September 1/You again/PG-13/Closed

[andou]

Characters: Sax and she-who-must-not-be-named
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: The beach

It was his favorite part of the day. The sky had turned a deep pink with swirls of yellows and oranges, gray clouds threatened on the horizon but Sora was excited. He had specifically picked this day to go to the beach with Max because of the weather report : on and off rain.

Max had wanted to go to the beach when it rained, claiming that the smell after it rained matched Sora's scent. Of course the blonde jumped at the opportunity to smell what he smelled like. He was actually afraid that it might smell horrible. All of his memories of the beach after the rain were a sticky kelp smell that seemed to stick to your clothes regardless of how many times you washed it.

The beach in the cooler months was Sora's absolute favorite place to be in the whole entire world. The cold sand between his toes, the warm water despite the season, the way that the breeze was constantly hugging and tugging at you. He loved everything about it. When he was younger, his mother would take him and Emi to the beach only in the colder months. She used to say, 'It's like a secret happy place for us, right little man?" Back then... it was. No people came to the beach when it was cold... just him, his mother, and Emi.

Now it was Max's turn. This could be their secret happy place.Their own little happy place, alone and away from the noise of the dorm.

Despite the beautiful atmosphere -- Max in hand, waves crashing in the back ground, his breath warming him as it bounced back against the scarf around his neck -- the blonde couldn't shake this nervous feeling turning in his stomach. It was like the day that Ren had beat the shit out of him... he just felt like something bad was going to happen. It had started this morning, when he got a call from an anonymous number. He had answered it... but no one greeted him. He pushed it onto a stalker or a wrong number but... he didn't tell Max, hoping that the ominous feeling would disappear. It didn't.

Blinking his eyes, he shook away those thoughts and looked down to Max, a big smile wriggling onto his lips, "It's pretty right?"

[Max]

The blonde boy had been tense most of the day, on edge and had jumped at at least one loud, unexpected noise. He said nothing to Max, however, and Max had nothing to base this sudden fear off of. He couldn't think of a single reason for it. Was Sora even afraid of anything? He was so ridiculously unwavering in the face of confrontation -- a stone statue when challenged most of the time, unless it was Max that had challenged him -- that Max couldn't quite recall him ever expressing a fear of anything other than......

No. Fucking impossible. No way.

The younger boy was thinking far too much again, his mind millions of miles away from him while Sora held him in the sand, breath tickling Max's skin through his scarf. He shouldn't have been thinking about things like that, not when he was supposed to be enjoying their surroundings. Max pressed himself against Sora, tucking his body in to the blonde's.

Looking down at him, Sora smiled hugely. "It's pretty, right?" The smile was infectious, and, despite Max's utter confusion, he found himself grinning with his boyfriend.

"It's perfect," Max said, stretching up to kiss the blonde. A thousand questions swirled in the brunette boy's head, and kissing Sora had nearly caused him to forget the most important one.

He had opened his mouth the voice the inquiry only to be interrupted by a gust of wind, tearing passed the two of them and chilling Max to the bone again. If possible, Max wedged himself closer to his boyfriend, eyes watering as the cold slapped him across the face.

The drizzle began not long afterwards, cold droplets stinging the brunette boy's exposed skin. It was late October rain, that much was certain, but the temperature wasn't going to cause Max to love it any less.

Stepping out of Sora's embrace, Max turned to face the blonde with a smile, pushing his arms over his head in a half-assed stretch. Cooped up in their dorm room during the majority of their free time -- cuddling, fucking, sleeping, usually not leaving their bed -- Max's muscles had gone stiff, not that he was actually complaining. He was aching a bit -- ...personal reasons... -- but being out of their room, with Sora, on the beach like he had asked...... it was perfect.

"Can you smell it, Sora?" Max asked, then, realizing he worded that oddly, he laughed, a sound known to dissolve nearly all of the tension in Sora's boy. The time, though, Max wondered if it worked. "It smells like you." He added, smiling at Sora. Are you okay?

[andou]

From all the time they had spent together, Sora could read Max like a book -- one that doesn't have big words, because those always seemed to throw off the blonde boy -- so he knew that Max was worried. Just like the blonde could read the younger boy easily, he knew that he was just as easy to read -- maybe even easier. He wasn't good at hiding stuff like that, for he was always the one to let things simply roll off his back. Today was different, this foreboding feeling loomed over him like a dark cloud that he was unable to shake.

