David was tired.
No, tired was an understatement. He was exhausted. No nauseating amount of coffee could take the dark circles from beneath his eyes, or chase the constant yawns from his chest. He'd been awake for nearly forty-eight hours, and he was almost to the point of restlessness induced hallucination.
He sat sprawled out on his desk in the room he shared with one Max McDaniels, halfheartedly skimming a large, dusty textbook with his cloudy blue eyes. A sigh escaped his lips, sending dust spiraling up in the air before landing slowly back onto the pages of his book. He forced himself to take a sip of his coffee, which had long turned cold and unpleasant. That was alright; he had grown used to the bitter taste.
David felt his eyelids begin to droop, even with the aid of his coffee. He did his best to dismiss the yearning for sleep that was overtaking his mind, but he found this to be impossible. He was about to get up and make himself another, stronger cup of coffee when the door swung open.
"David?" Max looked at David from the doorway, light from the hallway outlining his tall form.
David squinted away from the light, massaging his temples with unsteady hands. Max raised his eyebrows, concern beginning to form on his brow.
"I'm fine, Max." David said through a yawn. "I just need to finish this..."
"You're never going to read all the way through that tonight," Max's dark eyes glanced down to the massive book lying in front of David. "Unless you think you can somehow read while you sleep..."
"Yeah..." David nodded, not really listening. "Good idea."
"Seriously, when was the last time you slept?" Max walked over to the desk in which David was sitting, shutting the door behind him. "Trust me, David. No matter how powerful or smart you get, the rules of sleep still apply to you."
"Uh-huh..." David blinked slowly.
Max gave an exasperated sigh and clapped a hand down on David's back. David glanced up at him, but said nothing.
"Alright, come one, David." Max gently shook David's shoulder. "Let's get you into bed so you don't fall asleep on your desk. I really don't want to have to scrape you up and drag you into bed after you've already fallen asleep."
"Stop." David complained as Max half lifted, half hauled him from his chair. "I have... to finish this..."
"You can do it tomorrow," Max chuckled softly. "You'll have all day."
"I... Max, I need to... Stop it..."
But David's protests fell upon unyielding ears, and as he was sleep deprived and physically smaller than Max, all he could do was try his best not to fall over as his friend helped him up the stairs.
"There you go," Max released his grip on David's shoulders as they approached his bed. "Get some sleep."
David stumbled into his bed, and was asleep as soon as his face hit the pillow. Max smirked and shook his head, making his way back down to the lower level of the room. He eyed David's cold mug of coffee with a cocked eyebrow before shrugging and dumping it into a nearby potted plant.
"Oi!" Suddenly, there was an obnoxiously loud voice from outside the door. "Max? David? You two home?"
"Yeah," Max jogged over to the door and opened it.
"Good, I gotta get somethin' off my chest." Connor Lynch, a fellow student of David and Max, bustled into the room.
"Well if its David you want, I'd wait if I were you." Max glanced over to David's bed. "He's kind of dead to the world at the moment."
"You kill 'im or something?" Connor laughed.
"No, but I don't think he's slept any time in the last like, month." Max observed. "He was about to fall asleep on top of his book when I came in. You want something to eat?"
"Sure," Connor looked around the room. "Whadya got?"
"Uhh," Max looked around the room. "Strawberries?" He grabbed a bowl of strawberries off of David's desk and offered them to Connor.
"Yeah," Connor grabbed a handful of strawberries and began popping them in his mouth. Max did the same, and before they knew it, they had eaten nearly half of the sweet berries.
"Did you get 'em from the kitchen?" Connor asked, licking his fingers. "They taste better than the usual sort."
"I think David got them," Said Max. "They are good, though."
"What book was ol' David readin', anyway?" Connor turned his attention to the open book on David's desk.
"Probably studying something," Max shrugged his shoulders and fell back onto an armchair.
"Uh... Max..." Connor turned slowly around, a huge grin spreading on his face.
"What is it?"
"I think our boy David has gotta get something; off 'is chest, too." Connor snickered diabolically, his cheeks rosy with the delight of his discovery.
