[A/N]So here is a lovely new chapter for you all. Shit is about to go down. Sorry not sorry!

lucaya the good: Awe. Thank you so much. Maybe I don't suck at sex scenes. Maybe there will be more in the future. And thank you. i try to keep continuity. Which is harder than it seems even though I always thought beofre i started writing that continuity would be easy. After all, you wrote it so you should be able to keep everything straight. Not true. I'm always rereading.

anonymous: Here ya go. I updated. Haha.

Chapter 5: We All Have Our Demons, Yours Just Seem More Demonic

Max

"Someone has a flare for the dramatic, eh?" Max shot up like a light and looked at his forgotten chair that sat in the corner. The chair was kind of an ongoing joke between him and oyster. His mom had given it to him because apparently he needed to have some more sitting room for his friends. Max and Oyster often referred to the chair as a person all on its own (they named it Spot due to the hideous neon green polka dots all over it) as no one ever sat in it. Why would they? The only friend Max allowed into his room frequently was Oyster and Oyster definitely always had a spot on Max's bed reserved.

That had obviously changed as Tara Campbell sat perched right on Spot. "Tara? What are you doing here?"

"Am I not welcome?" Max really couldn't understand why Tara would sneak into his bedroom nor could he get any read on her emotions. Her eyes seemed too cloudy with mischief to hold anything else. "That's never seemed the case before." Her lips formed a pout that must've taken years to perfect.

"No, no! You're always welcome. It's just you never broke into my bedroom before."

"Rumor has it you've been a naughty boy. Planting drugs into a boy's locker. I mean, there were already drugs there to begin with but I guess it's the thought that counts, right?" She hopped off the chair and sauntered over to him as a cat stalks a mouse.

"Wait, how the fuck do you know that?"

"I heard it somewhere."

"You heard it some—Have you been leaving me notes?"

"What notes?" She asked, eyeing him with a weird expression. "You want notes? Love letters maybe?" She asked.

"Is that what they were? Because I'm not into eye gauging!" He set her with a hard glare. What was she playing at?

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Max. I came here to fuck. Plain and simple. I don't do notes nor do I do bull shit." So she wasn't the one who'd been leaving him notes? She was here because she'd heard he'd planted drugs in that kid's locker and apparently that was like an aphrodisiac or something? "So do you want to fuck me?" What could he say? He had never turned her down before. "Or maybe I could fuck you? I'm not too picky." She didn't really wait for an answer. She just strode up to him and pushed her mouth to his. It wasn't quite like it used to be. Her lips weren't as soft as they looked. They were kind of slick and she obviously put way too much lipstick on and—Wait!

"Tara," he said, trying to push her off of him.

"Busy." Inside his mind he let out an agitated sigh. It figures his one catch phrase would be used against him and—Hey! Was that her hand on his dick? Yes it was. "And it feels like you are too? Or at least he is."

"Tara!" He said with more force. Her eyes, previously misty, were now giving him an icy glare.

"What?" She snickered.

"Who told you that I planted drugs in some kid's locker?"

"I don't know! It was at a party. I was fucking higher than a kite." Great, A party. Now he just needed to know whose.

"Okay, whose party was it?" He asked.

"Why do you care? I'm touching your dick and you're worried about who I got high with last night. What the fuck, Max!"

"Tara, tell me!"

She scoffed, "Cole's. It was Cole's party! Can we get back to things that are actually important now?" She kissed his neck.

It was Cole's party? That made sense. Cole hated Max and had more than enough reason to want to fuck him over. Somehow he had figured out that he had planted drugs in Devin's locker and was trying to anonymously blackmail him. Fuck that! He was dead. More than dead. He thought he could threaten him? Max Thunderman? Who the hell did he think he was? If he thought the punch he got from Oyster hurt…

Max hated not being in control. Being in control was the only thing Max really had. He may not know what he and Oyster had together, but he was in control of it. His parents may try to get under his skin but he did his best not to let them know he cared. That would probably explain why he was so mad for going to them for help earlier, why he was so mad for storming away like a pussy. It left a chink open in his armor that he was not willing to reveal again. Fuck them! With Tara it seemed he was never actually in control but always battling for it. She liked to push his buttons and he maybe didn't always enjoy it.

"Max!" He was brought back to reality by Tara's shrill voice. Her voice wasn't nearly as provocative as he had originally thought. "What's up with you? You've been practically drooling over me since we first met and for some reason you seem more interested in anything that isn't me!" He stared at her, trying to calculate where she was going with this. "Then again, I heard that you might be into something else. Maybe that's the problem." She popped her p's. It was kinda annoying. How had he not noticed that before?