"It's perfect," The boy smiled, kissing him. A gust of wind slapped against the two of them, causing Sora to wrap his arms around the shorter boy. His cheek muscles were starting to hurt from all the grinning he was doing, but damn Max made him so fucking happy, he couldn't help his constant smile.

The cold rain started and it was light and gentle, just like he had hoped. For day filled with such an impending feeling... it was going pretty damn near perfectly. Maybe he was just being stupid... and his gut was wrong.

"Can you smell it, Sora?" The younger boy asked, laughing that laugh that warmed Sora's core. He reached out for the boy, smiling, "It smells like you." The blonde knew that Max wanted to ask more than that... but Sora didn't really want to address the topic of his bad feeling right now. He wanted to pretend it didn't exist.

Taking a huge over dramatic sniff, Sora smiled... it was a pleasant smell. Indescribable really but... he didn't mind being told that his scent matched it. He scrunched his nose in mock disgust, "Ew, I smell gross." It was clearly a lie, intended on breaking the tension even more, but.... Sora's gut was never wrong.

"I knew you would be here, our secret happy place. Right? My little man?" A female voice spoke, not far behind them.

He froze. The very earth froze. Time had stopped and there was no breath. No cold, no heat, no Max just.... his mother.

Turning his head slowly, his eyes dilated to the point where there was almost no blue left in his irises. When had his arms dropped away from Max? They hung limply at his side, unable to accept the sight in front of him. "M-Mom?" His voice cracked, sounding a little like the 8 year old left on the door stoop years ago.

A mess of emotions started to bubble now, and they cut off his air. The blonde woman, smiled at him sadly, and took a step forward, causing him to practically jump back. This was the woman who left him. The woman who abandoned her children to look for a husband that never loved her.

Her judging blue eyes scanned over Max, and she grinned. The same grin she had passed down to him. He wanted to scream at her. Tell her not to even think of Max. She could never have him. Never. "Out of all things I expected from you, I never thought you'd get such a cute boyfriend." She took a step closer to them.

Without thinking, the blonde boy yanked his boyfriend's hand back, so he was standing between his mother and him. Was he shaking? Or was the earth beneath him? Turning to his young brunette, he let go of his hand, and whispered, "Wait for me back at the dorm okay?" Despite his lack of air, Sora swallowed, hanging on to that hatred of 9 hard years, turning back to her "What do you want?"

[Max]

The older boy sniffed at the air, feigning disgust. "Ew, I smell gross." Max laughed again, appreciating Sora's attempts to free them of the frigid atmosphere that had absolutely nothing to do with the weather.

He was glad to see Sora happy again, smiling, a look that he deserved, a look that Max needed to see to stay somewhat sane. If Sora wasn't smiling, then that more than likely meant that Max wasn't going to be smiling. They shared nearly everything, expressions included sometimes, and when a female voice that Max couldn't place spoke from behind them, Max knew that their expressions were identical.

"I knew you would be here, our secret happy place. Right? My little man?"

The boys both froze, Max's heart beat escalating passed anything that should have been humanly possible. No. Max didn't even need to ask, there was no doubt in his mind that the voice had belonged to Sora's mother. They turned to face her, once again, at the same time -- their invisible tether tugging and pulling them in the same direction even in a situation like this one.

Sora's voice shook, and Max could no longer see his face. He moved forward only a tiny step behind the blonde. "M-Mom?"

Acting purely on impulse, Max leaned forward, snatching one of his boyfriend's cold hands. The brunette watched impatiently as the two in front of him sized each other up -- mother and son looking toward each other like they were foul, disgusting creatures -- a crooked smile on the woman's lips.

Max refused to refer to her as Sora's mother. She was nothing of the sort.

"Out of all things I expected from you, I never thought you'd get such a cute boyfriend." She stepped closer to them.

The blonde boy tugged Max away from her, stepping directly in front of him. Max wobbled a bit in the sand, eyes wide and watching intently. What could he say? Do? Nothing. And he knew that, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Sora turned to look at him, dropping his hand, "Wait for me back at the dorm okay?" Then, his glare back on the woman, he added. "What do you want?"