Max considered this, and then got up off of his seat to see what it was that Connor was going on about. His eyes scanned the book, picking out a few condemning words, and his jaw slowly dropped.
There, on the yellowing pages, was exactly what was to be expected from David. Long, winding paragraphs about how to perform a certain branch of magic. But it was not this that caught the eyes of Connor and Max. Instead, it was what this particular spell did.
"I never knew David was so kinky!" Connor shook his auburn curls in disbelief. "Damn... 'E's been holding out on us."
"I wouldn't even call this kinky." Max reread the words on the page.
"Nah," Connor cleared his throat to read an exert from the book aloud. "Causes near immediate, extreme increase of passionate desires and actions once ingested. Side effects can include vertigo, temporary loss of short term memory, nausea, and low fever. Max, you can't even deny that that's kinky as hell!"
"It's kind of creepy," Max laughed. "Who do you think it's meant for, if he's going to give it to someone?"
"What girls does David even like?" Connor pinched his round lips together in thought. "Sarah? Mum?"
"Oh come on," Max rolled his eyes. "Just because this happened to be the page he stopped on doesn't mean he actually read it. And it definitely doesn't mean he's going to use it on someone."
"Are you sure?" Connor flipped the page with an arrogant grin. "Because it says right over 'ere that this particular form o' magic is injected into food articles, especially small fruits, such as bananas, apples, berries..."
Connor drifted off, and he slowly looked up from the book to meet Max's eyes.
"What?" Max wrinkled his forehead.
"You... you don't think..."
Max caught on to Connor's train of thought, and they both slowly turned to look at the nearly empty bowl of strawberries sitting on the coffee table.
"Come to think of it, I'm a lil' lightheaded right now." Connor said fearfully. "What about you?"
"I don't feel any different," Max stated. "Calm down, David was probably just having a snack."
"Dear Lord save my soul. I suddenly feel nauseous!" Connor threw himself down on his knees in despair. "David's gone an' poisoned us!"
Max was about to laugh off Connor's characteristic exaggeration, when a thought struck him. Come to think of it... Max thought to himself. I kind of do feel like I have a fever.
Connor abruptly ceased his dramatic wails and got slowly to his feet, his eyes never leaving Max's face. Max raised his eyebrows at him, confused. Connor licked his lips, his eyes burning brightly and his mouth wide with desire.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Max looked rather concerned.
"Damnit, Max..." Connor moved toward him. "Since when have you been so sexy, huh?"
"Stop fooling around," Max sighed exasperatedly and tossed a pillow at Connor.
"No... Really..." An animalistic smile slowly bloomed on Connor's face. "You should kiss me, Max."
Max considered Connor's words. On any other day, there would have been no way in hell he would have even taken such a demand into contemplation. But, strangely enough, the idea of kissing Connor didn't completely repulse him. In fact, it almost weirdly appealed to him.
Max didn't exactly want Connor to kiss him, but at the same time... he didn't stop him when he moved closer. Or when he roughly grabbed Max's shoulders. Or when he crushed his mouth against Max's own.
Connor pressed himself against Max, like he couldn't bear the few inches separating their bodies. Max shrunk back, shocked. Lightning shot through his veins, every fiber of his being searing hot and charged. Never in his life had he experienced a sensation such as this, and although he pulled back from it, he still craved more of it.
"Maax," Connor wined loudly. "Come back!"
Max didn't hesitate to oblige. He propelled himself into Connor with a previously withheld force so powerful that it drove Connor backwards into the wall on the far side of the room. He slammed into the wall hard, and he let out a sharp gasp. Max used this golden opportunity to once again unite their lips, only this time, Max allowed his tongue to explore Connor's mouth.
The minute Connor regained his breath, he fought back against Max's domination of his mouth, using his own tongue to try and gain ground with Max's instead. It took him several seconds to realize that Max was much stronger in all areas, so he instead decided to use his hands.
