Author's Note: At long last, I've finally updated Riding the Wave! This episode was originally intended to be posted around Mother's Day, but now that it's about two months past that, well, here it is! While not a whole lot really happens, it wound up being a very emotional episode to write, and we finally find out more about Malik. So, enjoy! If there's anyone still keeping up with this. :P

Mother Load

At nine in the morning, Aiden was awakened by the buzzing of is alarm clock, one of the single most irritating noises on the face of the planet; why he hadn’t gotten a new one ever since the radio on it stopped working, he didn’t know. Looking to his right he saw the clock’s display, and reached over, mashing the button to turn it off. He lied in bed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before looking over to look at Max, only to find that he was long gone. Furrowing his brow, Aiden dug himself out of underneath the covers and got up, thinking how strange it was for Max to be up this early on a Sunday morning. Heading out into the kitchen, the smell of waffles and maple syrup lingered in the air as Max was found setting the table for breakfast. Aiden stood, one eyebrow raised as he watched for a moment before saying anything. Max hadn’t noticed him standing there yet.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked.

Startled, Max jumped and gasped, spinning around and flashing a pearly white grin. He went over and pecked Aiden with a kiss on the lips before returning to the stove.

“I made breakfast. What does it look like?” he asked.

“I can see that. But I suppose the bigger question is why? You never get up this early on Sundays, much less make breakfast like this,” Aiden replied.

As Max opened up the refrigerator and bent over to get something out, Malik came out of his room wearing nothing but a pair of plaid lounge pants, scratching his toned stomach as he yawned loudly.

“What’s all this?” Malik asked.

“I was just asking the same question,” Aiden replied, glancing at Malik before returning his gaze to his boyfriend. Max grabbed a carton of orange juice from the refrigerator and stood up straight again as he closed the door, looking over at Aiden with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t you remember what today is?” Max asked.

Aiden paused for a moment, and he and Malik shared a look before turning back to Max.

“Mother’s Day,” they said in unison.

“Yeah…” Max said, raising a brow skeptically. “How could you have forgotten that?”

Aiden immediately clammed up, his eyes darting around as he put a hand behind his head, scratching as he ran his tongue across his teeth.

“I thought you were supposed to get up at the crack of dawn and make breakfast for your mom, not your boyfriend and your moocher cousin,” Malik piped up.

Max looked from Aiden to Malik, and then back to Aiden again to see the look on his face. He knew the look. It was the look Aiden got when he was confronted with something he didn’t want to face, the look of absolute despair. He didn’t know how Aiden would respond to this, the first Mother’s Day since his mom had passed away. He hadn’t intended to hurt Aiden, or to upset him in any way. But it was clear to him that the mere mention of what the day was had the same effect as hitting Aiden with a sack full of bricks.

“Aiden, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean”-

“It’s fine,” Aiden said, cutting Max off midsentence. “Really, it’s… it’s okay,” he insisted, stammering a bit, his voice changing pitch and becoming wavy. “You two go ahead and eat. I’m not all that hungry anyways. I’ll just go take a shower. Don’t wait up for me.”

Aiden stalked off back to the bedroom, closing the door behind him while Max and Malik remained standing in the kitchen in silence. Blinking absently, Malik raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak.

“Don’t ask,” Max cut him off before he got a word out. “It’s a long story.”

Malik opened and closed his mouth like a fish, and shrugged.

“Alright, whatever you say,” he replied as the two of them sat down to eat breakfast, neither of them saying much else after that.

---

Max was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him when Aiden came out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, drops of waters clinging to his lightly tanned skin as he stood just outside, surprised to find Max sitting there.

“Were you expecting to catch a show waiting there like that?” Aiden asked with a smirk.

Max looked up at him and smiled.

“If I wanted to catch a show, I’d have been in there with you,” Max responded.

Aiden chuckled softly, removing his towel to reveal a pair of boxer briefs underneath. Max gave him a dirty look.