Shaking his head -- even though his boyfriend couldn't see him -- Max set his resolve and steeled himself behind Sora, ready to attack, defend, either or both if necessary. Taking a shaky step toward the battle, Max placed his hand just barely on the small of Sora's back, enough pressure to let his boyfriend know he was there and had no plans of leaving him. I'm not leaving, Sora, no. Never. Their connection may have been severed again, which is why Max was relying on his hand to convey the message now.

[andou]

The blonde shook violently, his knees audibly knocking together. He couldn't think. He couldn't do anything but stare at the blonde woman in front of him. Her very presence was unbelievable. No. This isn't real. Sora. You're having a nightmare. He tried to blink her away, wash away the terrible mirage his mind must have mustered up. Wake up.

The woman smiled, flashing her brilliantly white teeth, sending another chill down the boy's spine. He could feel the tears of hatred building up behind his eyes, years of built up resentment and anger pushing against the front of his skull. Wake up. Please wake up. His fingers curled against his palms as they balled into fists, still shaking.

The pressure of Max's hand on the small of his back caused him to flinch, but instantly relax after he recognized the touch. As much as he wanted to turn around and scream at the brunette for not leaving, he was happy that he was there. The fact that the boy was their for him, meant the world to the blonde.

"Is that any way to greet your mother?" She asked, crossing her arms around her chest. "I miss you, little man."

I miss you

Was this really happening? His eyes widened and his stomach lurched. The world around him was fading in and out of focus... just like that day. Her white dress slapping against her as she walked away forever... or so what he thought was going to be forever. I miss you. How many times had he missed her? How many times did he wish that she would come back and say those exact words? And now she was here, after all these years and she was saying everything he wanted to hear. Part of him wanted to forgive her, to run into her and just hug her, but... he couldn't, not after what she did to them.

Pressing his fist into his eyes he screamed, "Stop fucking with me! You show up after years just to say hi? Fuck you. I'm not believing that."

He couldn't see her, but he could hear her steps as they shifted in the sand toward him. Is body tensed, in waiting. A hand touched his hair, and he jerked upward, slapping her hand away."Sweety... I made a mistake.... please."

[Max]

"Is that any way to greet your mother?" Fuck you. The woman -- in Max's mind, she was nowhere near worthy of calling herself hi boyfriend's mother -- crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "I miss you, little man."

No.

Max bit down hard on the inside of his lip, shaking his head again. Neither of them were paying attention to him at all, but Max still felt the need to express his refusal of her statement. She had left Sora years ago, without a single shred of contact, and now she wanted back in.

No. NO.

The woman had hurt Sora -- the boy that Max believed deserved the entire world and then some -- so much, and, even though Max knew he couldn't do a damn thing about it, he would try. This was the kind of battle he could fight. He would end up just as wounded in the end -- seeing Sora cry would kill him -- but he would do it. He had to.

"Stop fucking with me! You show up after years just to say hi? Fuck you. I'm not believing that."

Thank God.

Max's fingers curled into the fabric of Sora's jacket -- I'm here. Right behind you. -- tugging slightly. Max wanted to get him away from her, to take his hand and run until the were on the opposite side of the world.

Neither of them needed this. Since the brunette had met his roommate, boyfriend, and best friend and they had swapped horror stories, Sora vowing to protect Max, they had not gone a single month without some form of altercation with someone that had risen -- seemingly out of nowhere -- from the ashes of their pasts.

It was beginning to tire the younger boy -- constant battles and an endless supply of his stupid, pointless, unstoppable tears. Max wanted the two of them to be happy, constantly happy, but he was beginning to believe that that would not happen until after they had both graduated and moved on.

"Sweety... I made a mistake.... please."

This time, Max didn't give Sora the opportunity to respond to her. His head snapped up, cold, hate-filled glare fixated on her now instead of the sand.