Connor scraped feverishly at Max's t-shirt, attempting to lift it over his head while still not breaking their contact. Max grew annoyed with this after a moment, and broke away briefly to rip off his shirt and throw it onto the floor. Connor tried to do the same, but the small buttons on his flannel shirt weren't cooperating. Max released a low growl and simply tore through the thin fabric surrounding the buttons.
Before Connor could complain that that had been his best shirt, Max attacked his mouth once more. Connor let loose a loud moan of pleasure as Max pressed his back harder against the wall, dissolving into Max's power.
Max allowed Connor to come off of the wall, and instead grabbed his bare arm and led him up the small flight of stairs to the beds. He pushed Connor back down onto one of the beds, but instead of falling back onto the soft blankets, Connor made contact with something else. A small, frail something.
David jerked up with a gasp, looking rather groggy and disoriented. He took one look at the shirtless, wheezing Connor on his lap, and the also shirtless Max standing before him, and his eyes went wide.
"What are you two doing?" David blinked, trying to process the image before him.
"Oh, sorry David. Didn't see you there, ol' buddy." Connor grinned slyly. "Say, did you know that our pal Max tastes like strawberries? I wonder... do you taste like strawberries too?"
And before poor David could move from beneath Connor's crushing weight, Connor had decided to test if David did indeed taste like strawberries with a long, wet kiss.
Max stood watching this from several feet away, looking rather miffed. He wanted in on the fun too, and was rather annoyed at Connor for leaving him for David without a second thought. A revenge of some sort was in order, he concluded.
"Connor!" Max said loudly. Connor sluggishly broke away from the blushing, panting David to look at Max.
Max seized this moment to shove Connor away from David, and grab David's small face in his hands. David looked straight into Max's eyes, still looking confused, and yet considerably less terrified than he had been with Connor.
Max kissed David aggressively, to the point where David thought his neck would snap. But strangely, David still cherished the feeling of their lips meeting. David felt his hands reach up and tangle in Max's hair, and he melted into the sensation for just a moment. But his twisted bliss was interrupted all too soon by Connor, who had snatched one of his feet out from under the blankets and proceeded to take the sock off of it.
Without delay, Connor enveloped several of David's toes into his mouth, caressing them with his tongue. David jumped at the bizarre sensation, and Max turned to Connor with a scowl.
"What?" Said Connor, his voice muffled by David's toes, which were still in his mouth. "You can't expect me to just sit 'ere like chop liver."
"That's disgusting..." David muttered, attempting (and failing) to remove his foot from Connor's tight, Irish grasp.
Max silenced David with another fierce kiss, this time shifting his body so that he was straddling him, his knees digging into the sheets. David's head fell back onto his pillow, and he lie unmoving with Max on top of him and Connor at his feet.
Connor, in question, was growing quickly bored with David's foot. He made a decision to go in search of a place that would get David's attention, and he came to the deduction that there was only one place that would make David forget Max entirely.
But it was certainly going to take some audacity.
Slowly, Connor snaked his hands to David's hips, and scooted himself forward until he was positioned perfectly so that he was right underneath of Max's groin, and right overtop of David's. He slid David's flannel pajama pants down onto his pale thighs, and grinned wolfishly.
By this time, David had caught on to what Connor was planning on doing, and began to flail around beneath of Max with great distress. In doing this, he freed his mouth and breathlessly tried to demand that Connor stay away from his pants. But unfortunately, Connor wasn't one for listening, and especially not when he was under the influence of such strong magic.
Connor took one hungry look at the protuberance slowly forming in David's boxer-briefs before setting about attempting to remove them. But before he could catch even one glimpse at his prize, Max swung his palm hard down on Connor's temple, causing him to fall roughly to the side with a shout.
Max crawled off of David, who looked a tad shell-shocked, and turned ferociously to Connor, who was clutching the welt forming on his temple in pain.
"What's so great about David?" Max growled.
Max shifted onto Connor, so that he was lying directly on top of him, pressure building equally in both of their pants, which they set about removing. David took one look at them and sighed quietly. This was certainly not what he had planned for the strawberries.
