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Kai felt his right eye twitch slightly.
With his arms crossed over his chest, he let go of a deep sigh – partly annoyed, partly tired, because really – a broken window? In his house? Lilac eyes stared down disapprovingly onto the two culprits behind the whole dilemma; Tyson, who was mimicking Kai’s crossed arms, looked just as annoyed as he pointedly avoided the elder’s stern gaze, and Max, who stood with hunched shoulders and hands behind his back, had the decency to actually look guilty.
Next to Kai, a bemused-looking Spencer peered through the jagged gap of the broken window from inside the house, and slapped Tala’s wandering hand away from the edges.
“I’ll get the broom,” Spencer muttered before shuffling away to do just that, as Tala leaned against the wall, a faint, but haughty smirk tugging at his lips. Kai knew exactly that he obviously only stuck around to witness him ripping his teammates a new one.
Tyson seemed to sense that too, and therefore stuck his tongue out towards the redhead, who, childishly enough, copied him.
“Who broke it,” Kai asked calmly, unable to keep the tired edge out of his voice. Max winced a little, aware that his captain had spent another night studying for his upcoming exams, and had yet to catch up on sleep. Even aside from his exams, Kai had been studying a lot, his perfectionist streak bleeding over into his academics – he’d be damned if he didn’t excel at university, either. Anything Kai Hiwatari did, he did with excellence. Even if it meant studying until his eyes melted out of his skull, while also having to later deal with whatever shenanigans his uninvited housemates came up with this time.
Hence, the broken window, and Kai’s rapidly shortening fuse. He watched how Max heaved a small sigh as he meekly lifted his hand.
“I broke it…” he mumbled sheepishly. Tyson shifted to stare at his friend with a slightly worried look on his face. Kai sighed again.
“No, no you didn’t. Tyson?”
Tyson squawked indignantly, and Max looked slightly appalled that Kai wouldn’t believe him. Of course, the youngest was involved in this mess somehow, but Kai doubted that he was directly responsible for the shattered window in his living room.
“It wasn’t me!” Tyson claimed, making Tala snort behind Kai.
“So the window just shattered by itself?” the redhead questioned, and Kai didn’t even have to turn around to know that Tala was wearing that incredibly smug face of his whenever he knew he was about to win at something, be it a verbal argument, or physical beat down.
Kai rubbed at the crease between his brows – he just wanted some peace and quiet in his own damn house, how was that too much to ask.
“Who knows,” Tyson said petulantly, levelling Tala with an overly suspicious glare. “Maybe it was you who broke it – after all, how do you know it’s broken?”
Even Max gave Tyson a disbelieving side-eye, sweating a little at the audacity when Tala was clearly still standing right in front of the obviously not whole window. It was a pathetic attempt to cover his ass and Kai actually mentally prayed to anyone up there to gift him unyielding patience. Not strength, patience. If he was gifted any more strength, he might’ve kicked the lot of them onto the moon.
“Are you fucking serious right now–” oh, wonderful, now Tala’s temper lit up, just what Kai needed. He was too sleep-deprived for this. He’s almost tempted to call for Ian, so the boy could fetch him some coffee; the strongest roast he could find, in a tall mug, no sugar, black just like his soul at this moment.
“G-Guys, really,” Max interjected with a small nervous smile, “I broke it, I’m sorry. I’ll pitch in to replace it, it’s no big deal–”
“No, Max, you didn’t break it,” Kai once again interrupted him, rubbing his temples when he felt the familiar unwelcome throb of an oncoming migraine, “just tell me whose oh so brilliant, fantastic idea it was to have a Beybattle this close to the house.”
At the false and sarcastic praise, Tyson puffed his chest up a little.
“That was me, of course!” he declared proudly before the words sunk in. “Wait–”
“Wonderful,” Kai muttered darkly, not minding Tala’s gleeful cackle, “you will clean up this mess and help replace the window, unless–” he levelled Tyson with a stern glare when he opened his mouth to protest – “you want to pay for the window.”
Tyson immediately clamped his mouth shut with an audible click, his expression sour. He could go sulk until the apocalypse ascended, Kai didn't give a damn. He turned to Max, who watched him with his big blue eyes, his entire frame wilted like some kicked puppy awaiting his punishment.
“Max, you’ll help with clean up,” was all Kai told him, before he jerked his head towards the door of the house as if to say “now get going”.
The teen blinked owlishly, before ducking his head with a small smile as he did as he’s told, and dashed inside. Tyson was hot on his heels immediately, already whining about how Max got off with a lighter sentence than he did.
As soon as their voices faded away, Tala hummed almost thoughtfully. “Y’know, Kinomiya actually has a point.”
Kai raised an unimpressed brow. “In breaking my window?”
The redhead gave him a sly smile, the kind that made Kai’s fight or flight instincts kick in, because while Tala was infamous for his standoffish behavior, he secretly had the personality of a vicious little gremlin. Almost like Ian, just 68.04% worse.
Bryan had given him an odd look for that, citing it as an overly specific estimation, but Kai stood by that.
“In giving little Maxie a lighter punishment.”
Tala’s whole gleefully mischievous demeanor rubbed Kai the wrong way. He really wanted some coffee. And some candied almonds, when he’s already here making wishes, that seem entirely impossible at the moment.