"What are you talking about?"

Max could feel his control slipping. She seemed to be taking a little more of his power for every minute she was in the room. "Maybe I should get a strap on," she chuckled. "Would that suit you better?"

"Where did you hear-" He started. She smiled at him, a lioness about to capture her prey.

She gasped as his hand circled around her wrist. He quickly swung her towards the bed and her eyes took on a very feline composure. Max shredded his shirt in one quick motion and climbed on top of her. He slid his hand under her skirt she was wearing and teased her a bit. Leaning close to her ear he whispered, "What was that about needing to be fucked?"

"I don't believe that word was ever uttered from my lips," she moaned as he kissed her neck.

"It will be. Trust me." Cole could wait. First things first, he needed his power back.

Oyster

"Oyster? Oyster?" He squirmed in his sweat soaked bed, refusing to believe that the voice calling to him actually had any importance. "Wake up!" He felt a smack upside the head. Who the fuck? He felt his eyelids lift to discover his aunt looming over him. "Ungrateful! Here I let you live in my house free of charge—even after what you've done—and you still disobey me. I told you I didn't want you hanging out with that hoodlum."

Hoodlum? Who was she even talking about? Didn't she know that when the sun wasn't even fully up in the sky that talking was a no-no? An image of Max attached itself to the tiniest part of his conscious brain and he sat straight up. "Max is here?" The clock to his right said it was a little past 6 in the morning. His heart was doing a little happy dance.

"Try not to look so smug." She began to exit the room. "I told him to wait outside." Of course she did, he thought with a roll of his eyes. "I want him off my property within the next thirty minutes. No more, no less." There was another game that Oyster liked to play besides Scared or Turned On. It was, At What Point in My Aunt's Life Did She Become Such A Bitch? That title was definitely a work in progress, but the game was decent enough and he had still yet to win.

He got up, not bothering to get dressed or put shoes on and went out the door to see Max. He was looking as ridiculous as ever, wearing a white tank and a light weight leather jacket. His pants were a deep red. Oyster slid his hand up to his neck. He felt awkward. For the first time in a long time he felt awkward around Max. "So, um. Hi?"

Max looked at him with a deepness that Oyster couldn't identify. Max went up to Oyster and enveloped him in a tight hug. Oyster was honestly surprised. This was so different from the Max he encountered earlier yesterday. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into his neck. Oyster settled into the hug for a moment before bristling. He immediately backed up and gave Max a huge punch in the arm. "Ow! What the fuck, Oyster! That's my arm, you know, a thing that's attached to me that has nerve endings? At least it used to." He rubbed his arm grumpily. Oyster just snickered, knowing that Max was playing it up.

"That's for yesterday, Jackass!" He scolded.

"I apologized!"

"Yeah? Well I wasn't satisfied obviously! I really needed you yesterday and you weren't there." He pulled Max into another hug. He supposed he was maybe giving his friend emotional whiplash. He then decided, so the fuck what?

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I was just kinda off. Okay, I was completely off. I didn't want you caught in the crossfire. Why? What happened yesterday?"

Oyster considered telling him the tale of the mysterious letter, but then he would also have to tell him about the drinking and he wasn't about to do that. It wasn't that he didn't trust Max, but telling people about his previous drinking habits always seemed so problematic. Peoples' eyes would glaze over and when they resumed their normal appearance they stared at him differently. Their body reacted to him in the same way as well as their words, but the eyes always acted as a different entity all together, judging him.

"Never mind. I'm over it."

"Oyster, I can read you like a book. You are most certainly not fine. You're my best friend." He pulled back and held onto one of Oyster's hands. "But I also know you well enough to know that if you don't want to tell me you won't. So that just leaves me with one question: What can I, your best friend who has behaved so ashamedly—"

"Cut the shit," Oyster chuckled pushing Max away.

Max only continued as if he had not been interrupted, "Do to make feel better? No, fuck better. How about top of the world?"

"Top of the world, eh?" Oyster chortled. '

"No, that's still not good enough for my best friend!" He spoke as if he were a knight there to rescue a fair maiden. Oyster was not a fair maiden.

"Seriously, Max!" He laughed. "I'm fine. You're such a dick!" But there was no longer any heat to his words.

"Ah! But I have already said that 'fine' isn't good enough, you see? And Maximus Octavious Thunderman always delivers. Now what can I, as your humblest of friends, do to make you feel like a king for a day?" Although he knew Max was being sarcastic, he also knew he was being serious. He did want to do something for Oyster.

He finally succumbed to the situation at hand. If it was there than he was definitely gonna take advantage. "Anything?"