“You tease,” Max accused.

Aiden winked at him as he padded over to the dresser and got out some clothes to put on.

“Aiden,” Max said, his tone becoming suddenly more serious. “I’m sorry about what happened out there. I was thinking we could pay tribute to your mom and pay a toast to her. I guess it was still too soon for”-

“I told you it’s okay,” Aiden cut him off as he put some shorts on. “I’m fine, so just drop it.”

“Come on, I saw the look on your face. You’re not okay, so stop pretending,” Max argued.

Aiden huffed impatiently, pulling a sleeveless shirt on over his head as he turned to face Max.

“Max, seriously, I’m fine. Yeah, I got a little worked up at first, but I’m over it. So let it go,” he said.

Max sat, staring up at Aiden for a long moment before finally standing up and stepping up in front of his lover. Aiden was looking down at his feet when Max cupped his chin in his hand and tilted his head up to look into his eyes, gently fingering his cheek with his thumb.

“It’s not even been a full year since your mom passed away. This is the first Mother’s Day you’ve had without her. I know you must feel something,” Max said. “But I’m not going to pressure you into talking about it if you don’t feel like talking. Just know that I’m around if you change your mind, okay?”

Aiden sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Good to know. I fail to see how this is different than anything else,” he quipped.

Max smiled and kissed Aiden on the forehead.

“You’re such an ass,” he said.

“I’m your ass,” Aiden stated.

“Damn straight,” Max relied, both of them laughing as they pressed their mouths over each other’s. “Oh, I almost forgot,” Max said suddenly. “My parents were having a barbeque this afternoon, and invited us over. Do you feel like going?”

Aiden pursed his lips, shrugging his shoulders.

“Not really,” he replied. “I don’t know.”

Max raised an eyebrow, pulling Aiden’s hair up out of his eyes.

“You don’t know?” he asked. Aiden face faulted and shrugged again. Max smiled and laughed. “Alright, well I was going to go ahead and head over there to chill out. If you change your mind, you’re more than welcome to come over.”

“Thanks, but it’s your family, not mine,” Aiden said. “You don’t get to hang out with them enough as it is.”

“They’re you’re family just as much as they are mine,” Max replied. “Besides, they may be your in-laws some day.”

Aiden barked a laugh.

“Please, don’t think so far ahead,” he said, slapping Max on the cheek. “You go over there and have fun. I’ll stay here and do… something.”

“Be my guest,” Max said. “But I expect you to be at the next family gathering, you hear?”

“It’s a date,” Aiden said.

Max and Aiden embraced each other and kissed once more, and then Max was gone. Aiden lied down on the bed once he was alone, staring up at the ceiling, and finally, looking over at his nightstand where a picture of his mother sat.

---

Malik was sitting on the couch watching TV when Max came out of the bedroom, ready to go. The kitchen had been cleaned, and the food from breakfast had all been put away. Max was already dressed to leave, but yet Malik was still wearing his lounge pants and t-shirt from the night before.

“Dude, are you coming, or not?” Max asked.

Malik glanced over at Max for a second and then returned his gaze back towards the television.

“Where ya goin’?” Malik asked.

Max blinked, hesitating for a moment.

“I… told you last night, my parents were having a Mother’s Day barbeque and invited all of us over. Don’t you remember?” he asked.

Malik thought for a moment and shook his head.

“Can’t say I do,” he replied. “But it’s no biggie. It’s your family, not mine. You go have fun and all that good stuff with em. I’ll hold down the fort here, if that’s not a problem.”

Max furrowed his brow, and opened his mouth to say something.

“I know, man, they are my family, but since your mom is only my aunt, it just wouldn’t feel right intruding on your little get together,” Malik said before Max could say anything. Max gritted his teeth, smiled, and nodded.

“Right, well I guess I’m going alone then,” he said, heading for the door. “Feel free to come by if you change your mind. I doubt there’ll be any bouncers to kick you out.”