“Hn,” was what Kai settled with, neutral and apathetic to signal the end of the conversation, but again; Tala was a vicious little gremlin.
“Maybe, I’ll try that the next time too,” he continued loftily, “just flash some sad baby-blues, and I’m off the hook. Wasn’t aware you play favorites, Kai.”
The younger of the two gave him a withering glare.
“Max only got involved because of Tyson’s extravagant ideas.”
“Hm-hmm, sure thing, we all knew that – boy’s too nice for his own good, but maybe that’s why you’re so protective of him,” Tala teased with a self-assured grin, looking like a cat who got the canary. Kai didn’t grace him with an answer, which made him laugh. “Face it, Kai, you’ve got a soft spot for the sunshine, nothing to be ashamed of…much, I guess.”
Kai clicked with his tongue, a familiar sound whenever he felt aggravated.
“You don’t see me commenting about your stance towards Ian, do you?” he shot back, irritated by the blatant hypocrisy in front of him – no matter what kind of prank Ian pulled, Tala was seemingly the only one allowed to chew the boy out for it. As soon as anyone else dared to yell at the youngest, they had to face Tala’s wrath. Said redhead only shrugged, apparently not bothered by the fact that it was true.
“Vanya has seen a lot of fucked up shit that still scared me at the time, and he was a lot younger than us,” he said almost flippantly, but his eyes hardened. “Some shit that kids like him should’ve had no business of seeing ever in their life.”
Alright, now Kai felt slightly like an asshole for reminding the other of their shared, terrible past.
“You however, seeing as Max had none of our experience, are just naturally turning soft for his puppy attitude,” Tala then said, shit-eating grin on his face. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”
Screw whatever Kai thought before, Yuriy “Tala” Ivanov could go throw himself off a cliff for all he cared.
“Сука,” he hissed at the redhead, just as Spencer reentered the room with a long brush and dustpan in hand and disapproving frown on his face.
“Kai, don’t call Tala a bitch.”
Kai Hiwatari lived on his own – thanks to the old money in his family, he’d been able to score a spacious ikkodate home with a nice yard (and of course implemented beydish) and a fence for ample privacy. The neighborhood was good, with a train station and convenience store within walking distance, and the traffic wasn’t all too bad either whenever he drove to university. Sure, all these factors did heavily impact the rather hefty price tag, so he did splurge a rather ridiculous amount for the property, considering as it was literally just him and his one-eyed calico cat Paprika. But it was his rotten grandfather’s money he inherited when he reached age 18, so he considered it reparations for a shitty childhood. Besides, after years of experience of his teammates and even other teams piling into the Kinomiya Dojo on the regular, something told him he might need the space. Especially if those parasites he, miraculously, called his friends continued to needle him on a daily basis.
So, when Tala announced to him over video-call that he and the Blitzkrieg Boys planned to travel to Japan for a few months for tournaments, it might’ve slipped out of Kai that he had some space. And Tala, being the opportunistic fucker he was, immediately jumped on the offer. There was no way in hell Kai could take that back now, not when he knew the redhead would fight him tooth and nail just to avoid pricey hotel-stays. Now, two months later, his once peaceful (quiet, lonely) house was filled with four more people, who were surprisingly louder than outsiders expected.
Kai sat comfortably in the armchair of the living room with a book in his hands, and suppressed a sigh when he heard quick footsteps thundering down the stairs. Tala, who sat on the couch not far off watching TV while drinking the tea Ray had brewed, didn’t even bother to look up as he spoke.
“Ian, don’t run on the stairs, one day you’ll break your neck.”
Ian, who was halfway past the couch, froze mid-run at the chastising tone. He shot the redhead a slightly disgruntled look over his shoulder.
“Alright, damn,” he mumbled, slinking off into the kitchen, most likely to see if Hilary or Spencer were willing to let him have a snack while they cooked dinner.
All of them had gotten so disgustingly domestic about living under the same roof, it was almost alien to Kai. Yet at the same time, a little part of him found joy in the fact that whenever he came home from classes, there was someone else to greet him other than Paprika.
But hell might as well freeze solid if he ever said that out loud.
His lilac eyes fell back onto his book, picking up where he left off, and listened to Hilary gently berating Ian for eating before a meal, accompanied by the sound of Spencer cutting up vegetables. Somewhere in the house, amongst the low buzz of the TV Tala seemed enraptured in, he could faintly hear Daichi screeching something. The ungodly sound was soon drowned out by the raucous laughter of both Tyson and Bryan, and if Kai listened closely, he could even hear the soft clack-clack-clacking of Kenny typing away on his laptop at the dinner table. The house seemed truly full.
Full of life, and light, and home.
It was…nice, Kai thought.
“Max, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The concerned tone in Ray’s voice made Kai look up from his book. He watched how the other walked towards the kitchen with Paprika, unsurprisingly, in his arms as Max trailed after him with a hopeful look on his face. The spark fell from the teen’s eyes, however, after he registered Ray’s words.
“Aw, but c’mon, Ray, it’s only a small trip,” Max needled, bending down to pet Paprika after she jumped from Ray’s arms to happily slink around the blonde’s legs instead. “I’ll be back before you know it!”
Ray sighed, frown still set on his face as he put his hands on his hips.
“I know you want to help out, but I don’t think I’m comfortable with you taking the car by yourself and drive in the dark,” he tried to reason, expertly averting his gaze from Max’ oncoming pout. The teen huffed, lifting Paprika up under her armpits as she meowed merrily.
