lesterzeppelin | mask or menace

Sure thing.

[ He pauses, his attention on background voices and the hustle and bustle on the restaurant ahead, ]

I'm grabbing your order now, so uh. Hang tight, I'll see you soon.

Hanging by my fingers. I don't deserve you, Apo.

[It's supposed to sound happy, sappy, and maybe even flirtatious, but it comes out soft. Honestly thoughtful.]

[ Hold up. Usually Apollo's the one acknowledging all of Max's efforts and hard work – not the other way around.

If he weren't in the middle of ordering food, he would counter this, maybe pry into what the heck that dream had been about, but as it stands... there's no point. Not when Max seems so disoriented. ]

Pretty sure it's the opposite way around, babe, [ he laughs, keeping his voice light, ] but sure. I'll be there.

And who was the one traveling the world saving lives and helping the sick recently?

[Max hadn't been saving any lives in a long time--or it felt like a long time. That dream had felt so real.]

[ Why does everyone keep saying that?? Apollo would bask in that praise if it were remotely true – as it is, this feels like Python 2.0. ]

This isn’t a comparison. [ he laughs, ] You’re more heroic than me any day of the week and you know it, so... no contest.

Yeah? [It comes out far more questioning than Max wanted it to, but hoped to play it off.]

As long as I get to be your hero as much as you're mine, I think we're doing good with this whole relationship thing.

[ another odd shift in Max's voice. Apollo's going to ask about this later - as in, in-person later. ]

I'd hope so. [ pause, ] Okay, I gotta go for real, so hold on.

[ With that, he hangs up and grabs Max's order.

In about another five minutes, though, there's a knock at his door. Apollo can let himself in (he's got a spare at this point), but you know. He figures he should at least be polite. ]

[Max stumbled out of his bed, changed his clothes into something comfortable--it took some time to find something that fit him and didn't completely hang off his body--and then gets downstairs just as he hears the knocking. He didn't bother to check himself in a mirror before going to open the door, and Apollo is going to notice something is very different about Max. Like twenty pounds of difference.]

Hey. [Is he out of breath? Why does it feel that way?]

[ Oh boy. Oh Gods of Mount Olympus, what happened?

Apollo assumed that Max had been sleeping from illness or something worse, given how busy he had been with Aegis, not... this. Not his babe being skinnier and worse for the wear, with those exhausted eyes and shallower breaths. Like he had been through Hell and back (and then some).

He swallows, forcing on a smile despite his entire body and soul wishing he had noticed sooner - ] Hey yourself.

[ He gestures to the takeout, ] Hope you're as hungry as you said you were.

Starving. [He is. His body feels like it did when he was years younger. Ravenous to the point it might just start to cannibalize itself. But Apollo's here and things feel more real now. The dream in his head isn't going away, but being with Apollo makes it easier for him to tell himself that it wasn't real. That maybe everything he's feeling and dealing with was just an effect of the dream's effects.]

Come on in. Want to eat at the table or up in my room?

[Max does actually look around then to see if anyone else is there.] I don't know who else is here.

Either-or. [ his expression softens, ] I think your roommates can live with a little PDA, but I'm fine with your room if you wanna talk.

[Max reaches out to take one of the bags from Apollo so he can hold his hand with his free one.]

Yeah, they could, but I want you to myself for a bit, too.

[He rubs his thumb over the back of Apollo's hand, letting the feel of it soothe him. This is real. He can feel him, right here.]

[ He melts at Max's touch, his shoulders slumping over with relief - ]

Okay. [ No further questions, not even as Apollo's faintly glowing - not unlike he put on some shimmery make-up (even if he did no such thing). ] Let's go.

[Is he seeing things? Max isn't sure. He's already twisted around because of the memo--dreams. Maybe he's seeing a glow because he missed Apollo so much. He pulls him along up the stairs to his room.

He opens the door to let him in and moves to set the bag he had on the desk. The room isn't a huge mess, but the bed is very rumpled, blankets all over the ground. Clothes are on the ground by the end of the bed. The generator in the corner is off as it usually is during this time of day. Everything about it feels so familiar and yet wrong to Max. He takes in another breath.]

