Chapter Text
Crackmas Day 1: Confession
Kim whistled as he strolled up the street to Max’s house, hands shoved casually in his pockets and backpack slung over one shoulder. They usually did homework together and then hung out after Kim got out of lacrosse practice, and today he’d gotten out a little early, so he was hoping to surprise Max.
When he made it to the building, he strolled inside without a second thought and made his way up the stairs and down the hall to Max’s family apartment. They were used to him at this point, so he walked right in without knocking and waved to his grandmother sitting on the couch, hunched over a puzzle.
“Hello, Mme. Kante. How’s the puzzle coming?” He asked, peaking over her shoulder. “You’ve got the top corner done since yesterday, I see.”
“Yes, you can see the stain glass on Notre Dame now,” She said with a nod, and Kim smiled, gently rubbing her shoulder before veering up the hall to Max’s room.
“Max,” He called, pushing open the door, but the bedroom was empty.
“Hello, Kim. You are here early.” Markov greeted, a question mark flashing on his screen, and Kim chuckled.
“I got out of practice a little early. Where’s Max?”
“Max is taking a shower, and should be finished in approximately 4 minutes 39 seconds,” Markov said, a countdown flashing briefly. “Make yourself at home.”
“Sweet, thanks, Markov,” Kim said, dropping his bag on the floor and flopping onto Max’s bed with a satisfied sigh.
“What’s Max building over there this time?” He jutted his chin to the desk where several gadgets and tools were laid out.
“He is attempting to fix the woman in Alix’s watch to be more interactive, like me,” Markov explained cheerfully. “We are hoping that she will be able to develop her own emotions such as love.”
“Aww, does Markov have a crush?” Kim asked, laying on his side and leaning his cheek against his fist. The robot jolted, tiny hearts flashing briefly on his screen before he cleared his throat, and Kim gave him a knowing look. “Can I see?”
“Okay, but please be careful. The watch belongs to Alix, and this work is very important to all of us,” Markov said nervously as Kim picked it up and clicked it open.
The tiny hologram woman inside appeared, holding up the time with a kind smile, and Markov sighed dreamily.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” He said with hearts in his eyes.
“I can’t believe Alix is letting him tamper with this thing. It’s been in her family for ages, and she’s super protective of it,” Kim said, turning it over in his hands. “Normally, she won’t even let anyone touch it because she’s scared they’ll – oops!” The watch slipped from his grip and plummeted to its death on the hard wood floor. “…drop it.”
“Kim! What have you done?” Markov shrieked, flitting down to the floor to gather the pieces in a pile. “You killed her!”
“I-It’s fine! Max can totally fix it,” Kim insisted, waving his hands in frantic reassurance.
“Can totally fix what?” Max asked, and Kim glanced up to see him standing in the doorway with a towel slung over his shoulders. They held each other’s gaze for a long moment before Kim pointed to the floor.
“Markov let me touch something on your desk, and it broke all by itself. Totally not my fault. I didn’t drop it on the floor,” Kim said accusingly.
“Negative. That statement is not true, Max,” Markov denied, shaking his head, and Kim shot him a look.
“Shhh!”
“Kim, what did you break?” Max sighed, rolling his eyes, used to his best friend’s antics at this point.
“Uhh…” Kim averted his gaze as Max took in the broken watch on the floor that Markov was delicately assorting into a pile.
“Is that-”
“Markov knows not to let me touch anything!” Kim blurted, folding his arms over his chest as Max face-palmed.
“Alix is going to kill us,” Max groaned.
“You can fix it, right?” Kim gave him a hopeful look, and Max peaked through his fingers.
“Well, sure, but Alix was coming by soon to check on the progress!” He said, with a hint of hysteria.
“How soon is soon?” Kim asked as the doorbell rang, and they all cast nervous glances toward it. “Max! Do something!”
“I can’t! You’re going to have to tell her you broke it.” Max shook his head, and Kim’s shoulders stiffened as he heard Max’s mother greet Alix from the front of the apartment.
“Can’t we just hide it and tell her it’s not finished yet?” Kim pleaded as Max stooped down to collect all the pieces and return them to the desk.
“Are you kidding? We had to beg to get her to let us even do this, and she was very particular about it. One of her stipulations is that she gets to come by every day to assess the progress,” Max replied with a wince.
When Alix’s clunky, heelied footsteps sounded up the hall, Kim and Max moved to block the desk from view, plastering on innocent smiles when she rounded the corner into the doorway. She glanced between them, eyes narrowing into a suspicious glare.
“We-” Max elbowed him. “I have a confession to make.”
“Did you touch my watch?” Alix demanded, shoulders tensing.
“Affirmative,” Markov chimed in, floating above their heads. “Kim destroyed the one thing I loved.”
“Kim!” Alix growled, shoving past them and scooping up the pieces. “How could you?”
“I think we should all know by now that I can’t be trusted with nice things!” Kim countered, holding out his arms defensively, and Alix pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Max, please tell me you can fix this,” Alix said with a sigh.
“I should have it back to the way it was by tomorrow.” Max nodded, and Alix turned to him, folding her arms over her chest and shooting him her most threatening glare.
“You better,” She said, blowing and popping a bubble of her gum before turning to Kim. “And you better not touch it!”
“Yes, ma’am.” They said in unison, gulping nervously.
“Good. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She stalked from the room, her heelies clanking against the wood all the way up the hall until they heard the front door shut.
“Am I banned from ever touching anything on your desk again?” Kim asked, pressing his lips into a firm line.
“Yep,” Max and Markov affirmed with nods.
“Fair enough.”