“See, Pappy agrees with me,” Max said seriously, and Ray couldn’t help but chuckle. Kai decided to speak up.
“What exactly do you need a car for?” he asked languidly, causing Paprika to wiggle out of the Max’s grip in order to scuttle up to her owner, promptly jumping into his lap and almost planting herself right onto his book, had he not moved it, already familiar with her habits.
“We’re missing a few ingredients for dinner,” Ray explained, “I thought about making a quick run to the store.”
“It was Bryan’s turn for a grocery run,” Tala remarked from the couch, eyes still on the TV, “I’ll chew him out later.”
Max tugged on Ray’s apron again, a determined look on his face.
“Please, Ray, I really wanna practice, and this is like, the perfect opportunity,” he reasoned and Ray sighed again. Before he could say anything, Kai reached into a bowl on the small table next to him and called out to Max.
“Catch,” he said, and a confused Max reached forward to clasp his hands around the small object Kai had chucked at him. Upon taking a closer look, a big smile took over his freckled face as he held up Kai’s car keys. Shining blue eyes zeroed in on Kai.
“Can I really?” Max asked excitedly – driving practice was one thing, but driving practice in Kai’s car? Kai’s uber-cool, very expensive, and shiny sports car?
“Don’t crash,” was the flat warning he received and Max let out a whoop, performing a small spin as he pumped his fist into the air. “And take Hilary with you.”
“Will do, Cap!” the teen cheered, zipping off into the kitchen where they could hear Hilary delightfully agreeing to Max’ request. Ray raised his eyebrows, and turned to Kai as if to ask if that was a good idea.
“Hilary’s with him,” he said offhandedly, because if there was anyone in this house he’d trust blindly with his nice car, it was Hilary. Ever the overachiever, she’d been the first of the group to get her license, and had proven herself from the start to be a responsible driver. And, she was very good at keeping the others in check.
Kai went back to his book, just as Ray gave him a small, knowing smile before heading into the kitchen to take over for the girl, who announced that they will be back soon.
“If you aren’t back in half an hour, I will call the police!” Ray called after them as Max and Hilary left the kitchen, Ian close behind, having decided to accompany the small trip too.
“Make sure Ian doesn’t smuggle any sweets into the cart,” Spencer added as he leaned out the door, making a ‘I’m watching you’ gesture towards the youngest.
“Sheesh, get off my back, will ya?” the boy complained as Max laughed, halfway through the front door.
“Thanks Kai!” was the last thing they heard, before the door closed again. The house fell into the comfortable lull like before, and Kai scratched Paprika behind her ear as she lounged on his lap. Feeling the distinctive prickle of eyes on him, he looked up, meeting Tala’s icy blue eyes.
He gave him a Look over the rim of his green mug. Then, he slightly lowered the ceramic to reveal a smug grin, mouthing a silent ‘Soft’ at Kai.
Paired with a severely unimpressed gaze, Kai lifted his book to discreetly give Tala the finger.
The world knew Kai as the undisputed, Cool & Collected official leader of the Bladebreakers – perhaps the title was from a long time ago, but ever since his first appearance as such, the title just kind of stuck. But he did like to think that he was indeed a rather cool, calm and in control person, someone who wasn’t surprised easily. But honestly, how could anyone be ever prepared for someone like Max Tate.
It was a quiet Friday evening at the Kinomiya Dojo, which saw the Bladebreakers hanging out like good old times. Max and Tyson were having a rather heated competition during an intense Mariokart session on the oh so loved and hated Rainbowroad, but it was good fun, watching them holler and cheer. That was until Max got his Princess Daisy shoved off the shimmering road just meters before the finish line.
“Блядь!” Max belted out harshly when he saw his character fall into the void, placing him on a much lower rank than he liked. The unfamiliar tongue and general angry tone made Tyson jerk away from his buddy in flabbergasted surprise, controller almost protectively raised in front of him. Kenny accidentally keysmashed at the sudden outburst, while Ray nearly dropped the book in his hand and Hilary, completely stunned, didn’t even register how the tea she poured into a cup started to overflow. Kai, however, very much well versed in the language Max had just used, promptly choked on his drink, coughing when the liquid ended up in the wrong pipe.
There was a resounding smack when Max slapped a hand over his mouth in surprise at his own outburst, eyes wide. Ray was the first to recover and levelled a rather appalled glare at the blonde.
“I really don’t know what you just said, but I’m pretty sure that it was something rather unpleasant.”
There wasn’t exactly a No Swearing rule within the group, but since they were surrounded by young fans and eager-to-learn kids on a regular basis, it was basically common courtesy amongst them to not swear. Away from the crowds, they were able to relax mostly, but still kept it pretty lowkey especially with Daichi around. Ray, Kai, and, surprisingly, Kenny were usually the ones to throw curses around on a regular basis, and they made it a habit to do it discreetly under their breath.
Max, however? He’d always been careful what he said, coveting his image as the team’s local Boy Next Door type. And when he did curse, it was generally due to him being extremely frustrated, like the one time he’d been severely sleep-deprived due to cramming for an exam he’d been very worried about – and the worst he managed to bring out was a dull “Shit.”