"No." He said, his harms and legs starting to shake as his frustration built up. "Don't you dare call him your 'little man,' or 'sweetie,' don't you dare." He tried to tune his voice to a snarl, but it came out completely different -- still menacing, somehow, and loud, but it was like something Max had never heard before. "I know a thing or two about shitty parents, and you're one of the worst I've ever heard of in my life." Max shook his head. "No, you're one of the worst people I've ever heard of. Who leaves their family -- if they're lucky enough to have one at all -- high and dry?" Swallowing hard, clenching the hand not at Sora's back into a fist at his side, the younger boy added, "You're fucking awful,"

[andou]

Couldn't they have one date that wasn't interrupted by a demon of their past? Every single one that had ended up somewhere that wasn't the safeties of their dorm room had ended into some sort of disaster and tears. It was like the world was morally opposed to them leaving their room. He was starting to feel stupid against opposing the world's wishes.

His mother was taunting him, manipulating him, but.... Sora just didn't think he had the strength to fight against her persuasions. It had been so long, and... he just wanted his mother back. Just as he was about to scream, and give up, Max spoke up behind him, making him drop his fist to look over his shoulder at his angry boyfriend "No. Don't you dare call him your 'little man,' or 'sweetie,' don't you dare. I know a thing or two about shitty parents, and you're one of the worst I've ever heard of in my life. No, you're one of the worst people I've ever heard of. Who leaves their family -- if they're lucky enough to have one at all -- high and dry? You're fucking awful."

He was sure his mouth was hanging open. Max had never sounded like that ever in the entire time Sora had ever known him. His words, surprised the blonde, when had Max ever sounded so... protective. He had to admit, his stomach fluttered with a tiny bit of happiness, and he almost smiled.

Max was right. How dare he almost give up, to this... bitch. She had left them. Left. Alone. With nothing. They were so young, what were they supposed to do to survive? This is why he hated her. He couldn't give in. No.

"Oh so the boy can speak?"

He whipped his face back to her, narrowing his eyes on the blonde woman with a new found sense of hatred. "Listen, cutie."[/b] Another charming grin that she had passed down to him. Her words were cold, cutting, and filled with warning. "This is a conversation between me and my son, so I would suggest that you stay out of it."

"Don't fucking talk to him like that." He spoke, his voice faltering, "He'll say whatever the fuck he wants to say, whenever he fucking feels like saying it."

"When did my son become such a potty mouth?" She feigned shock, and placed a small hand over her chest. "I messed up, sweetie, I'm so sorry."[/b][/i]

The words hit him straight in the gut, almost dissolving his resolve to hate her. The tears that had been threatening to escape his lids, had finally broken through the barricade that Sora had been desperately attempting to hold up. "No..." He said, voice thick with tears, taking a clumsy step back ward, he almost tripped, "F...Fuck your apologies!" He threw his fist around, screaming at his mother, "You left us to fend for ourselves for nine years. NINE. FUCKING. YEARS and you think that's it?! T-That you could come here and just apologize and it'll be okay?!" He breathed unsteadily, a horrible sobbing noise rupturing his chest. He glared at her through his tears, and she took a step toward him, her eyes hardening, and her smile disapperating.

"I know it won't be okay, which is why I'm trying to make up for it." she touched his chest gently, sending flames over him. Her touch burned painfully against his chest like acid, -- nothing like Max's heated touch which was pleasant -- but he couldn't move away from it. He missed her motherly touch so much. "I'm taking Emi back with me, I need you to tell me where she is."[/b]

"W-What?" He cried, softly, his eyes unable to focus on anything. Shaking his head he took another unstable step away from her hand. She was trying to take Emi from him? No... that couldn't happen. He... he couldn't let that happen. "Like hell I'm telling you." He hissed, his tears not stopping.

“Come on, sweetie… Aren’t you being a little selfish?”[/b] She baited her voice calm and reasonable -- like it always was. “Emi wants her mother, she needs a mother. Are you going to deny her a mother when you’re off dancing? Do you know how lonely she must be without you there?”[/b]

Sora couldn’t breathe. Her words snaked into his head, jumbling his mind. The world was spinning as his numb legs gave out from under him and he fell to his knees. He felt like he was going to puke. Her words made sense. He was here in Aozora, and she wasn't. She was alone... again.... maybe she would do better with his mother there.

[Max]

Max could feel it. Sora's resolve was crumbling, the blonde shaking so hard that he was nearly convulsing as he shouted at the woman. Max didn't want to look at her. Her features were far too familiar to Sora's and Max couldn't bring himself to look at her, thinking that she had been the one to produce such a wonderful boy while she was such a horrible cretin made Max angry.