...Take a seat? Plenty of space.

Yeah, of course. [ Apollo pulls a chair up next to Max's bed, taking a seat and pulling one leg up around him. The scene is familiar, even if the mess isn't. He can't help worrying, even if that won't change a damn thing. He's here now. He can help now.

So when he asks, he asks like a doctor, with the same cursory glance he would give any of his patients:]

You okay? Like, physically speaking?

Me? Yeah. Yeah.

[He says it like he's dismissing even the need to ask the question. Doesn't he look like he's okay? He opened the bag and started pulling containers out of it onto the desk.]

I mean--I was kind of dizzy? And those dreams took a lot out of me, but nothing a good couple meals won't fix. Nothing big. Which do you want first?

[ No one loses twenty pounds overnight in a normal, healthy fashion, even if they were in a dream-induced coma for three nights. Apollo frowns, taking a closer look at Max, resting his arms on top of the chair. ]

Whichever. I'm not super hungry. [ He frowns, not willing to let this go just yet, ] Define your dizziness. Was it closer to nausea? What other things were you feeling?

If you say so, Apo. [He says it while grabbing one large container of one of his favorites. He isn't feeling the usual pleased spike, the pleasure from knowing he's about to savor something he loves. He's just ravenous. He takes a huge bite before even answering Apollo. Talks with his mouth full.]

More disoriented than anything. Headache. Took me a bit to get my bearings on where I was. The dream felt so real, I almost didn't remember being here. [He said it like it should have been funny.]

[ This is starting to sound way less like a dream and more like... like going home. Apollo's still giving Max a skeptical look, even as he swallows back his initial words. ]

Can you - [ he hesitates, ] Can you tell me a little more about your dream, babe?

[He keeps chewing, eyes distant. The dream is so fresh in his mind it may as well have happened onto a minute ago instead of hours. Was it hours? Days? Weeks? He swallows and his throat feels sore. Like he's eating for the first time after weeks of screaming. But that couldn't be right.]

I don't know what you want to know. I'm...here. But then I was there. And it was...it was so crazy. I lost everything. Some of it was like having dreams inside of dreams. Nightmares. And then I was back here again? Kind of like when I first showed up. But then I woke up in my bed and it took a second to remember what was even life anymore.

[ None of this sounded good. Max, losing everything? Being here and "there," wherever there was? Apollo's expression crumbles. He may not be an all-knowing god anymore, but knowledge and reason were his domains at one point.

He can reason that something happened. Max must've been Ported out, but something made him think he wasn't ported out. How else could he... not remember... ]

I'm sorry. [ he frowns, ] You really had it rough. But all I want to know is... did you remember this world? Did you remember anything about this Earth?

[Max stops eating then. Tries to think, because Apollo wouldn't ask that question without a reason. Everything was so messy, so surreal and too real at the same time.]

Yeah? Not for most of it. But at the end I did. It was like I was waking up from the dream or something because I started remembering things about being here. It was like I was reliving coming here the first time again. Then I woke up here in my room.

Mm, in that case... [ Apollo's expression softens, in what feels like a rueful smile - ] There's no easy way to say this so I'll be blunt. I think you went home.

[Max's hand clenches in the carton he's holding. His eyes are a bit wide as he looks at Apollo, because maybe that might be the simplest explanation. Maybe he went home and came back and somehow got back to his house and woke up there, but...how?]

Nah. [He looks away, shakes his head.] I don't... Babe, that can't all have been real.

[ Now he feels like the bearer of bad news, but between them - Apollo feels like the rational one. He rises to his feet, helping himself to a plate of food, as if that'll make the situation lighter - ]

Normally I would agree. But most people don't lose, what, 15-20 pounds overnight? [ he sucks in a breath, ] I'm not speaking as your boyfriend right now. I'm speaking as your doctor, and I'm seeing differences in you that... frankly, can't be explained by anything else.

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