He rose from the bed without much of a sound, not that it mattered if he was loud or not. Max and Connor were a bit preoccupied, and would hardly care to look if they heard anything above their own moans of pleasure. David felt a great, icy sadness wash over him as he sat down in his armchair, his back turned to the beds. He didn't want to see what was happening over there.
He didn't want to watch the love of his life make unwitting, frenzied love to someone else.
David briefly wondered how strange things would be once the magic of the strawberries wore off of Max and Connor. He wondered if they would lose the seemingly animalistic passion between them once it did, or if it would linger.
David cursed under his breath, so quietly that even he could hardly hear it. All of his research, all of his hard work... wasted. And worse yet, even if there was some way he could erase Max and Connor's memories, he wouldn't be able to erase the sight of them from his own.
The plan had been simple. Ridiculously so. David had begun to formulate it months before, when he had first accepted his unescapable feelings for Max. He'd then retrieved as many books on love out of Rowan's selection as possible, studying them tirelessly to know what exactly he had gotten himself into.
He had suspected from the very start that his love for his roommate was unrequited. That no matter what he did, he couldn't naturally make the unstoppable, bull-headed Max McDaniels return his feelings. No, he knew from the beginning that if he were to receive any form of love from Max, he would have to use other means.
And so, he'd done his research on quite a fair share of love magic. He'd gone through countless faulty ones, or ones that would kill the recipient after several days, and ones that didn't even work at all. Finally, just when he had almost given up on ever knowing Max's love, David had found it.
It had been an almost perfect solution to a not-so-perfect situation. It was a form of magic that was cast over food items, and it caused immediate, unpredictable attraction. David had planned to inject it into a seemingly innocent food item, in his case strawberries, and get Max to eat them. Soon after that, Max would be overcome by the desire to have David, and that would be that. David would have let Max believe that it had been the unpredictable part of him that wanted David, and he would be obliged to believe he was in love with David.
It had been foolproof. Unfortunately, however, it hadn't been Connor-proof.
David sighed once more and covered his eyes with his hands. He had only gotten to sleep for fifteen minutes at most, and he was still quite tired. But by the sounds of things, Max and Connor were still using his bed, and he wasn't about to try and make them move.
"Daviiid!" Suddenly, Connor sprinted full-speed at David from across the room.
He was completely naked, save for a pair of plain white socks and what suspiciously appeared to be Max's blue boxers on his head, half-covering his eyes. He nearly slipped in his haste to reach David, the sight of his stiff manhood making David wince.
"'E's gonna kill me!" Connor announced, pouncing into David's lap.
David's eyes widened, and he did his best to keep his eyes trained on Connor's face, instead of other things that called sharply for his attention. Max's boxers rubbed against David's cheek as Connor burrowed into his lap, giggling impishly.
Moments later, Max sped up, Amplifying slightly in order to reach them faster. His eyes were bright, and his cheeks red. And, to David's secret delight, he had no clothes whatsoever on his muscular, chiseled body.
Max roared and dove onto Connor and David, colliding with them with a small crack. David yelped, unable to stand having both boys on top of him at the same time, and attempted to push Connor off.
"Connor!" Max secured Connor into a sweaty, clotheless headlock. "Give them back!"
"No!" Connor clamped his hands firmly over his head so Max couldn't retrieve his underwear. "They're mine now."
"Get off!" David snapped. But, once more, David was ignored by the two boys wrestling on top of him. "What are you doing?!"
"He stole my boxers, and he won't even take his socks off!" Max said angrily, still trying to pull his boxers off of Connor's head.
"But David, look at 'is package!" Connor turned to David. "You can hardly blame me for making the whole world want to see it, yeah?"
David couldn't help it; he glanced down at Max. It was indeed larger than average, and David was filled with a strange mixture of envy and lust at the sight of it.
"Yeah..." David agreed quietly before he could stop himself. "I guess I can't blame you, really."
"Hey, David, you look like you're dying to show Max and your package..." Connor decided, his face turning purple from Max's strong arms.