Daichi, the only one who didn’t seem affected at all, only quirked an eyebrow before pointing at Max with a thoughtful expression on is face.
“Hey, isn’t that something that Bryan always says?” he wondered aloud, making Ray and Hilary cringe – Bryan was rather infamous for his lack of tact and consideration for whom might be listening in on his conversations. Kai could feel Hilary give him a careful glance, as he set down his phone, that he’d been fiddling with a second before.
“What…exactly did Max say?” she asked cautiously as everyone resumed to their previous tasks, mildly disturbed as they were. Kai huffed a little.
“Nothing nice,” he said flatly, bringing his teacup back up to his lips.
Tala was in the middle of washing off his facemask, when the door to the bathroom was unceremoniously kicked open by an irritated Bryan wearing his black headphones around his neck and holding his phone in one hand.
“Oi, Yura– stop screaming, it’s just me, jesus fuck–” he held up his phone for the redhead to see, suddenly looking a little uneasy, “do you have any idea on why the hell is Kai telling me to, and I quote, ‘get out of my fucking house’?”
Grocery Day in the Hiwatari Blitzkrieg household was always one of those days, where you woke up ready for anything, and then ended being totally unprepared for whatever came up anyway. One time they got home, only to find that they’ve forgotten one item on the list, the other time they came home with Bryan sporting a black eye after having fought over the last pack of toilet paper – according to Tala, it was on sale, and if there was something Tala didn’t do, it was not taking advantage of opportunities. So, yeah, by his own admittance, he did sic Bryan onto the last pack of TP, and Kai had decided then, that the both of them weren’t allowed to go grocery shopping anymore without third-party supervision. He also pointedly ignored Bryan’s grumble about Kai having bought a jumbo bag of dry cat food on impulse after having seen a stray cat nearby.
Anyway, it was grocery day, and it had Kai standing in front of the baking section, weighing two different packs of flour in each hand. Spencer hadn’t specified which brand of flour he wanted on the list, so the choice fell onto Kai as he scrutinized the brands upon price and quality. As he inspected the goods, faint crinkling reached his ears.
“Put that back, Max,” he said without looking up, finally deciding on one pack. He turned around to see the boy frozen like a deer caught in the headlights, arm still extended towards the cart in which he had tried to sneak the bag of sour gummies in his hand. Max deflated immediately.
“But I like these…” he half-whined, watching how Kai placed the flour into the cart and then fished out the bag of juicy berry gummies he had allowed Max to take a few minutes ago.
“You already got your candy of choice,” Kai said sternly, giving the boy the bag, “you can’t have both without risking you going bonkers on a sugar high.” Especially with the last Noodle Incident you caused, he thought privately. He’d already sworn himself to avoid Orbeez for the rest of his life.
He decidedly studied the list again in order to escape Max’ pout; he was not about to lose against the puppy dog eyes of a teenager with the personality of an overexcited golden retriever. Finally, he heard him sigh.
“Fine, I’ll get the sour ones instead,” Max decided, smiling again as he exchanged the sweets, “I had the juicy berries last week, let’s change it up a bit!”
Dropping the candy bag into the cart, the boy then scampered off to put the other one back into its proper shelf, Kai slowly trailing after him as he languidly pushed the cart into the next section. There, he found Tala walking towards him, arms full of various shampoo bottles and face creams. Unimpressed, he watched how the redhead dropped everything into the cart. Reaching in, he pulled out a face mask packet – cucumber with green tea for a nourishing and revitalizing finish. Kai quirked an eyebrow.
“Really?” he asked dully as Tala snatched the face mask out of his hand.
“Yes, really,” he sniffed, slightly peeved, “this is why I don’t let you heathens buy my shit or your own. You always end up with like 12-in-1 bottles or some crap like that, I can’t fucking stand it.”
Kai had long since learned that arguing with Tala over skincare or similar (or plain in general) was absolutely pointless. It usually ended in a screaming match and at least someone crying, no one wins. Then again, Kai wasn’t particularly vocal about the topic either, maybe because he consciously knew how the elder enjoyed such simple things. Back then, in their darker days, those things were seen as pointless luxuries, that they never got to try.
And now, with no one to tell what they could and could not do, they were all free to try what they wanted and for Tala, it seemed to be taking care of himself and his skin. In hindsight, the fact was actually kind of endearing – Hilary’s words, not his.
Well. Maybe a little of his.
Max joined them a few seconds later, immediately jumping onto the front of the cart to hoist himself up as Kai steered. Tala promptly berated him for it, not wanting the teen to fall forward onto the groceries and accidentally crushing them in the process, so Max hopped off.
Half an hour later and they strolled out the store with their cart full of their paid groceries, ready to navigate through the parking lot to get to the car, when Max suddenly looked up and veered off to the side. Kai was about to catch him by the back of his collar, when he saw him walk up to a woman nearby – she was visibly pregnant with a fussing baby strapped to her back, as she struggled with her own full shopping cart.
“Hi!” Kai heard Max greet her brightly. “D’you need a hand?”
The woman chuckled breathlessly at the sweet offer as she patted her fussy baby on her back.
“I could use some help, not going to lie,” she sighed, looking a little exhausted, “would you mind helping me to my car? It’s just down this side, the blue one at the end.”
Max didn’t hesitate as he took hold of the woman’s cart, smiling brightly at her.
