My Angel

9

Ryder arrives home from his late night shift and sees Max on the couch. Being cautious he looks over the back of the couch to see Max moving around in an aggressive way. "Oh no, he's having his night terrors again," Ryder mutters.

"Max, wake up," Ryder speaks a bit louder. Max still moved frantically around on the couch and Ryder held the unconscious ones hand.

The body stopped moving when Ryders hand came into contact. Taking a quick sigh Ryder let's go and pulls a blanket over Max's frail body. Ross peaks out from Max's room door to see what was happening and saw Ryder. It was 2 in the morning according to the clock on the nightstand.

"His terrors are getting out of control," Ryder mutters with his head in his hands sitting at the island. Ross quietly exited the bedroom to come into Ryder's view, worry filled in the darkness of his eyes.

"Is he okay?" Ross asks.

"He's fine, I got in under control."

"He's obviously not fine Ryder."

Ryder looked at Ross, who appeared very angry towards the cousin, feeling like Ross' eyes were locked on his.

"I know how melancholy this is, but please, he's fine," Ryder said.

Ross stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door shut, which startled Max out of his deep slumber. Max saw Ryder, grabbing his hand and squeezing it as tight as he can, bawling his eyes out. Ryder felt this and stroked the ginger hair out of his face, trying to calm him down.

"Dad, family, Aunt Emily," Max spoke out, with each word being separated. Ryder then got an image of what Max's terror was about.

"Hey, it's okay, go sleep in my room for the night," Ryder responded, getting up and helping Max stand up. He nodded and went to Ryder's room and laid on the bed. The mattress was softer than his, which made Max relax a bit. The ginger saw the emblem his father made, which made him bite his lip, trying to keep his crying as quiet as possible.

Ryder entered the room with a bag of clothes to try on, seeing his cousin on the bed crying, he followed Max's gaze that laid on his uncles emblem that was handmade. Setting the bag down Ryder went over and comforted Max until he stopped crying soon after Max fell asleep. The brunette felt bad that Max wasn't able to let go of the situation but he also understood the pain Max had to bear.

After deciding if the clothes were to keep or not, Ryder left his room and got the couch ready to sleep on. Ryder knew that Ross would most likely have an attitude tomorrow with the whole situation but he didn't care and wanted to get some sleep.  After throwing blankets and pillows on the couch Ryder got on and made himself comfortable. Soon Ryder fell asleep amongst all the blankets, pressing against his warm body to keep him warm in the night.

The alarm in Ryder's room rang off the walls the next day, to normally get him out of bed at four in the morning. This startled Max awake with Ryder walking in, shutting it off, with his eyes looking tired. "You get up at four? Ryder what do you do?" Max tiredly asked.

"Well I am a Derrick operator," Ryder answered, turning the dial on the back of the clock turning it off. Max's eyes widened at Ryders response.

"Ryder, do you ever get a day off?"

"Rarely, about two a year, get back to sleep I'm going to work."

Ryder left the room after grabbing his work clothes, changing into them in the dark. Max rested his head against the pillow that was warm then flipping it over to the cooler side. Calming himself down, Max fell back asleep blocking out any possible dreams to get inside. Once the clock hit nine in the morning, KP was wandering around, opening the door to Ryders room. The cat jumped up on Ryders bed, curling up against Max's chest being tired. Feeling KP's warmth Max woke up and stroked her softly.

"You hungry girl?" he asked the cat. KP meowed in response making Max smile. He got up walking to the kitchen, KP in tow of him as he put cat food in a bowl, setting it down and KP starting to eat it. Max started to make some breakfast, noticing that the door to his room was completely shut, he didn't really care and kept making the food.

Putting the eggs on the skillet Max stared at the stove intently waiting for the moment to flip the egg.  The door to Max's room creaked open, but Max never averted his attention to the door, which Ross walked out of. He stared at Max who appeared to be zoned out.

"Uhm, Max, are you okay?" Ross asked.

"Trying to make the best eggs I can," He responded.

Ross rolled his eyes at Max and was mad about the situation from the day before. Max saw Ross' gesture as Ross sat on the couch. "If you're so pressed about certain matters you can leave," Max said loud enough for the floor above them to hear him.

Ross sat up and glared at him, trying to find KP. "Why are you so bothered with me being here?" Ross asked loudly but in a rude way.

"I'm not, but whatever is going on with you can be taken outside of the apartment. Ryder doesn't need this stress added from you."

"What the hell did I do Max?!"

"I know you care about me a lot Ross, but you need to be nicer to my cousin. I heard you disrespecting him, in his own apartment, just about me when I was partially unconscious."

"Max, I never did that."

"Ross, please, just leave, I need to clear my head."

Ross got up angrily, storming into Max's room packing up his stuff, leaving the house slamming the door shut. Max covered his ears and looked towards the door to see KP still with him.

"Well shit, I'm taking care of a cat now," he said. 

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