Chapter Text
What were you thinking? Seeing Max in that way... It was straight up uncalled for. You and Max had been sitting in silence for the past few seconds, still trying to process what had happened just a few moments earlier. Your face was still burning hot, yet you couldn't tell what his looked like since you couldn't bring yourself to look him in the eye. Not after that.
You ran your hands down your face in an attempt to distract yourself, cleanse the thoughts out of your mind. It didn't help much though.
Then, you heard a barely audible chuckle coming from the direction he was in. Rasing your head, you opened your eyes to finally look at him, his eyes already on you, causing you to break eye contact immediately, "What?"
"Nothing... It's just-" Max paused for a second, thinking that what he was about to say was too far. Then again, the position you both were in earlier was far from just "friendly".
"The way your face looks when you're blushing," He pointed out, tilting his head to the side to take it in better, your eyes now big, shocked by his words, "It's cute."
"W-What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
Which was true. You did know what he meant, but that didn't mean you thought he was going to bring that fact to light. Nor were you going to confirm it. "You had a look on your face too." You spoke up, not wanting to be the only one that was embarrassed. "Was it handsome?" He asked teasingly.
You lowered your hands, your brows lowering to normal as you thought of a response.
"Maybe it was," You said, catching him off guard, "It also looked like you enjoyed being beneath me." You added with a small smirk, watching as the flush you had transferred to him. He raised his hand to cover his mouth, looking to the side.
"What? Did I catch you lacking?" You asked in semi-disbelief. No way he actually felt that way? Right?
"Look who's blushing now." You teased, leaning forward a bit to get a better look at his face. He just turned away from you more, squeezing his eyes shut, "Alright, alright!"
Chuckling, you decided you'd leave him alone for now, but you'd definitely start making small references to this moment every once in a while from this point forward.
However, at the current moment, you didn't know what to do. You sat there, on Max's bed, looking at nothing, thinking about nothing. He was near you, as silent as a mouse. You wondered if that you said was too much, yet you always wondered that, and each time, you couldn't tell if it was worth worrying about or not.
Last time you did and you finally, for the first time, confronted Max about it, he said it was whatever... What if that wasn't the case though? What if he just didn't want to tell you to your face, even after having the opportunity to? He had so many times to say that the shipping was going too far, that you and the others were crossing the line... Although, when you thought about it, he never did.
So did he not have a problem with it?
Or did he like it as much as you did?
"U-Um..." Max cleared his throat, you flinched, turning your head in his direction. You were so deep in thought that you forgot where you were for a second, "I'm gonna start getting ready,"
"Oh, alright," You shifted a bit as Max scooted off the bed, "I should probably start getting ready too..."
Dead silence.
.
.
.
"So are you going to...?" He asked, you raised a brow before it clicked, "Shit- I mean, crap! My bad!-" You scurried off the bed quickly, Max chuckled behind you as you started walking towards the door to leave his room and give him some privacy, "What, did you want to watch me change or something?" He teasingly asked. You shot him a look over your shoulder before rolling your eyes, "Shut up.."
Closing the door behind you, you began making your way downstairs to where you thought your bag was, but it in fact was not there. Confused, you started looking around in the living room, near the front door, the kitchen, yet there was nothing.
That didn't make much sense... You could've sworn you had it somewhere. You literally saw it before you guys left to do random shit earlier, so where could it have possibly gone?
Was it in your car?
Unlocking the front door, you crept outside, the sun was gone by this point, replaced by a moon and barely visible clouds surrounding it. Specks of stars scattered around throughout the night sky and a cold breeze that made you regret not putting a jacket on or some shoes.
You quickly walked over to your car, checking inside to see if it was anywhere, from the front seat to the trunk.
Empty.
Where in the world was it? You stood outside for a moment, thinking back to where you could've put your bag. Before you really had time to come up with a thought, a gust of wind blew past you, clearly giving you a sign to go back inside.
With an audible shiver, you quietly ran back inside, softly closing the door behind you.
Now what? You couldn't go out wearing what you currently had on. Max said to wear something nice, which you'd do if you could find where the hell your bag went.
Going back to the living room one last time, you started retracing your steps for when you both came back a few hours before. Your phone and keys were resting on the small coffee table in front of the couch, a two blankets that Max had brought out carelessly laid out on the cushions.
Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something upstairs, faint music and Max's voice coming from what you assumed was his room. You snickered to yourself, never guessing that he was the type to listen to music when getting ready, but then again, why not?
Oh.
You closed your eyes, taking in a breath of air and holding it there. Your hands found their way to the bridge of your nose, rubbing it until you ran them down your face.
Dragging yourself along, you snuck up the stairs, the music coming from Max's room a bit louder, but not in a way that was obnoxious. You knocked, not too hard, just loud enough for him to hear, "Hey, Max?" You called out. The shuffling inside halted before the music was turned down, yet still faintly audible, "Yeah?"
"Could you hand me my bag? It's in your room."