“No problemo, happy to help!” he declared happily, pushing the cart as Tala offered to carry the bag in her hand, which she couldn’t fit into the cart. Gratefully, the woman walked between them, with Max skipping ahead as he joyfully jumped onto the cart for a small slide.
“Max!” Kai barked in immediate warning. The teen came to a screeching halt, innocently pushing the cart once again, as if he just hadn’t tried to replicate some Grand Theft Auto stunt with a shopping cart in a parking lot. Tala snorted in amusement at Max’ act of having been caught red-handed. The woman laughed.
“He’s a sweet one,” she chuckled, “but I guess he also seems like a handful, not?”
“You have no idea…” Kai muttered under his breath, glaring at the back of Max’s head, ready to rip him a new one if he tried something funny again.
“Don’t mind him,” Tala mused, “despite his grumpy exterior, he’s got a soft spot for the kid.”
Kai wished for a car to drive by so he could push Tala in front of it.
“Oh my, I know that feeling,” the woman said, smiling gently. “I have a little brother too, you know.”
He could almost hear Tala’s shit-eating grin and honestly, at this rate, Kai might as well push himself into active traffic.
“He’s not my–”
“Made it!” Max interrupted him with a cheer, waving his arms around as he stood next to the woman’s car. The baby on her back gurgled happily, making her chuckle as she walked up to Max to unlock the booth of the car in order to load the groceries. Kai could feel Tala in inching up next to him.
“Don’t,” he simply said.
“I haven’t said anything,” Tala half-singsonged before leaning down a little with a smirk, “…yet.”
Kai only grunted, and prayed for patience.
Honestly, at this point in his life, Kai should’ve seen it coming. He was a fool to think he could leave his teammates for a few minutes. An even bigger fool to think he could specifically leave Tyson, Max, Ian and Daichi unsupervised for five minutes.
Five fucking minutes.
That’s how long he didn’t pay attention to them as he helped the others set up the whole picnic near a creek close to some peaceful woods, as per Hilary’s idea.
And somehow, he didn’t know how, and frankly, he didn’t want to actually find out, but by some fucked up miracle bestowed by some chaotic trickster god, who apparently had it out for Kai and had a kiss ready for his shitty karma, in that short time, the boys had talked Max into climbing one of the tall trees.
Sounded innocent enough, but those were pine trees he was talking about. They barely had any low-hanging branches to hang on to, yet somehow, Max had managed to climb high enough to reach the bottom of the first few branches and in turn, got himself stuck. Now he sat on one of the stronger branches, hugging the trunk for dear life, face all void from the previous mischievous fun as genuine fear shined in his big blue eyes.
“You’ll be okay, Max!” Ray called up to him reassuringly from the bottom of the trunk, “Just, uh, stay there, alright? We’ll figure something out, okay?”
Not far off, both Hilary and Tala stood menacingly over the three other boys, all of them meekly sitting in a row, mentally preparing themselves to be ripped into tiny shreds in mere seconds and honestly, if Kai wasn’t so controlled, he would’ve tossed the lot into the creek without hesitation. Instead, he headed towards Ray, who was joined by Bryan and Spencer. As soon as he was close, Ray turned around, sweating, with a nervous smile on his face.
“Please tell me anyone of you got a plan,” he asked in a rather high-pitched voice, obviously just as distressed as the boy in the tree, who just stared down at them with sad puppy eyes.
“I’m sorry I got myself stuck, guys,” Max called down, a guilty frown on his freckled face, and Ray just waved his hands around.
“It’s fine! I mean, it’s not fine, you know, the fact that you’re stuck and all,” the elder said awkwardly and Kai sighed. Next to him, Bryan shielded his eyes as he squinted up at the boy in the tree.
“How the hell did Freckles even get that far, I thought we already established the monkey here,” he muttered, sparing a frightened Daichi a small glance as Hilary berated the boy. Spencer gave his teammate a disapproving side eye.
“Don’t be rude.”
“Hey, why am I getting scolded too?” Bryan asked, clearly appalled, and Spencer pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Uh…guys?” came a tentative call from above, but was ignored.
“C’mon, now’s not the time to fight,” Ray interjected, looking rather tired.
“We’re not fighting, we’re simply having a disagreement,”
“Bryan,” Kai warned.
“…guys?”
“What, Kai?”
“Cut it out.”
“Guys.”
“We gotta be serious here!” Ray insisted.
“I am being serious! Why are you all ganging up on me?”
“We’re not–”
“Yes, you are.”
“Заткнись,” Spencer hissed.
“Don’t tell me to shut up–“
“Guys!”
Their squabble was interrupted by a resounding crack, which had them immediately looking up in alarm. Max stared down at them, looking absolutely terrified when the branch shifted under him.
“Guys, I don’t think this is gonna hold me any long– AUGH!”
With a last crack, the branch snapped close to its base, right under Max, who lost his hold from the trunk, gravity making quick work in pulling him down.
“MAX!” was the collective chorus from the group, all in varying levels of horror.
The world became a blur to Kai as he immediately surged forward, pushing past Ray and Bryan and nearly ran headfirst into the trunk; he lunged a rather impressive distance, arms held out in front of him to catch the other.
Fortunately, he caught Max before he could harshly collide with the ground below.