"Anything, my lord."

Oyster pondered and let out an over the top, "Hmmm." An idea popped in his head. "Fine. I want your leather jacket for the day."

"Really" Max said, breaking out of character. "That's all." He smiled and shrugged off the jacket.

"Yeah." Really it was the perfect pick me up. He got to wear a jacket that smelled like Max all day and get to see Max's exposed arms.

"Then it is your, my lord. Done and done."

Oyster just rolled his eyes and slipped it on. It was snug and he felt safe in it. It was a weird but welcome feeling. "Well, as fun as this is we do have to get to school. And my aunt said she wanted you gone in thirty minutes are less so there is that. Can I get a ride?"

"Yeah, but Oyster?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You might want to go and take a shower first. I dig the whole in nothing but boxers and t-shirt with sex hair but others may not. Also, you might catch a disease from the school hallways without shoes." Max took out a cigarette and lit it up. "I'll wait for you out in the car."

"Too bad we aren't at your house."

"Why?"

"Because then you could join me," Oyster said with a smirk.

Max dropped his cigarette and had to stumble to catch it, burning himself on the tip a bit. "Ah. Fuck!"

"Yeah that would've been the idea," Oyster called over his shoulder. It was so rare that he was the one to catch Max off balance. He rather enjoyed that.

Max

Max sucked on his thumb until the pain of the burn subsided. Fucking Oyster and his god damn shower fantasy proposition that couldn't be followed through. Now Max was alone in his car with a hard on that wasn't going away. He thought back to his night with Tara and scoffed. She had hardly made him as hard as Oyster could. He hadn't even really wanted to have sex with her. It was just what she had been implicating. Whoa—Wait! He hadn't wanted to have sex with her. That was weird fucking thought. But he wanted to fuck Oyster. Yes, yes he did. So veryveryvery very badly. He took a particularly hard drag on his cigarette to burn the thought out of his mind. That what Tara had been implying might, in some small way, be truth.

That was the least of his problems anyhow. What concerned him first was apologizing to Oyster, but now he had to deal with Cole. That was now priority number one. The little shit thought he could get away with blackmailing him? He laughed out loud at the mere thought of Cole being able to do anything to him.

He saw Oyster coming down the stairs and heading towards Max's piece of shit car that he had bought for practically nothing. It was on its last legs but luckily he never drove it more than 10 miles at a time. Most days he left it at home but today he hadn't felt like walking. Oyster looked great just out of the shower. He had obviously rushed because his hair was all spikey and wet. He bit his bottom lip, thinking about running his hands through it.

Oyster got in with ease, still wearing Max's jacket. Max wondered why that was what Oyster had chosen. Did it really make him that happy to wear it? He did seem more chipper. Hell if that was all it took to keep Oyster happy, he could wear any of his clothes. He looked fucking good in them. Max couldn't place it but it felt so erotic, Oyster wearing his clothes. He wiggled in his seat, trying to situate his erection in a way that didn't make it completely obvious.

"I gotta make a quick stop before we go to school."

"Where?"

"Cole's house."

"What? Why?" Oyster looked completely dumb founded. Max couldn't really blame him. Who the fuck would want to go to Cole's house? They guy was a tool.

"Because he had a party and didn't invite us. Don't you think that's rather rude?" Max spoke as if he was truly offended that they weren't invited. Even though both he and Oyster knew he could care fuck all about anything to do with Cole, even a party.

"Max." He recognized Oyster's warning tone. He got it whenever he thought Max was about to do something stupid.

"Don't worry mon ami. It's a diplomatic mission."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just like Princess Leigh was on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan."

"Nice," Max said, raising his hand for a high five. He saw Oyster roll his eyes but complied. After all, they were bros and bros high fived at Star Wars references.

They pulled up to Cole's house and he put his car in park. He wasn't sure yet what he planned to do. Kick the crap out of him? Just talk to him? He knew which one he wanted to do, but his inner Oyster voice was saying that talking to him was the more acceptable option. He then took the time to remind his inner Oyster that he had punched Cole so he could stop being a hypocrite anytime. Inner Oyster just gave him a bitch glare. He sighed. Talking it was.

He started to open his door when he saw Oyster unbuckling, ready to follow. He pushed him back to the seat. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, going with you," he spoke in a way that said, 'duh.'

"Why?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Max made another sigh and looked into Oyster's eyes with a gentle expression. "I promise. I won't hit him…" He then added, "Unless he reaches maximum douche bag territory. Please? This is just something I have to do on my own."

He saw Oyster starting to give in but he still looked apprehensive. "I'm still not sure why we're even here."