“Ha, ha,” Malik laughed sardonically. “Have fun, you jackass.”

“You too, lousy bum,” Max countered as he disappeared out the door. Malik remained on the couch, flipping through the channels as he sighed.

“All these channels, and there’s nothing but Mother’s Day specials on,” he thought aloud to himself. “Lovely.”

---

It was past 1:00 when Aiden woke up. He’d fallen asleep while lying down without even trying. He had the apartment to himself for the whole afternoon since Max and Malik had both likely gone to Max’s parents’. Even after a little over a two hour nap, he still woke up feeling drained and tired. Heading out of his bedroom, he padded down the hallway towards the kitchen, only to jump and pause when he found Malik making a sandwich at the counter. Malik looked up at that very moment, and jump in surprise as well.

“Holy shit, you scared me,” Malik said.

“Good to know I’m not the only one,” Aiden replied. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

“I don’t know, tell me what you’re doing here and you might have your answer,” Malik replied.

Aiden narrowed his eyes skeptically.

“I didn’t feel like going,” he replied. “Are you telling me that’s your answer as well?”

Malik smeared some mayonnaise on a piece of bread and laid a piece of cheese on top of it.

“Eh, pretty much,” he replied. “But it could also be that I just didn’t feel comfortable going to something like that.”

“You mean a Mother’s Day barbeque at your aunt and uncle’s house?” Aiden asked. “If anyone were to feel uncomfortable at such an event, it would be me.”

Malik glanced up at Aiden and smirked slyly.

“So are you saying the real reason you didn’t go is because you would have felt uncomfortable there? What, do they hate you or something?” he asked.

Aiden chuckled, crossing his arms.

“No, do they hate you?” he asked.

Malik looked up at Aiden, their eyes meeting.

“Touché,” he said. “You want a sandwich?” Malik asked.

“No thanks. I’m not hungry.”

“Good,” Malik replied, laying some deli sliced chicken on top of the cheese he put down earlier. “You’re out of chicken,” he said, squirting a mixture of Dijon and honey mustard on the sandwich.

Aiden sat down on a barstool by the counter while Malik put away the food and grabbing himself a can of beer.

“You want one?” Malik asked from over his shoulder.

“Sure,” Aiden replied. “Bring two.”

Malik returned to the counter with a six pack of beer, setting it down on the counter as he pulled his self up a stool and sat down.

“What was that earlier?” Malik asked, changing the subject.

Aiden grabbed a beer and popped open the cap.

“What was what?” he asked nonchalantly.

“At breakfast, when Max told you it was Mother’s Day. Why’d you get all weird and shit?” Malik asked as he cut his sandwich into two triangles and handed the other half to Aiden.

“It was what I said it was, nothing,” Aiden replied, taking the half of sandwich from Malik and taking a bite.

“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t have run off like that, and also, you wouldn’t still be here right now, so it was obviously something,” Malik remarked.

Aiden swallowed his bit of the sandwich, thought for a moment, and nodded with an impressed look.

“Huh, well I’ll be,” he said. “I’ve never tried Dijon with honey mustard before.”

“Good, isn’t it?” Malik asked, flashing a pearly white grin.

“Surprisingly so,” Aiden replied. “And I’m surprised Max didn’t tell you anything.”

“He did, and I quote him directly, ‘It’s a long story.’ That could mean a lot of things,” Malik said.

“It means he didn’t feel like telling you,” Aiden said.

“It means there’s a reason for how you’ve been acting this morning, isn’t there?” Malik asked.

Aiden took another bite of his half of sandwich, swallowed, and then took a big gulp of beer, burping afterwards.

“Why are you here?” Aiden asked.

“Because I didn’t feel like”-

“Not that, I mean, why are you here,” Aiden asked again.

Malik took a bite, and opened his beer.

“I see what you’re playing,” he said after swallowing. He took a sip of beer, and then took another bite.

