It's All Just Chemicals

Eight

"He's probably fine. Relax, Cody." Patrick stated calmly as Cody paced around the room.

"Why are none of them answering their fucking phones?" Cody mumbled, frustrated.

"Dude, they all probably passed out once they got home. Chill." Pete took the phone out of the younger man's hands before pushing him onto the couch. Cody sighed, forcing himself to relax, mentally telling himself that he was overreacting. He felt a hand lace with his own, looking at it to see Patrick looking at him.

"He's fine, Cody." This seemed to put the man a little more at ease for the most part.

Three hours later, at around one thirty PM, Pete had already left an hour ago, leaving Cody his phone. Patrick was nearly finished making cookie dough, stirring the light brown mixture in a bowl before grabbing a cookie sheet. Then, Cody's phone rang loudly. He couldn't grab the rectangular device quicker as he answered.

"Maxx?"

"Hey, Cody.." Alex's groggy voice answered back.

"Hey, is Maxx okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine aside from having a wicked hangover." Alex laughed weakly.

"Okay," Cody felt relief wash over him. "Uhm, can you tell him I hope he feels better? And when he does, to call me if he can?"

"Yeah, sure, dude."

"Thanks."

"No problem, dude. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Wait, can you tell him I love him? A-and that I miss him.."

"Yeah, okay." He chuckled softly at his friend.

"Thanks dude, I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Cody dropped his phone on the couch, Patrick staring at him from the kitchen, waiting for an update.

"He's fine. Just hungover.."

"I told you he was okay." Patrick smiled as he continued to place balls of cookie dough onto a sheet.

"I know. I worry too much..."

"Well, here's some extra cookie dough."

"Yes!" Cody reached out as Patrick brought him the bowl. "Who gives a fuck about salmonella?"

"I mean, it's an eggless recipe but.." Patrick giggled, putting the tray in the oven before setting a timer and sitting back on the couch. The two sat there for a long while, eating excess cookie dough and watching some random show on Cartoon Network.

Eventually, the oven beeped loudly, and Patrick popped out of his seat. Grabbing an oven mitt as he walked into the kitchen, he opened the oven and pulled the hot tray of cookies out, setting it on the stove.

"Toss me one of those, dude!" Cody yelled, holding his arms up, ready to catch.

"These are literally 350°, so no." Patrick laughed, taking the mitt off and setting it on the counter. Cody pouted playfully before grabbing his phone to check his various social media accounts while he waited semi-impatiently for the cookies to cool. Patrick did the same, sitting in the door way to the kitchen.

* * * * *

Maxx stepped out of the bathroom wearing a clean pair of boxers as he ruffled his hair with a towel to dry it off. The migraine pills Alex had given him earlier were finally kicking in, and he smiled feeling surprisingly content as he made his way to the kitchen where Jack threw a handful of freshly dried clothes at him. The blonde laughed until he saw that the shirt and pants he now held were the clothes he wore the day he'd come to stay with Jack and Alex. Suddenly, he felt his heart drop to his stomach, realizing now just how much he missed Cody. He dressed himself and took a waffle from Alex before sitting down at the island that separated the kitchen from the living room.

"You okay?" Jack piped up between mouthfuls of ramen noodles. Maxx looked up and smiled a little.

"Yeah, just getting... kinda homesick I guess. I might go home soon."

"Aww, you miss your pwecious li'l Cody?" Jack mocked, lacing an arm around Maxx who giggled before pushing him away.

"Yeah, I do.. He helped me last night..."

"What do you mean?" Alex looked at him quizzically.

"I don't know if you remember or if you noticed through your constant making out," Maxx laughed briefly as the other boys gave quiet chuckles, a blush apparent on Alex's face. "This guy was being all nice and flirty with me and kept buying me drinks. Eventually, he wanted to take me somewhere, so I pretended to get sick and ran off to the bathroom. I started panicking and called Cody, and he helped me calm down and told me to get you guys so we could go home."

"I remember that part," Jack pointed out before picking up his bowl and drinking the broth. Alex took the bowl once he was finished and quickly washed it in the sink.

"As much as we love having you here, I'm glad you guys are gonna work it out." Alex smiled at Maxx, ruffling a hand through the other's bleach blonde hair.

"You want a ride there?"

"Thanks," Maxx smiled gratefully at his friends, standing up to hug them. "And yeah, that'd be great." He grabbed his shoes from next to the door and slid them on.

"No problem. We love ya, Maxx." Jack smiled as he made his way over to the door and kissed Maxx on the cheek. Grabbing the keys, Alex followed him.

"Love you too, guys."

Maxx sighed once they got in the car, happy to be going home, and excited to see Cody.