"Oyster, please?" He asked again, just as patient.

"Fine. Go ahead and do your mysterious meeting. I'll just sit here waiting."

"Great!" He said as he flashed one of his wining smiles. He obviously couldn't tell Oyster why he wanted him to stay in the car nor could he explain why he hadn't told Oyster about the letters he had been receiving. They had just always seemed so cryptic and private in a way. Plus, there was no reason to get him all worked up. He had this on lock. Scare Cole with a few words and everything was back to being peachy fucking keen.

He opened the door with confidence and hopped out, making his way to Cole's fancy, three story house. Of course the fucker lived in style. He knew Cole's mother was the principal of their school and his father was some rich investment banker or something just as snooty sounding. He then spied his fancy, red Saab convertible. Apparently fancy fuckers needed fancy foreign cars. Max supposed Cole having money was one of the reasons that it had been so difficult to see Oyster go out with him. Because Cole had money and he didn't. Cole could buy Oyster frivolously awesome things that Max could never hope to afford in a thousand years. He would never admit it but it definitely hurt.

He knocked on the white, wooden door and waited. Max wasn't surprise to see the shocked look on Cole's face when he answered.

"Max," he said. "What a pleasant surprise." Max tilted his head. Why the hell was he so chipper to see him? Then he noticed his stare was directed at Oyster in his car.

"Don't get too happy. I'm here to talk to you, only me. I'm not letting you anywhere near Oyster. Don't forget," Max said with a smug look, "he socked you in the face the last time you to had a heart to heart." He took great satisfaction in the sour look he evoked from Cole's face.

"A momentary lapse in his judgement. He'll change his mind when he realizes what you are." Max felt himself reflexively clutching his hands into fists at his side. He needed to play it cool. He still had most of the power here. What did Cole really even have on him at all? "What do you want?"

"Let's see. What do I want? I want to go to school without being threatened to have my eyes ripped out." Cole tilted his head in confusion.

"Say what?"

"Don't play dumb. I know how easy it is for you to fall right into that role so I'll let it go once. Just admit what you're doing and we can all get on with our lives!"

"I seriously have no clue to what you're referring to, but I can hardly bring myself to care. But if someone is going to rip your eyes out… send me a text. I'd like to watch," he snickered.

"Strike two, dick nose. Do you really want to strike out here? What is that's got you so pissed? You're upset I ruined your little date? What's your plan anyway? Tell everyone that Oyster and I are fooling around? Who'd believe it? No one."

"That's what this is about? You think I plan to tell everyone about what I know about you two? Because of one little sucker punch and a lousy date." Cole snorted and laughed in derision.

"That and the fucking letters."

"Please! If I really wanted to out you, I would do it. I wouldn't need to rely on little anonymous notes. I honestly have no problem outing you, but that would also out Oyster. So no, I wasn't planning on doing that. You're right though, I do have a problem with you. The only thing is, I'm not the only one. You've made a lot of enemies, Max. I am intrigued though. If someone is sending you creepy letters that promise body part removal, how do you plan to find them? Eeny meeny miny moe it till you get it right?" Cole started laughing again and Max could literally hear his blood pounding. His ears seemed to be roaring, a ring so high pitched he could practically feel his head ripping in two pieces.

In his head he kept repeating a mantra, "You are not losing power. You are in control of the situation. The situation is not in control of you. You are not losing power…"

"The sad part about this whole thing is that you can't even admit it to anyone or even yourself most likely. If you ask me that's what truly makes you a pathetic little faggot!" Max felt his fist connecting with Cole's face. He couldn't even tell if it was truly his own agency that made him do it. He didn't feel like it was. His body was just moving and he was powerless to stop it. When Cole fell he let his foot swing into his guy. Cole coughed, "Fucker."

Max heard a voice. Was it his own? It didn't sound like him, but it had to be. No one else was there. "You do not control me! I control me! You don't know what or who I am!" He indicated each word with a kick to the gut," Just! Shut! The fuck! Up!" He flipped Cole over and climbed on top of him, throwing another punch. Then he felt arms wrap around his waist, pulling him backwards. He was about to fight back when he realized it was Oyster.

Oyster

Oyster watched Max walk up and knock on the door. Cole answered not thirty seconds later. There was a strange sense of déjà vu that seemed to be encasing his body. Something was nagging him at the back of his mind. What was it? A string of words tugging at his brain and he couldn't remember. "Shit!"

"But let me tell you something about Max Thunderman. He's not who you think he is. I dated his sister and if there's one thing you can count on its not being able to count on him! He will always let you down! Always! He's a selfish little prick who only has one person on his mind, himself!"

