Chapter 6: Black cat and the heartbroken man

Maxwell was exhausted. He'd had a long, hard day at work arguing with fucking idiots, and now he just wanted to go home and rest. Maybe spend a few hours with his favorite beta, and then call it a day. It'd been so long since the two of them had been able to hang out, and he just wanted some of his big, dumb comforts after a long day. What Maxwell was not expecting was the slumped-over pile of a man on his front porch, several bottles of wine in a bag next to him, and a big, wide grin greeting him. The man's glasses weren't even properly on his face, and were slanted, only covering one of his eyes. Maxwell was stunned. It was nearly winter, and the man's cheeks were either red from the cold, or red from the alcohol. Given the situation, he wasn't sure which one was worse. Maxwell knew that Andrew had a high alcohol tolerance. The man could keep up with him. So he was confused as to why he had drunk enough that he was intoxicated. Especially in this weather? It was nearly freezing outside, and he wasn't properly dressed. Sure, he was wearing a large, comfy-looking sweater and thick jeans, but that wasn't enough! He should be wearing a hat, a jacket, gloves, and a scarf. Andrew had to be freezing. The situation reminded him of how the idiot had fallen asleep on his balcony in the cold. His heart had nearly jumped out of his chest when he realized it. Maxwell rarely went to the second storey of his house, since he had everything he could need on the first floor. He was thankful that he had been forced to go up to the office there that day. His Father's secretary needed some important documents from him that day, so he had trudged up the stairs to grab them. When he glanced out the window, he took a moment to appreciate that this neighborhood had good views. Of course, he had glanced over at Andrew's apartment. It made sense ttooH.e was getting to know that man, and it was a neighborly thing to do. That was when he noticed that the giant, soft chair that Andrew usually had in his living room was halfway in and halfway out of the balcony door. He had thought it was odd but assumed for a minute that Andrew was just airing out the apartment. Even though he knew those doors weren't weighted, he wasn't going to judge the man. If he was honest, the man still confused him. He rarely understood what he was thinking, and if the idiot wanted to hold his balcony door open with a chair that could be susceptible to frost, who was he to stop him? That was, until he realized that the little bit of yellow he could see wasn't a blanket or a pillow, but was the fucking idiot in the damn chair. He'd thought he was going to have a heart attack. He hadn't moved that fast in years. He'd felt like an idiot yelling up at the balcony, and he was sure others in the neighborhood were confused as to why he was behaving the way he was. But he just couldn't imagine the world without Andrew in it. And for him to die because he'd frozen to death on his balcony? Maxwell would have never forgiven himself. He was still pissed at the way his damn smile had made him feel. He was stunned that a fucking beta was what was getting his heart going. In all of his 28 years of life, he couldn't imagine that it was a goofy fucking idiot that made his chest ache. And he wasn't even single in the first place. Maxwell would never poach. He wasn't his father or his brother. Maxwell ran his hand over his face, even more tired when Andrew turned that damn charm up and opened his brown eyes to smile widely at Maxwell. "Max! You're home!" Maxwell's heart jerked in his chest at the open smile on Andrew's face. Max? He'd never called him by a nickname before. "How drunk are you?" Maxwell asked, kicking himself at his tone but Andrew didn't seem to mind. "Not enough~!" Andrew sang, grabbing a bottle from the bag and opening it. He drank directly from the neck and Maxwell winced. A trickle of red wine ran down his face and neck, and Maxwell averted his gaze to open his door. "You're making a mess." He muttered, and Andrew used his sleeve to wipe his mess up. "Sorry. I just...I didn't want to be alone." Maxwell froze, sensing something troublesome was going to come out of Andrew's mouth. "Let's get inside before you tell me why, Maxwell said, glancing around him. They hadn't had to deal with that stalker since Maxwell had asked for his help, but that didn't mean there weren't others. The stink that had been kicked up from those two idiot brothers trying to drug him had been enormous. It was one of the reasons Maxwell hadn't been around often after it. He hadn't wanted to cause problems to Andrew. Andrew was just a simple guy. He loved his job and loved where he worked. And he lost his job. Maxwell was working up the courage to ask him to come to work for him since it seemed that he liked his company, but he could be persuaded to move if he offered enough incentives. Maxwell had been thinking about 3 times the regular starting bonus, and about 20% more for funding for research projects. And he'd be a department head, so he could do basically whatever he wanted. Maxwell had looked into Andrew's career and had been pleasantly surprised that he was so competent. If he began working at his company, he could only imagine what kind of advancements he could make. His family could have a monopoly on government contract jobs if he joined them. But he wasn't going to ssstrong-arman. He was his... neighbor first, he'd have to put his ambitions second. The giant got to his feet, stumbling slightly, and Maxwell grew more worried. He wouldn't be able to catch him if he fell, since he weighed a ton compared to Maxwell. That only made Maxwell frown more. What the fuck did they feed to a guy like him to make him so big? It was wasted on him since he wasn't going into modeling. He was a fucking scientist. And he dug around in the dirt regularly. Maxwell knew that because Andrew was so proud of it. "Maaaaaaaaaaaax. Comfort meeeeeeee." Andrew pouted, barely letting Maxwell close the door before wrapping his arms around him tightly. Maxwell thought he was going to squeeze the life out of him, he was clinging so tightly. Awkwardly, Max patted his arm, worried that he was going to reveal anything to this man. Not that he would be smart enough to notice. "Why do I need to comfort you?" Maxwell felt like he was talking to a three-year-old as he kicked off his shoes. He normally liked everything clean and tidy, but with this kind of Andrew around, he doubted that anything would remain that way once he got involved. It was the sniffing that made him pause. He turned his head and found that the normally happy, jovial giant had tears running down his face. He panicked immediately. "A-Andrew? What's wrong?" Andrew didn't say anything, instead burying his head into Maxwell's neck, causing the poor man to nearly have a heart attack when he felt his nose rub against his throat. "Andrew?" His voice held a hint of panic to it, and Andrew's shoulders shook. "W-We had a data breach at work, and everyone blamed me." He sobbed, his body jerking, and causing Maxwell's body to jerk in turn. Maxwell was shocked to hear the news. His company hadn't done it, so who had? "What do you mean they blamed you?" He asked. Now that he had a sense of what was going on, he was slightly calmer. Nervously, he patted Andrew's broad back and Andrew sobbed. "T-They hired me but didn't either. They're trying to chase me out of the industry." Maxwell froze. "They what?" He whispered and Andrew's grip tightened on him. "They took all of my research, my clearance, and have put me on hold. All of my projects are canceled, and until the investigation is finished, I am not able to work at all. I'm on hold unpaid too. They are binding my career over something I didn't do." He suddenly jerked his head back, showing off his awful crying face. "And my girlfriend was the one who blamed me the most! This is a setup! I'm heartbroken!" Maxwell's grip on the giant tightened. His girlfriend? Set him up? "Are you...still dating?" Maxwell asked, and that caused a torrent of tears to fall down the man's face. Maxwell didn't hate that the man was an ugly crier. It made him feel better that there was a point in time when he wasn't stunning. "How could I date someone so callous? Max! I thought about marrying her!" Maxwell couldn't help feeling the hope swelling in his chest, even as Andrew sobbed. Andrew was now single. Maxwell gulped. Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com