“My mom died this past year,” Aiden blurted out all of a sudden.

Malik stopped chewing, his eyes growing wide. He continued chewing, faster, and swallowed hard.

“I’m… sorry to hear that,” he replied. “So this is your first Mother’s Day without her?” he asked.

“Technically not,” Aiden replied. “I pretty much lost her when I was seven.”

Malik raised an eyebrow curiously.

“What do you mean? You just said she died this past”-

“There’s more than one way to lose a person you love,” Aiden interrupted, finishing off his sandwich and downing the rest of his beer, burping. “I had a brother, an identical twin named Ashton. He had a weak heart, and my parents couldn’t afford a transplant, so he lived a short, sickly life. Losing him pushed my mom over the edge, and she attempted suicide. After that, she wound up being institutionalized, and that’s where she spent the rest of her life.”

Malik set his sandwich down, looking down at the counter.

“Jesus, so even though your mom was still alive, she was so out of it that it was like she wasn’t even there?” he asked.

Aiden popped open another can of beer, and took a big gulp out of it.

“Yup,” he replied. “Earlier last year I found out she had a brain tumor, and it was inoperable. I had to either choose to go for treatment and risk losing her from that, or let her sit and waste away to nothing until she died. Not a decision most kids wanna be faced with, but it’s a harsh reality.”

“So… what did you do?” Malik asked.

Aiden finished off his second beer, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at Malik in the eyes, his face expressionless. Malik swallowed and looked away.

“So there you have it. That’s why I ran off and acted like a little bitch this morning,” Aiden replied, opening up another can of beer. “I had completely forgotten what today even was until Max brought it up, then it was like experiencing losing her all over again, both times. I could almost see and feel everything playing back through my head as if it were actually happening. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the one who’s gone insane and all of this is just some deranged fantasy I’ve concocted in my imagination as a means to escape the truth. But then, if that were the case, I’d probably have snapped out of it by now and find myself sitting in a padded cell with a guy who’s sexually attracted to fire.”

Malik smirked slightly, and licked his lips.

“You’ve had a pretty hard life, haven’t you?” he asked quietly.

“Could be worse,” Aiden replied, gulping his beer. “That’s probably what’s helped me last as long as I have. I don’t see any purpose in mulling over everything wrong in my life because I know that someone, somewhere else in this world has had it ten times harder than I have. I mean, yeah, I’ve had a lot of shitty times, but just looking back through history, at the Holocaust for instance. That would be a whole lot worse than having my brother dying and my mom going insane and my dad leaving when I needed him most. It puts things into perspective for me, helps me cope. Sure, there are times when it just hits me and all I can do is cry and weep about it, and when I’m done, I pick myself up and move on. You learn to do that after a while.”

Aiden had finished his third can and started on his fourth. Malik sat, staring at the countertop. His beer had gone lukewarm, and still his half of sandwich sat with only one bite taken out of it. Aiden reached over and snatched it up from under Malik without him even noticing.

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked while taking a bite of Malik’s half of sandwich. “I didn’t bum you out or anything did I?”

Malik shook his head, swallowing. His mouth felt parched, dry.

“It’s funny how different our lives are from each other’s,” he said. “While you were dealing with things someone your age shouldn’t have had to deal with then, I was living it up, having the good life. But then things change, and the tables turn around. You have a good job, friends, a boyfriend that loves you more than anything in the world, and here I am with nothing, mooching off the one person who ever truly gave a damn about me.”

Aiden finished Malik’s sandwich and followed it down with a drink of beer.

“Funny that, isn’t it?” Aiden asked.

Malik sighed and looked up at Aiden.

“Max has always been the only person I could trust. He was like a brother to me, back when we both lived in California. He was the only person I told about being gay to. He had come out about being bi long before I came to the realization that I was the way I was. The thing was he was so open about it. He didn’t care who found out or what anyone thought about it. He was himself and that was all that mattered. His parents didn’t even seem to pay any mind to the fact that their first born son swung both way,” Malik said.