Unfortunately, he took the brunt of the Max-shaped force, falling into the dirt with a pointy elbow ramming itself into his stomach. It did a good job of seemingly rearranging all of his insides as the wind was knocked out of him.
“Oh my god, are you guys okay?!”
“Damn, that looked painful.”
“Not your best, Hiwatari, 4 out of 10 I suppose.”
If Kai were able to breathe properly right now, he would’ve told Bryan in exact detail how much he wanted to murder him right now. But since he could barely even wheeze, he settled for raising the good old middle-finger into the vague direction of where he heard Bryan from. Above him, Max coughed weakly, his boyish face littered with a few scratches and patches of dirt, blue eyes blinking blearily.
“Kai?” he slurred a little, before his vision cleared, “Kai?! Oh man, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t–”
“Get…off…” Kai interrupted him tonelessly, and the boy immediately scrambled away. Air came rushing back and Kai coughed a little, pushing himself up into a sitting position, pointedly ignoring the ache on, well, all over. There was a warm hand on his shoulder and he glanced up to see Ray smiling down at him with relief clearly written all over his face.
“C’mon, better get yourself checked out by the medic,” he said, offering the same hand to help Kai up – he decided that taking the hand was the better option, considering that everything hurt like a bitch. Tyson rushed past him, nearly barrelling Max over with an almost tearful bear hug, and at least hundreds of apologies spilled from his mouth. Max let out a laugh, a wheezy little thing, but it served to brighten up the panicked mood a little as both him and Kai were brought over to the medic. Which really was just Kenny with a first-aid-kit looking like it could fit the entire inventory of an ambulance inside.
As they were getting treated, the last of the picnic was being set up, the previous cheer settling back in again. Max let Kenny rub some stinging antiseptic onto his scratches, scrunching up his nose at the prickling sensation, but smiled through it anyway as he looked at Kai.
“Thank you for catching me,” Max said sincerely, laughing cheerfully despite the previous scare as he scratched the back of his head, “you really saved me out there!”
Kai stared at him – watched the dimples form as Max smiled, how his blue eyes glittered joyfully like the open sea on a summer’s day, how his smile was just as kind, bright and vibrant as the one he wore at their first meeting.
Suddenly, Kai found himself being 14 all over again, cold and angry at the world, suspicious of anything that showed him even an ounce of kindness, until the boy with the sun in his smile and its rays in his hair skipped up to him, hand out for a shake as he grinned at him, so warm and kind and for once in his life, Kai felt the genuine spark of fear in his heart – what if it was a trap?
It wasn’t until much later that Kai learned, that this was just how Max was; kindhearted, open, friendly, brave and encouraging, soft yet determined with this spark of innocent mischievousness, with which he endeared himself into anyone’s heart, no matter how far one locked it away.
Kai sighed, his gaze softening as Max continued to smile at him.
“Someone’s gotta get you out of trouble somehow, Maxie,” he muttered, and the teen positively beamed at him. He began to animatedly chatter away on how great the picnic’s going to be and how he can’t wait to get a water fight started, but not before eating one of Ray’s infamous tuna sandwiches first.
Tala walked past behind Max, effectively catching Kai’s eyes as he grinned, once more mouthing ‘Soft’ at him.
This time, Kai only huffed silently.
When Kai woke, it was with a small gasp as he stared wide-eyed at the ceiling of his room, trying to will his rabbiting heartbeat down. His breaths sent tremors through his chest and as he tried to swallow, it felt like he had eaten a mouthful of sand. Silently, he sat up, taking his time to take calm breaths. During it, he tried not to think too hard about the cold, dark stone corridors in his dreams and the deep, malicious laughter echoing through them, sounding too much like his own than he was comfortable with. He shook his head – he was nothing like that man.
He clicked with his tongue, irritated, and decided to get rid of the dry feeling in his mouth. Quietly, he slipped out of his bed and his room, gently padding down the hallway. At the first door to his right, he hesitated as he stared at the small chalkboard attached to the wood, reminders scrawled onto the black surface with colorful chalk. He brought his hand onto the handle, before opening the door to carefully peer inside.
On the lower bunk bed, shoved into the very left corner of the room, Kai could immediately spot Spencer peacefully sleeping on his side. Overhead of him slept Ian, curled up into a ball like a cat, his reading lamp still on – he must’ve fallen asleep while reading again. With practiced stealth, Kai turned off the lamp and headed back out of their room.
He walked past the bathroom to the next door, this one covered with a variety of drawings, all by Bryan, most of them featuring Paprika sleeping or sitting, some even featuring the people inhabiting the house. Again, Kai quietly entered the room, finding Bryan asleep on his lower bed, left leg strewn over the edge, while Tala had his back to Kai, crimson hair spilling over his shoulders onto the pillow beneath. Another breath later, and Kai was back in the hallway, sighing softly, tired – relieved.
The last room, closest to the descending stairs, wasn’t completely shut, causing Tyson’s rattling snores to escape into the quiet hallway. With slightly furrowed brows, Kai peered into the guest room, where his team usually slept in a pile of futons on the floor; Ray slept farthest away from the pile, close to the door, turned onto his side with his loose ponytail draped halfway across him. Daichi and Tyson seemingly had decided to collectively take up as much space as possible by sprawling themselves over their futons, posed like starfish. Kai quietly huffed at that, until he noted how a certain teen was missing from the rowdy bunch. Leaning out of the room, he checked the bathroom – unoccupied.