The woman needed to return to whatever hole she had crawled from and leave Sora and his sister alone. They deserved to be happy – Sora and Emi – more so than anyone Max knew, which was odd, because he hadn’t met Emi, and already believed that she deserved everything Sora was trying to give to her. The blonde’s actions were rubbing off on Max, his love for his sister made Max smile, and he had already told Sora once or twice that, if given the opportunity, Max would treat her like a princess as well.

“Come on, sweetie… Aren’t you being a little selfish?” The woman said, inching closer to the couple. “Emi wants her mother, she needs a mother. Are you going to deny her a mother when you’re off dancing? Do you know how lonely she must be without you there?”

It hadn’t even occurred to the brunette that he was shaking his head, about to spit at the woman, until he tasted the venom on his tongue. Max swallowed hard, resisting the urge to lunge at her now. He did not care about genders, that hitting a woman was wrong, that he couldn’t fight without making a complete ass out of himself – he didn’t. Fucking. Care. This was Max being protective, the Takahashi boy had been the one to bring this side out of him. The side that would fight and risk anything he could to win.

No. This woman was taking nothing, no one with her when she left, not if Max could help it.

His head still shaking, telling anyone that was watching ‘no, absolutely not,’ Max shouted, “Fuck you! You don’t deserve either of them. Sora and Emi don’t belong to you, they never did. If you felt that it was necessary to leave them, then right then – right fucking then – is when you forfeited any claims or attachments to them.” Max bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. No. He wouldn’t jump at her. He couldn’t.

”Who the hell do you think you are?” The blonde woman shouted back, her arms crossing over her chest again. ”Who are you to tell me that I can’t take my children with me?” She huffed at him, reminding Max very much of the adoptive mother he had grown to resent as well. ”You’re not going to stop me if I want to take my daughter home with me.” She spat, trying to mask anger and annoyance with false sweetness. ”You know nothing about Emiko, you only know Sora. I’m not taking him with me, so be quiet and leave us to discuss this!”

The younger boy’s hand pressed harder into Sora’s back, itching more than ever to pull him toward him. This woman, this creature, wasn’t going to win. She wouldn’t be taking Emi away from Sora. Max would eat her alive if she continued to try.

[karina]

The threat of losing Emi was too much for Sora. Images of her crying the day their mother had left flashed into his mind, burned like salt to an open wound. He couldn't stop replaying her reactions as he yelled at her to get in the house. The countless nights he had to hold her as she cried her eyes out and begged for her mother back. Maybe she had wanted to go with her mom. Maybe it was his fault that she didn't have one.

His hands slammed into the sand, tears dripping and disappearing beneath him. God damnit. another sob racked his body. He felt so fucking pathetic. He could fight against anyone, and let their sharp words and empty threats roll right off his back, but when it came to his mother, they all stuck and wounded. They were fatal and he hated that. Stop crying. You're not 8 anymore. he scolded. Max was watching him... and Sora was sure that all of the respect that he had for Sora was now gone. He didn't blame him... crying over a mother that was trying to make up for her mistakes. He should be happy right?

Again... Max surprised him, with a few choice words of his own. He craned his head backwards looking up at his boyfriend with teary, bloodshot eyes. “Fuck you! You don’t deserve either of them. Sora and Emi don’t belong to you, they never did. If you felt that it was necessary to leave them, then right then – right fucking then – is when you forfeited any claims or attachments to them.”

His mother didn't like that out burst at all, replying, ”Who the hell do you think you are? Who are you to tell me that I can’t take my children with me? You’re not going to stop me if I want to take my daughter home with me. You know nothing about Emiko, you only know Sora. I’m not taking him with me, so be quiet and leave us to discuss this!”

The blonde blinked at his mother, fully grasping what she had said. She wasn't taking them back... she was taking Emi, and only Emi. "So... You don't want me." His voice shocked him. Never had he heard it sound so hurt and fragile. "You only want...Emi."

She looked down at him and rolled her eyes, "You're going to make me say it? Come on, you're a big boy now, I should have to explain everything to you."

"You're not taking her away from me." He said, trying to shake away the searing pain of rejection.

"She's not yours to have, Sora." Her voice was cold now. "Look, if you don't tell me where she is... I'm taking you out of Aozora. You'll have no where else to go but back to Emi's side and I'll follow you there."