“That was when he was still a man whore, right?” Aiden asked.

Malik smiled and laughed.

“Right,” he replied. “Anyways, when I started high school and started discovering things about myself, experimenting, that’s when I knew, and that’s when I told Max. I wasn’t sure how he’d react, but unsurprisingly, he was cool with it. Without him, I probably would have gone crazy.

“Anyways, in the middle of my sophomore year, my family moved to Texas to get away from the extreme liberalness of Cali. We wound up living in a Christian community where everyone was ultra conservative. And the worst part of it was, since the community was so much smaller than what we were used to, news traveled fast, and everyone knew everything about everyone. I had grown distant from Max and didn’t have anyone I could be myself around. I knew there were gay guys around, but like myself, they had to keep it on the down low at the risk of somebody finding out. A surprising number of them swore up and down, though, that they ‘used’ to be gay, that they managed to fix themselves and follow the word of God. I felt smothered by it all, and all I could do was to suck it up and roll with it.”

Aiden shook his head as he finished off his fifth beer and went for the fifth.

“I couldn’t imagine living in a situation like that,” he said, popping open the cap. “You see, since neither of my parents were around, I didn’t really have any expectations to live up to. My aunt was always really supportive of anything I did, and didn’t care one way or another which way I swung. There wasn’t really any ‘coming out’ for me, I just noticed I liked dicks and would go on about how cute I thought another boy was or whatever. My cousin got a little weirded out there for a while, but after a while he got used to it and would humor me by playing along,” Aiden explained. “I’ve witnessed a lot of ridicule and shit for being what I am, but the way I see it, they’re just insecure and are intimidated by my utter confidence.”

Malik chuckled, smiling weakly.

“You got off lucky,” he said. “I’m sure if you were put my situation, you’d have gone insane eventually.”

“Really? Me?” Aiden asked. “Hah! I highly doubt that. If anything, they’d go insane dealing with me and the legions of homos I’d have following me.”

“Yeah, well…” Malik continued, “Unfortunately you weren’t there, so I was forced to play along with the whole lets-pretend-to-be-het charade. But when I started college, that’s when I really started losing it. My parents were avid members of the local church. What the scholarships I got from high school didn’t pay for college, they paid for. Since they didn’t want me working, they paid me an allowance every week. Hell, they even bought me a car, paid for gas, and paid for car insurance. I had it all, and I blew it by making one single fucking mistake…”

Aiden swallowed a mouthful of beer and burped.

“Let me guess,” he said, waving a hand around in the air. “You met a guy, fell in love, and got caught. Am I right?”

“Pretty much,” Malik replied. “We met in gym class, of all places. I was going to school to become a nurse, and he was going to become a doctor. He was gorgeous. Dark brown hair, long, chiseled face, a body more cut than Max’s, and a dick that wouldn’t stop. Anyway, we had stayed over after class to run some laps and work out in the university gym, and wound up snogging each other in the men’s locker room. We got away with it three times, and pretty much started going out after that first time. But then one day, when we were getting rowdy in the locker room, a gym teacher walked in and found me sucking him off, and that was pretty much it then.”

Aiden blinked a few times, and chugged the rest of his beer, feeling a little light headed after tilting his head so far back.

“Wow…” he replied. “That… was a little too much information, but yet somehow still arousing. What happened then?”

“Remember how I said it was a small town and everyone knew everyone else? Well, the news spread like wild fire. The guy who I thought loved me entered some Christian camp to help him ‘overcome’ his sinful ways and acted like he wanted nothing to do with me. I was given an option to either go to a similar camp or be kicked out of school, and naturally, I chose the latter,” Malik said.

“Well, that’s sort of what you get for having sex in a public place,” Aiden replied, grabbing Malik’s half drank, lukewarm beer. “But good for you for taking a stand.”

“I feel like it was the worst mistake of my life,” Malik stated.