Where was Max?
Kai figured the blonde might be downstairs, descending the steps as he left the door back in its original half-open position. He wandered into the kitchen, soft-footed and silent as ever, a trait he may never get rid of completely, and gently pried the fridge open. He liked to keep a few bottles of water inside for a cool drink, which was a current blessing he and his parched throat appreciated. Screwing the bottle shut again, Kai picked up the faint sound of someone softly murmuring.
Looked like he found the missing Bladebreaker. He carefully followed the sound to the half-open sliding glass door, which led into his garden.
Moonlight shone brightly onto the yard when Kai stepped outside, bare feet hitting the cooled wooden deck, as he found Max sitting on the edge of it, quietly talking into his phone.
“…thanks for calling, Mom…have a good day, I love you…you take care too, bye,” the boy said and Kai could hear the smile in his voice. Max moved the phone from his ear to hang up, only to sigh heavily as his shoulders sagged.
Well, that was new.
Usually, the boy tended to be rather upbeat after talking to his mother – unless they had a disagreement, which always put Max into an afflicted mood. Kai deliberately stepped onto a loose board, making it creak, a sound to which the blonde almost jumped a foot into the air. He whirled around.
“Kai?” he half-yelled before wincing when he remembered what time it was. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a much more hushed tone as Kai moved to sit down next to him.
“Fresh air,” Kai answered briefly, offering no details. He could feel inquisitive blue eyes on him, but Max didn’t push it – he knew better.
Silence reigned for a few moments.
“What about you?”
Max, who had been worrying a loose thread at the bottom of his light yellow shirt, swivelled his head around at the sound of Kai’s voice. He smiled a little, wiggling the phone in his hands.
“Got a call from my mom,” he explained as the black screen lit up to show a wallpaper picturing the sea life of an ocean, “so I went outside to not wake anyone.”
“Hn.”
They fell silent again, listening to the night. Trees rustled in the light wind, crickets chirped and somewhere, Kai could hear the faint shriek of a bat flying by. Next to him, Max heaved out another small sigh, before speaking again.
“Say, Kai,” the boy started meekly, “how– I mean, why did you pick Business to study at university?”
The leader let the question sink in before answering.
“It’s required,” he said bluntly, “someday I am to take over my family’s business, so knowing what I have to do is basically top priority.”
“So, you’re studying Business because you have to?”
At Max’s bewildered tone, Kai turned to face him with one brow raised.
“If I don’t want to crash and burn, then yeah, I have to. What else is there to it?”
The younger pursed his lips a little.
“I don’t know, maybe studying something because you want to?” he said almost petulantly, it made Kai raise both of his eyebrows. “It’s university, Kai! A higher school for, like, another 3 years or something! Shouldn’t you be doing something that you enjoy? Or find at least interesting? Doesn’t it feel like you’re wasting time in something you don’t even wanna do?”
The elder blinked a little at the rant before narrowing his eyes.
“Are you lecturing me about my life choices right now?”
“Yes– wait, No! No, nohohooo–“ Max promptly back-pedalled, looking sheepish,“I mean, yeah kinda, it’s just–”
He groaned, roughly rubbing his face with both of his hands, clearly frustrated. He sighed again, this time a lot heavier. Removing his hands, Kai saw the conflicted look on his freckled face.
“I’m about to become a senior in high school, so both of my parents have started to ask me about possible career choices and such,” Max told him in a small voice, “it wasn’t bad or anything, they’re just genuinely curious if I already have a plan – so Mom suggested I’d study at her place to follow her footsteps, y’know? And then Dad asked if I wanted to take over his shop if I don’t stay with Mom after studying–”
“And you don’t want to do either of those things,” Kai said, to which Max inclined his head slightly, grimacing.
“It’s not like I hate the ideas, they are definitely something I can fall back to, but…” he trailed off.
“But it’s not something you can see yourself doing,” the leader finished for him, nodding slightly. Max shoulders sagged again as he brought his knees up to his chest.
“Exactly,” he mumbled into his knees, “it’s…just not me, y’know? Beyblades are great, I love them and I love having good battles with them, but they’re not my entire life…I want to do more than just beyblading, I want to be part of more.”
Kai mulled the words over – being part of more than just Beyblade? Frankly, Kai had thought of it too, being part of more, not just his beyblading skills and his family name. He looked at Max again.
“So, what do you want to do?”
He watched how blue eyes went wide as they turned back towards him. An excited sparkle lit up in them, and Max grinned.
“Marine Biology,” the boy said quietly, reverently, as if he just told Kai the biggest secret of the universe. “I wanna study marine life, swim with dolphins and sharks and whales and maybe even find new fish.”
Kai’s mind did a quick flashback to the times, where he visited Max. He’d walked into the other’s room, whose walls were covered in posters of beyblades, music bands and sea life – pictures of dolphins and sea turtles, articles about sharks and whales. Even his shelves were full of marine life books and magazines, and on his desk sat a small miniature whale skeleton. There was even a poster of an artfully painted mermaid hanging over the boy’s bed and honestly, Kai should’ve seen it coming. How Max’s parents could’ve missed their son’s obvious interests was beyond him.
“Hoping to find a mermaid too?” the elder then teased with a small smirk on his face. Max blushed.
“…maybe?”
Kai snorted.
