.
"You wouldn’t get it! I wasn’t throwing a tantrum! I’m not the one who was doing that! I waited. I waited for a full day and he never said anything! What was I supposed to think besides the fact that we were over? I’ve seen how he’s been with other guys, why would I think I was any different?" Andrew’s chest heaved with the force he’d used, his throat aching from being used.
May sat, unfazed by his sudden outburst, blinking several tis before she sighed.
"Why would you think that you were the sa as them, Andrew? I’m pretty sure anyone with eyes could tell that Max treats you differently than everyone else, Andrew. Or were you not satisfied with that?" Andrew felt his jaw drop, shocked that May was questioning him like this. She smiled at him softly. A deep pit was forming inside of him as she continued to speak.
"Or, Andy, was it that you were unsatisfied with the relationship? Was there sothing eating away at you that made you lash out at Maxwell? Was there sothing inside of you that told you that two shouldn’t be together? Maybe it was a flaw you noticed that slowly started to fester and get bigger and bigger until you got into this argunt, and then you used that as an excuse to break up?" Andrew was seeing red. He couldn’t believe that she was saying this to him.
"Max has no flaws like that." Andrew defended. Maxwell had flaws of course, but nothing that would ever make Andrew want to break up with him. It was him. He was the one with flaws. Maxwell shouldn’t be with soone so fucked up.
"Oh? He doesn’t? That’s surprising, because that isn’t what I hear from others." May replied dryly and Andrew tensed.
"It’s not his fault that people don’t understand him or appreciate him." Andrew shot back, heated, his face flushed, sweat pouring down his back. It was hot in here, and he couldn’t quell the tremors that shook his hands. May stared at him, before she chuckled.
"Max is known for being a vicious, cruel man, Andy. He’s not the sweet little oga that you know him as." Andrew exhaled sharply.
"Him being an oga has nothing to do with this." Andrew snapped, his temper turned on. May sat back in her chair, crossing her arms.
"Oh? So does this have to do with you being an alpha then?" Andrew paused, before he felt sticky. Sticky and wet. May had purposefully gotten him all worked up so that he would speak about it. She had known what to say to get him like this, and she was proudly smiling at him as Andrew realised this.
"I..." Andrew was caught, and now that he knew it, he wasn’t sure what to say. May smirked.
"I can do this all day, Andy. We can dance around this for as long as you want, but I’m not the one hungover and volatile. You are. You just don’t have the stamina for this, so why don’t you just co clean now, hmm? It’ll make you feel better to speak about it with soone else." May’s voice hadn’t changed. She was still speaking to him smugly, as if she knew everything, but Andrew wasn’t actually sure if she didn’t know everything.
Andrew hung his head in defeat, sighing heavily.
He couldn’t win against her. She was right. They could do this all day, but Andrew was the only one who was going to lose. Over and over and over.
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