“What, taking a stand? You mean to tell me you wish you had gone to that brainwashing camp just so you could maintain the status quo and continue with your cushy lifestyle?” Aiden asked.

Malik didn’t answer, and continued.

“My parents were outraged and embarrassed. Once I had decided not to go to the camp, I was expelled from the university and was then promptly disowned by my parents. I had no money, no job, no home, and no friends. Nobody would even look at me when I walked down the street. Since the car was in my name and I didn’t have enough gas to make it out of town, I wound up driving several towns over and selling it. I used the money I made off of it to get here, and the rest, as you know it, is history,” Malik explained.

Aiden held Malik’s warm beer, fingering the rim around the top as he stared down into it silently.

“I know I was stupid. I know I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have done what I did in public, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I had actually taken charge and done something I had long since dreamt about,” Malik said. “In the end, I wound up losing everything.”

Aiden sighed and closed his eyes.

“Was it worth it?” he asked quietly.

Malik looked up to find Aiden looking down at his beer, and furrowed his brow.

“Was it worth losing everything to be myself and do what I felt was right?” he asked, thinking it over. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s not that I care what everyone else thinks, but…” he trailed off.

“It’s what your parents think,” Aiden completed his thought.

Malik cleared his throat, and nodded.

“Yeah…”

Aiden sat the beer down, stood up, and turned around.

“Your parents will always love you, no matter what,” he said suddenly, following a long bout of silence. “You may think they hate you and what you are, but that’s not it at all. They’re afraid of what you are, and what it could mean. They only act the way they do because of that fear, the fear of what it could mean for you, their son.” Aiden turned his head, and Malik looked him back in the face. “People fear what they don’t understand, and they believe what they are brought up on. While your parents may never be able to grasp and understand why you are the way you are, why you do the things you do, they will, eventually, forgive you. You may have to be the one to step up and take that responsibility, but I speak from experience when I say that it’s not worth forgetting about it all and letting it sit for a long period of time, because after a while you forget just what it is that broke you apart to begin with, and it becomes that much harder to reconcile your differences, and yourselves.”

As Malik sat, staring off into space, mulling over what Aiden had said, Aiden headed for the door and slipped his shoes and coat on, and left.

A tear ran down Malik’s cheek as he wiped his away, and swallowed hard. Getting up off his stool, he walked across the kitchen to pick up the phone, and dialed his parents’ telephone number. It rang three times, and then there was a tone.

“We’re sorry, the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service…”

Malik stood frozen in place, holding the phone to his ear as tears ran down his face.

---

Max sat, watching from the car. It looked like rain. The sky was cloudy and gray, and the soft roll of thunder echoed in the distance. He popped open the door and grabbed his umbrella, jogging over towards Aiden before it started to pour.

A raindrop landed on Aiden’s nose, running down to the tip before falling to the ground. He felt more drops of rain begin to pelt him, and before he knew it, he was caught in downpour. Suddenly, he heard a sound and felt a warm arm embrace him from the side. He looked up and found Max holding an umbrella over him.

“How did you…?” Aiden began to ask.

“Ssh,” Max replied, smilingly knowingly. Aiden smiled back at him weakly, and rested his head on his shoulder. They stood, the rain sounding like popped corn against the top of the umbrella as they stood in the downpour.

“Let’s go home…” Aiden suggested.

“Alright, baby,” Max replied.

They turned together and started back towards the car, leaving behind a fresh bouquet of wild flowers at Aiden’s mother’s grave.

“How did you know those were her favorite?” Aiden asked when they were back in the car. Max closed the door and fastened his seatbelt.

“I saw the wedding album you have in the top of the closet,” Max replied. “I jumped to some conclusions.”

Aiden smiled, and looked outside the window as the sun shone through the clouds while the rain kept falling.

“You never cease to amaze me, Max,” Aiden stated. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Max smiled, nodding.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Aiden,” he said as they drove on their way home.