"Yeah!"
You took a step back away from the door, waiting a few beats until it cracked open just enough for your bag to fit through. "Oh?" You raised a brow in amusement, grabbing your bag from him, "I can't let you see the goodies too early."
"Okay Max." You weakly entertained, slinging your bag over your shoulder, "Thank you, by the way." You added, he gave you a thumbs up before slithering his arm back into his room, "My music isn't too loud, is it?" He yelled from behind the door, "No, I don't mind it anyways, so it's fine!" You said back as you made your way back downstairs, the music he was playing getting louder from him turning it up. It was still a lot less than earlier though.
Walking into the bathroom, you set your bag down and started getting ready. Freshening yourself up, putting on your "nicer" outfit before styling your hair. You looked at yourself in the mirror, doing some minor adjustments.
This was good... You looked good. If Max didn't think so, why would it matter? You felt good, confident, and that's all that mattered.
Packing everything back into your bag, you breathed in. It was time for you to have fun! It's close to being the New Year, the time being ever so near! Now was your moment to live it up one final time with the person you...
Cared about? Admired?
No. No more sugarcoating it. You liked Max... Loved him. That was the pure, honest truth.
You opened the door to the bathroom, feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders. You were preventing yourself from admitting that for so long, and now that you had, you felt so much lighter.
Setting your bag down on a wall, you adjusted what you were wearing one last time before raising your head, ready to wait near the entrance for Max, but he was already there, staring at you with wide eyes, his lips agape.
It gave you the time to take a look at him as well and man...
Man, oh man.
"Oh, wow..." Max breathed out, his shoulders stiff
"I... Could say the same about you," You admitted out loud. As much as you didn't mean to say that, you did anyways. You slowly approached, each step careful and calculated. Max's eyes were on you the whole time, watching. He couldn't tear them away, his breath hitched as you got close enough for you to stand right in front of him.
"Do you have everything you need?" He asked shakily, swallowing hard. You checked your pockets, your wallet and phone being inside, "Yeah, I should." You answered, "Well then..." You felt his eyes looking you up and down one final time, "Sorry!- Let's... Let's go then," He stammered, turning around to open the door. You tried to keep the smile on your face from forming.
"After you," He said, giving you space to walk through, "Thank you." You said as you passed him, he followed right behind you, locking the front door. You were nowhere near the car when he flew past you, opening the passenger side door for you to let you inside. You were honestly surprised, but you had no reason to complain. From what you knew, not many guys really did that nowadays.
Thanking him again, you sat inside, the smell of his cologne wrapping around you like a warm blanket, especially with him wearing it next to you. He turned the car on, backing out into the street before driving wherever he was trying to surprise you with.
"You're not taking me to somewhere to kill me, right?" You asked jokingly, wanting to lighten the mood a bit, maybe start some conversation. He smiled, adjusting his grip on the wheel, "Crap, you caught me." He quipped sarcastically in return, "Aw nah, get me out of here!" You said, putting your hand on the handle, not actually pulling it open.
Max used his other hand to lock the car doors, "Ah, ah, ah," He taunted, "No backing out now."
"I'm so cooked." You leaned back, earning a confused scoff from him, "You're giving up that easily?"
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"Put up a fight maybe?"
"Against you...?" You gave him a glance, he gave one back before his eyes returned to the road ahead, "I'm good..."
"...What is that supposed to mean?" His voice was a lot quieter and softer as he spoke, maybe even a bit low too
You gave a hum and a shrug. It'd be best for you to not explain further, or else you'd embarrass yourself.
The drive so far was peaceful. Max played some music, you were looking out the window, seeing faint fireworks popping, lighting up the sky with various yellows, reds and other colors. It was still early, almost 11:27 pm or so, but it was still a beautiful sight to witness regardless.
Your arm was resting on the armrest next to Max's, not much space for your arm not to touch his. His skin was warm, giving your cooler arm a bit of heat after being against yours for so long. Then, you felt something.
Looking down, you noticed Max's hand shifting away from yours as soon as you looked in his direction, his body tense, eyes focused on driving, but he was definitely more focused on you.
You turned your head, looking back outside of the window. It took a minute or so to pass before you felt it again, the lightest brush of his fingers against yours, giving you the chance to pull away. You felt your heart pounding in your chest, shifting in your seat as you tried keeping yourself together. It wasn't that serious, was it?
His fingers crept in steadily, clearly hesitant. The gentleness of his touch making your heart melt, but there was something inside of you that awakened. Something hungry. You wanted to feel more of his touch, what it'd be like if...
Your fingers twitched as you moved them, around the same pace as him. He flinched away until he realized what you were doing, the tenseness in his body relaxing just a bit as he brought his fingers to where they were before.
A light touch. Your palm felt warm in his. Your face was resting in your open hand against the window, trying to hide the clear flush on your face. In the corner of your eye, you could see how Max's face was practically glowing red.
You understood why. Perfectly.
You two were hand in hand after all.