“Hey!” Max pouted, “If I ever do find one, I’ll expect a heartfelt apology from you!”
“Of course, Maxie, I’ll even cry if I have to,” the leader offered, letting his teasing sarcasm shine through. The blonde tried to glare at him, but it was more playful than anything. Good, sadness wasn’t a great look on the boy, who had the sun in his smile. Suddenly, Max’s expression turned excited.
“Kai, let’s make a pact!”
“I was joking.”
“No, not the mermaid thing,” Max snorted, “I mean about the uni thing; I’m gonna tell my parents about my own plan of becoming a Marine Biologist and in turn, you’ll study something that you want to study!”
Kai sighed, “I’m already studying–“
“You’re really gonna tell me to my face, that you willingly wanted to study Business?” Kai wasn’t sure what to make of Max’ skeptic tone and amused face as he regarded the leader with a quirked eyebrow, as if to say that he wasn’t buying it. When did he get this cheeky again?
Apparently the bugged resignation showed on his face, because Max snickered before offering his pinky to Kai.
No way.
“Max, how old are you again?”
“16, turning 17 soon! And my mom still makes pinky promises with me, and she’s in her forties now!” Max declared before scratching the back of his head, “Just…don’t tell her that, okay?”
Clearly unimpressed, Kai just stared at the offending appendage in front of him, then back up at Max, who gave him a hopeful look, bringing out the full force of the infamous puppy eyes and Kai walked right into it. Goddammit, not much fazes him, but even he felt slightly like a monster whenever he refused Max something when he wore an expression like that. It’s not like he’s asking for a contract written in blood – the worst that could happen was the slight chip Kai’s dignity will carry away afterward. He sighed, reluctantly lifting his own pinky.
With a small cheer, Max immediately hooked his pinky around Kai’s and the elder could barely suppress a small smile at the teen’s enthusiasm. Max closed his eyes, holding their interlinked pinkies up.
“I hereby swear, under the rules of the infamous Pinky Promise, which can never and should never be broken, that we will pursue our happiness and do what we want to do, so we can be part of something bigger than we ever imagined!” Max finished his rousing speech by nodding determinedly, and Kai couldn’t hold back the small amused huff escaping his lips. They shook their connected hands.
“I swear.” both promised, Max a lot more enthusiastic than Kai’s quiet tone. Then, the blonde snatched his hand away as he lifted the other one into the air, crossing his heart in quick succession.
“And cross my heart for good measure,” the boy said, eyeing Kai expectantly.
“I don’t think–” he started, but he was interrupted as Max showed his five fingers, counting them down.
“Oh no! If you don’t cross your heart in the next five seconds, the deal will be doomed to fail and curse us all with bad luck for the next 13 years!” he said in mock-panic, “Quick, Kai! 1-2-3–”
Rolling his eyes, Kai crossed his heart before Max could reach 5, causing him to giggle at the small triumph.
Later, when Kai had finally convinced the boy to go back to bed, he was just about to enter his own bedroom, when he heard the bathroom door open behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Tala with his hair down and a knowing smirk on his lips.
“Soft,” he said almost haughtily.
“Hn.”
The redhead chuckled before pinning the other with an earnest stare.
“He has a point, you know,” Tala murmured quietly, “doing what you want to do. Don’t lie to me, I saw those History course pamphlets you have lying around.”
Kai didn’t answer, but averted his eyes. Tala huffed, amused.
“Think about it,” was all he said, before moving back to his room, when Kai remembered something.
“Those pamphlets were in my room–”
“Good night, Kai.”
The door closed softly behind him, and Kai glared half-heartedly at the wood.
Nosy fucker.
The stadium blared with the loud cheer of the audience, chanting contestants names and holding up various official merch or self-made signs, hollering with all their might. Camera lights went off and Blader DJ went ham on his announcements, extravagant as ever.
Kai listened to the crowd, feeling Tyson getting restless next to him as all the Bladebreakers stood in the hallway, waiting for them to be announced into the arena. On the other side of him, Ray exhaled slowly, mentally preparing himself and right next to him was Max, tugging his gloves into place. They heard Blader DJ cheer into his mic.
“Alright, now give it up for the Blitzkrieg Boys!”
The volume rose within the arena, no doubt cheering on the russian team as they walked into the stadium to await the arrival of their opponents. Tyson bobbed up and down on his toes, clearly amped up, and Ray cracked his knuckles.
“This is it, guys,” Tyson spoke up, “Tala will be leaving soon, so we better make them go out with a bang!”
Kai snorted as the rest chuckled. Max braced himself on his knees, determination on his face.
“You got it, Tyson, let’s give it our all!”
Ray tightened his headband. “Way ahead of you.”
Kai crossed his arms. “Hn.”
Then, Blader DJ spoke up again; “And now, please welcome the B-Boys opponents – the Bladebreakers!”
Tyson whooped loudly, immediately striding forward just in time with Ray, as Max trailed along next to Kai. The boy turned to smile at him – bright, vibrant, excited.
“Let’s make ‘em work for it!”
And this time, Kai couldn’t hold the small smile back. They closed in on the entrance, but before they stepped into the lights, into the cheer, he raised his hand to ruffle Max’s soft hair – gentle, trusting, affectionate.
“Knock ‘em dead, Maxie.”
So, maybe Kai did have a soft spot for Max after all.