Okay, mornings were not Max's thing. Especially when his phone goes off at two o-frickin-clock. Max had been curled up, sleeping blissfully, when his phone went off. He jerked awake from the noise, startled from it, and he rolled over to look at his glowing phone. He reached over and swiped it from his night stand. Checking the message, his brow furrowed in confusion.


[Saturday; Unknown Number] 2:17 AM: I can't sleep. Are you awake?

He glanced at the area code, confusion sweeping over him. He didn't even have to guess who it was—after all, he'd only given his number to one person in Mayview.

[Saturday; You] 2:18 AM: No, I'm fast asleep. What's up?

The reply was instantaneous.

[Saturday; Unknown Number] 2:18 AM: Like I said before, couldn't sleep.

[Saturday; Unknown Number] 2:18 AM: I didn't wake you up, did I?

Okay, the unknown number thing was going to annoy him. He quickly saved the number in his phone and put it under Isaac's name.

[Saturday; You] 2:19 AM: Nah. We're good.

[Saturday; You] 2:19 AM: Nightmares?

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:20 AM: Yeah. Kinda.

Max chuckled softly. Of course he had nightmares.

[Saturday; You] 2:21 AM: Want to talk about it?

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:21 AM: No thanks.

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:24 AM: Did you fall asleep?

[Saturday; You] 2:24 AM: No, I'm awake.

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:24 AM: Okay.

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:25 AM: Can we talk?

[Saturday; You] 2:25 AM: Can't. Dad and Zoey are asleep.

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:26 AM: I meant in person.

Max stared at the text in bewilderment. In person? He looked out the window, eyebrows knitting together out of confusion. It was pitch black, and more important, it was friggin' early.

[Saturday; You] 2:27 AM: Isaac it's 2:30 in the morning.

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:28 AM: I figured that would be how you'd respond.

[Saturday; You] 2:28 AM: When and where?

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:30 AM: Huh?

[Saturday; You] 2:31 AM: You wanted to meet up, didn't you?

[Saturday; You] 2:31 AM: Just tell me where and I can meet you there

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:32 AM: Do you know where the park is?

[Saturday; You] 2:33 AM: Gimme like 10min

[Saturday; Isaac] 2:34 AM: See you there

Max rolled out of bed, pulling jeans on over his pajama pants and throwing on his Insolent Children hoodie. He snuck downstairs, past his sisters room and past his dad, who was snoring loudly on the couch. grabbing his shoes, he slipped out the door and pulled them on, hopping a bit on whichever foot he wasn't trying to get a shoe on.

He took off at a dash, shoving the dread of getting in trouble to the back of his mind. He was nineteen, he could do what he wanted. Max slowed to a walk when he caught sight of the chain link fence that surrounded the entire perimeter of the park. He looked around, catching sight of a body on the swings. The bright orange hair gave the entire identity away.

Max stuck his foot in one of the links and hauled himself over the top of the fence, gritting his teeth at the loud rattling. Isaac's head shot up, but he loosened up when Max hit the ground and rolled forward. He popped back up onto his feet and moved towards Isaac, sticking his hands in his pockets. He crashed down into the swing next to him, pulling his hands out of his pockets and curling his fingers around the chains.

They sat in silence for a while.

"Thanks." Isaac's voice was soft, and Max saw his sad expression in the bright moonlight.

"S'no problem." Max reached out and clapped his hand on Isaac's shoulder. He could see that the hairdresser's eyes were tinted red and that they had an unusual sheen to them. "... Tell me what's wrong."

Shifting away from Max, Isaac quirked an eyebrow. "Nothing's wrong."

"Bullshit." The word sent a bolt of surprise through Max; he hardly ever swore. He softened his tone, shifting his weight so he bumped knees with Isaac. "You wouldn't have asked me to come out here at two in the morning because of 'nothing'."

Isaac went quiet, and he dragged his toe through the dirt. "I get really bad nightmares, okay?" He finally spat out. "There's always this thing there, and it just stands there and laughs at me and tells me that I'm not good enough. It's something in my head that won't go away and it won't leave me alone." His voice cracked and he tucked his head, hands coming up and clasping behind his neck before he slid them down and hid his face.

Max felt his stomach twist. He slid off the swing, crouching down in front of the distressed redhead. Placing his hands on the other's wrists, he gently pulled Isaac's hands away from his face.

"Hey," He said softly. "Listen, that's you psyching yourself out. I'm not a psychology major or anything, but I do know that people with stress or depression tend to belittle themselves." God, was he really this bad at comforting people? Isaac looked even more miserable now. He pulled Isaac off the swing and gave him a hug, because he really looked like he needed one at that moment.

Isaac stiffened against him, but slowly relaxed as Max began rubbing calming soothing circles into his back. The fabric of his sweatshirt was lifted from his chest, and he quickly put the pieces together to conclude that Isaac was gripping onto it.

"I did that too, back when my mom died. I told myself it was my fault when it wasn't. You're an awesome person Isaac. I barely know you and I've figured that out." Max moved his grip to Isaac's shoulders, and held him away from him. "Keep that in mind, okay?"

Isaac lunged forward and threw his arms around Max, crying into his shoulder. Max was thrown completely off guard by the action, and was knocked back onto his butt in the process. But he hugged Isaac tight, and they stayed like that until Isaac stopped blubbering out nonsense. It died into silence and Max had to shove the other off of him.

"Feeling better?" A nod. "Good." The brunet got to his feet and Isaac joined him, wiping his tear-stained face with his sleeve. Max ruffled his hair, drawing a whine from the hairdresser as he swatted his hand away.

"I'll see you later?" Isaac managed a smile, and Max gave a nod.

"If the stars are in position, then yes. Later, Mr. Anime Protagonist." Max turned at the same time Isaac did and took a flying leap at the fence, grabbing the top and vaulting over it. He kept running until he got home, and was faced with the problem of getting back inside, because the door was locked. His dad must've gotten up and locked all the doors. He solved his problem by going around to his window and throwing himself up the wall, grabbing onto the ledge of his sill. Hoisting himself up, Max opened the panel and tumbled inside. He promptly fell onto his bed and was out the second his head hit the pillow.

[Saturday; Isaac] 3:01 AM: Thank you.

Hahaha this didn't hurt me to write not at all

StarryEyedArtist