"However, it's not all that surprising that Max would dump you. After all, Max isn't who you think he is. Look on the bright side though, when things are down there's always "bottoms up".

"Fucking shit!" He slammed his fist down on the dash, the words echoing in his mind. Fuck, fuck, fuck! He looked back towards the two talking figures and saw Max shaking. What were they talking about? Should he get out and confront him? No that would be crazy. He wasn't even sure if Cole was the one who sent him the note. Shit! Did Max just punch him (more turned on than scared). "Fucking Max!"

He tore at the handle to open the door and jumped out. He heard Max screaming but couldn't really make anything out. He saw that Max was kicking him now. He could practically feel the pain with each swift kick he delivered (more scared than turned on). He was climbing on top of Cole throwing his fist at his face in a frenzy that didn't even seem human. He wrapped his hands around Max's waist and pulled at the resistance Max was giving. He heard Max screaming now, "No, I need to. I'm in control! He doesn't own me! Please, no!"

"Max," Oyster tried as he wiggled in his grasp. "Max!" Max seemed to go completely still.

"I—"

Cole got to his knees and was practically seething, "Get him off my property! Now! Before I call the fucking cops. I swear to god I will."

"Okay. Okay, we're going." He didn't doubt Cole for a second. He pulled Max to his feet and started to walk away but spared one last glance. "Cole?"

"What?" His voice held a wretched anger and something else… fear? Despite the severe kicks and the punches he looked pretty good. No blood at least, except a split lip. Although he figured he'd have a black eye and a couple of bruises on his ribs.

"We need to talk. Soon." There was no verbal response, just a terse nod in agreement from Cole.

They both made their way back to the car. Max was settled in the passenger seat. He protested at first but Oyster pleaded that he let him drive. The drive itself was rather silent. There was no bickering or playful teasing. The warmth that had premeated the air earlier was gone. It was driving Oyster insane. What the hell had happened back there? He couldn't take it anymore. He had to say something or he'd explode.

"Max? What was that back there? What happened?"

"I—I don't know. I was talking. I seriously wasn't even thinking about hitting him and then…I was…I—I'm sorry." Oyster could feel the shame radiating from Max's body. Did he scare him a little, yes. That had already been established, but so had his love for this boy. He was pretty much certain there was nothing Max could do to change that. Still though…that anger he had seen. There was nothing like it. It hadn't sounded nor looked like Max. Not even the dark side of Max that Oyster had seen many times. No, this was something different. Should he tell someone? Max's parents? No. Max wouldn't respond kindly to that. Shit. "Oyster?" He looked over at Max. "You're not scared of me are you?"

"I—I. Hmm." That was sort of an answer he supposed.

"Can't really blame you if you are. Cause I'm kind of scared of myself to. That's not the first time something like that has happened either. Back at my old school I—" He didn't continue to reveal the rest of the story and Oyster really didn't know what to say. "I just—I don't know. I sometimes just lose myself. But please, please don't be scared of me. I can't—" Oyster heard Max's voice break and something inside his own self broke. At the same time, something else clicked. Anger was to Max what alcohol was to Oyster. Oyster couldn't even count all the times he had somehow ended up with liquor pouring down his throat. It seemed Max was the same way with anger. They both had their own taste of nasty side effects. They also both required their own brand of help.

"I'm not terrified," he tried, determined not to lie. "But what I saw today did scare me a little. Max, I think you need help."

"You think I need—Is something wrong with me?" There wasn't anger in his voice. There was just the voice of a small child that had been hurt emotionally. A child that was confused at what was going on. "But where would I even—I don't have any money. The money I do have has to go to bills. I can't—" His voice sounded tired. It sounded like he hadn't slept in weeks, a stark contrast to what he had been like an hour previous.

"There's always the guidance consoler. That's what they're there for."

Oyster felt Max falling into his shoulder. He quickly wrapped a supportive arm around him. "It's okay Max. You'll be okay. I promise."

That's how he drove. In silence. One arm around Max and the other on the steering wheel.

[A note from Anonymous for the clueless] So what do you think is wrong with Max? He seems a bit off kilter wouldn't you say? Oh no! Another problem on a never ending list. Poor Maxie could really use someone to lean on. Wait, he does have someone. Oyster, right? Well, maybe I should take him away. Might be hard, but I love a challenge.

[A/N] I've decided to add these little notes from anonymous at the end of each chapter. They are not canon with the story at all. No characters from the story know about these notes nor did the person sending anonymous notes actually write them within this world I've created. They're just like little teases of what's to come in their voice. As always review please. I love talking to you! Have a lovely day readers.