"Uh, no-!" David started to protest, but Connor had managed to break free from Max's headlock with a swift jab to the groin, and had turned on David's thin pajama pants.
As Max fell to his knees in pain, Connor pinned David to the back of the chair with his knees. He slipped his fingers underneath the waistband of David's pants, and ripped them quickly down with a laugh. David watched in confused horror as Connor carelessly threw the pants over his shoulder, and moved his hands from David's hips to his wrists, pinning them against the arms of the chair.
For one hopeful moment, David thought Connor was going to leave it at that and go back to Max – who was beginning to regain his bearings. But he had no such luck. Connor bent down so that his back was arched at an almost grotesque angle, and began to drag his tongue in circles around David's belly button. David gasped, his stomach tensing with the sudden, wet warmth of Connor's tongue.
Connor slowly and deliberately made his way from David's stomach to the elastic line of his underwear, and took it into his teeth. He dragged it downwards with his mouth in one rapid, precise movement. David felt the cool night air hit his exposed groin, and he felt it shrink slightly with the cold. Connor snickered and this, and stared avidly at it, a strand of saliva stuck to his lower lip.
Connor licked his lips and once again closed the distance between himself and David's length. He enclosed it in his burning mouth, dragging his lips up and down across the rapidly hardening erection. David twitched and jerked with each foreign movement of Connor's mouth. Small, involuntary sounds escaped him, and he felt his cheeks burn bright red.
These grunts caused Max to snap back to attention, wiping tears from the vicious attack on the sensitive area from his eyes. He watched as David trembled, blushed, and came within seconds, just as an amateur would. He watched, red hot anger boiling in his veins, as Connor swallowed it all in one gulp and rose back up to face David, a satisfied grin on his lips.
Max couldn't take it anymore.
He grabbed Connor by the shoulders and pulled him belligerently backwards, onto the hardwood floor. He tore off Connor's socks, and made a point of getting immediately on top of him to display his ascendency.
He dominated Connor over and over again, sweat rolling down his back and nose, and occasionally dripping into Connor's curly hair. They did this until they were both through and entirely satisfied, at which point they fell asleep. Connor curled against Max, and Max wrapped his arms tightly around Connor, right there on the floor.
David gradually rose from his chair, his mouth clenched into a dejected line and his eyes dull. He walked slowly around the room, collecting his various missing clothing items and putting them on. Once this task was finished, he made his way up the stairs and crawled into his bed. But he didn't sleep. He simply laid there for what seemed like hours, trying to fight the miserable tears building up deep inside of him.
Everything he'd ever wanted had been right there... and it had slipped right through his fingers.
David awoke late the next morning to the bright rays of the sun breaking through the windows and lighting his face. He kept his eyes closed, unwilling to face whatever mess would meet them upon their opening. He knew he'd have to have a very uncomfortable conversation with Max about what had happened to him, and he would probably just have to avoid Connor for the rest of his days at Rowan.
Eventually, David convinced himself to get up out of his bed. He did so little by little, one step at a time. First, he peeled off his thick comforter and opened his eyes to the day. Secondly, he sat up in his bed and ran his hands through his ash blond hair, hoping to make himself as presentable as possible for his talk with Max.
Lastly, he rose from his bed and straightened out his sleep-ruffled clothing. He took a very deep breath, steeling his nerves, and slowly let it out. He knew what he had to do, and yet he also knew what was at stake for doing it. No matter what Max would say, David knew that their relationship would simply never be the same.
He noticed that Connor's blue jeans had inexplicably disappeared from the floor, along with his torn flannel shirt.
"Well, I suppose it's better off this way..." David said under his breath. "I'll get to talk to Max alone."
He distracted himself with these thoughts for several minutes before he could finally bring himself to approach Max. And when he did, he felt his expression soften.
Max was lying there on the floor, still naked and huddled in a ball, shivering slightly. He hadn't awoken yet, and the sight of his relaxed, peaceful face sent pangs of longing through David's heart. He wished he could curl up next to him and sleep with him, just once.