Her words punched him in the gut, knocking all of the air out of him, "No! You can't!"

"Watch me, Where is she?" she was serious. He could see by her eyes that she would do it, she would take him out of the school and away from Max, there was nothing he could do.

Squeezing his fists into the sand, he thought, the choking sounds never stopping. Sora, Emi is safe without you... but Max... "Fine." He gulped, "Take me out of Aozora. But I'll just get an apartment here and I will never go back to Emi. You'll never find her."

She groaned, clawing her nails into Sora's shoulder, "Stop being so stubborn! And just tell me where she is god damnit!"

[Max]

There was a terrible silence around the three of them, drowning out the waves and the wind and the rain. Drowning out everything other than Max’s breathing, Sora’s choked sobs, and the tiny noise the woman made as she tapped her fingers on her arm. There was something screaming inside Max, louder than it ever had before. To the brunette, this situation was equal to the night that had ruined his life for good.

But this… watching his boyfriend fall to his knees and cry – something Sora had vehemently opposed doing in front of him from day one – this was much, much worse. His heart was aching instead of his fist, though he wanted to hit something, there was nothing to hit. Max couldn’t hit the blonde woman – as much as he fucking wanted to, as much as she deserved it – he couldn’t do it.

"You're not taking her away from me." Sora spoke from the sand, his voice twisted and broken. Max reached for him again, curling his fingers back into the palm of his hand tightly. "No! You can't!"

The younger boy heard nothing from the woman, sliding down to Sora’s side, his hand on the blonde’s back again – I’m here, I’m here. I’m so sorry, Sora, but I’m here! – wanting to comfort him somehow but lacking the knowledge of just how to do that at the moment.

"Stop being so stubborn! And just tell me where she is, goddamnit!" The woman snarled, moving forward to dig her nails into Sora’s shoulder. He ignored it, or it seemed that he did, as the tears that Max had never wanted to see again continued to fall.

He was shaking again, but not from anger. Max was panicking. She was going to make Sora choose if this went on any longer, in fact, she had already tried to make Sora choose. Max bit down hard on his lip. He shouldn’t second guess things when it came to the blonde boy – the argument before they… before Max’s first time had told him that much. Sora loved Max, but Sora loved Emi as well… Fuck.

”Knock it off,” Max said, lifting himself from his boyfriend’s side and pushing the woman’s hand away. The boy stepped between them – mother and son, as reluctant he was to admit that to himself – and held his ground firmly, planting his feet in the sand. ”Stop, just leave!” He shouted, hands in fists at his sides. ”Neither of them want anything to do with you. I don’t know why they would! You’re not taking Emi away from Sora. You’re not. No matter what you say or do – if you take Sora away, if you pull him out of school, you’ll never have Emi, so there’s no point in making empty threats![/color]

The brunette choked on his own tiny sob, pleading silently with the woman. Please, don’t take them. You can’t take them. Don’t pull my family away from me because you gave up yours. Though he didn’t believe it would work, Max still had to try.

[andou]

The claws that dug into his shoulder cut into his flesh, little droplets of red stained his shirt but he didn't feel a damn thing. The only thing he could feel was nausea and panic. The two most important people in his life could be taken away from him by the same woman that broke him years ago.

Suddenly her hand was gone, and a shadow cast itself over him. Sora fell forward, his hands steadying him as he heaved in air. It didn't matter how hard he breathed... there just wasn't enough air. Horrible images of a Max-and-Emi-less life passed through his mind and he was overcome by another set of sobs. No, she couldn't do this to him. God damnit.

He heard Max speaking, but nothing stuck. His brain was filled to the capacity with the thought of losing his world, and he simply could not retain any new information. Drained, pale blue eyes stared as he mother flew off the handle screaming at his boyfriend and waving her arms around before saying another nonchalant comment and turning on her heel.

The blonde blinked, his mind opening up a little. She was going away... she was leaving... and he wasn't going to have to see her. He pictured her white dress again, it was same as before, back turned, never turning to say goodbye, just her dress flapping in the wind.

This time it was different. This time It wasn't a bluff when Sora said, "We don't you need you." They really didn't. Sora really didn't. He had a loving boyfriend and an a amazingly caring little sister, who else could he ask for?

/end?