David shook his head, attempting to clear such thoughts from his mind. He took a large, soft blanket from one of the chairs and spread it over Max, a wistful smile on his face. After he had done this, David sat himself down on an armchair, his legs crossed beneath him, and waited for Max to wake up.
This occurred roughly fifteen minutes later, when David unintentionally sneezed loudly. Max's face twitched a bit, and he blinked groggily several times before fully opening his eyes. It was seconds after he did this that he realized he was lying on the cold, hard floor without any clothes on. He jolted up with a start, memories from the previous night flooding back to him in one dizzying rush.
"Lie back down," David said quietly. He recalled that one of the side effects of the magic was an extreme headache or nausea, so he knew that Max was probably not feeling very well.
"D—David..." Max stammered, his cheeks flaring scarlet. "I... I didn't mean... I-"
"It wasn't your fault," David looked away. "You ate the strawberries, right?"
"...Yeah," Max scratched the back of his head. "Oh God, I'm so sorry."
"Like I said, it wasn't your fault, Max. It... it was mine, actually." David despised having to admit to his mistake. "I cast the magic over the strawberries. I did it... I did it so you would... I did it so that you would love me, Max."
The sentence was out of his mouth before he could consider the weight of what he had just said. He regretted it immediately, and suddenly had a great desire to sink into the ground and not have to see the look on Max's face.
Max looked shocked and confused at first, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips parted slightly. He looked at a complete and total loss for words, like he wasn't completely sure if he was hearing David correctly.
"David," the sound of his own name on Max's lips made David feel even worse. "You did what?"
Seconds passed, and then minutes, and still David didn't speak. He didn't look at Max, instead he focused fixedly on the ceiling. He felt his eyes grow hot again, and he willed himself not to reveal this weakness to Max.
"The strawberries were meant for me, then?" Max murmured finally.
"Yeah. They were meant for you."
"Oh."
Oh. The word reverberated around in David's head, over and over again; the torturous sound of all of his hopes shattering. The sound of his heart rate increasing to a dangerously high rate, and the sound of the stubborn tears beginning to cloud his vision.
"Why?"
David didn't want to respond. He just wished that he could reverse the past day, somehow prevent it from ever happening.
"Because... Because, Max..." David stopped, and took one last, deep breath. He had nothing left to lose, so why not let Max know the truth? "Because I think that I'm in love with you."
Max's expression shifted from confusion, to realization. He nodded slowly, subconsciously biting his lower lip. There was understanding in his eyes, but also just a hint of confusion lingered.
And suddenly, he let loose a laugh. One long, deep laugh. David cringed. Laughable. That's obviously what Max thought of his feelings. He was so stupid, so pathetic, that Max had actually laughed at him.
David got to his feet to go back into his bed, turning away as quickly as possible so that Max couldn't see the look on his face. But to his surprise, before he could take a step, Max gently laid a hand on his shoulder.
"David, why are you leaving?" The laughter died off of Max's lips.
"I think it's obvious," David said bitterly.
"Is it?"
Softly, Max turned David around. When he saw the bright tears in his eyes, Max's forehead creased deeply. He extended a warm, steady hand to David's face, lightly wiping the tears from his eyes. David turned his face away, anger beginning to bubble up in his stomach.
"Don't mess with me like that, Max..." He said, his voice barely above a whisper. "You laughed at me, and now you're doing this. I know you don't care, just let me settle this with myself without you making it worse please."
"I wasn't laughing at you," Max smiled softly. "I was laughing at myself, David. I was laughing because I realized that all this time, you've been right here. And I didn't even see that really, I wasn't looking for someone to that would make me happy. I was looking for someone that I could make happy."
"What do you mean?"
Max didn't answer him. Instead, he silently took David's face into his hands. Softly, he leaned down and brought their lips together. It wasn't the same kind of kiss as the previous night; this one was softer, and left David's stomach filled with butterflies. It lasted for only a few seconds, but David knew that he wouldn't ever forget it.
He would never, as long as he lived, forget that day. The day that he realized sometimes, making mistakes wasn't such a bad thing after all.