Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hot tears burned down the boy’s face as he ran down the street into the pouring rain. His legs felt like lead and his heart was pounding in his ears. He could hardly hear the shouting from behind him, and the slam of a door moments later. Why the hell did I do that! The boy cursed himself in his mind as he ran on. He knew with every footfall there would be no going back. Each one was a deadly mistake that he wouldn’t be able to fix… but he just kept running.

Minutes passed and he’d realised he finally reached the town square. His lungs burned and he felt like no matter how much air he took in, he’d never get enough. The boy pulled his arms close to his chest and walked off of the sidewalk to sink down next to a bush. He pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his head on his knees. His hands tangled in his spiky orange hair as he sobbed. What am I going to do?

---meanwhile---

Max had always regarded nature with a fair amount of respect. The destruction it could cause often left him in awe. Well, except for today. Right now it just had to be pouring rain. Which was doing nothing but make a mess of a perfectly good Saturday. What definitely didn't help was that it seemed like everyone was busy except him. Isabel and Ed were too busy competing in some sort of online-gaming-whatever, his family was at an amusement park a few towns over and Isaac... Well, he actually didn't know where Isaac was.

The boy sighed and flicked the window. This kind of weather didn't usually stop him, or the club for that matter. There was always someone around. Even if the paper and ink pair were off exploring alone, he'd still have Isaac to hang out with.

Which is what he would've been doing now if Isaac was anywhere to be found. There were days like this more often than Max would like. The orange haired boy would just... Drop off the face of the Earth. No texts, no purchases of vegan bars in the morning and no silly surprise ghost hunts.

It worried Max when Isaac disappeared like this. There was just something… Strange about it. It made the teen suspicious. Isaac didn’t normally ease these suspicions either. The day after, if he showed up, he'd act like it never happened. And to make it worse, Max knew next to nothing about Isaac's life. He always seemed nervous whenever Max asked something more personal than 'what's up?'

The brunet then reached for his phone. I wouldn't hurt to send another text to Isaac, right? He was halfway through the motions when a small voice interrupted him.

"Mr. Max! You aren't busy are you?" He easily matched the voice to the young ghost boy that haunted his home. He smiled a little to himself, well at least I'm not completely alone.

"No, no, PJ. I'm definitely busy. Please leave me to my silence." Max said as he turned around from where he'd been standing in front of his window. The 'younger' boy crossed his arms and smiled.

"I have a feeling that you aren't being serious." PJ said in his typical cheerful voice as he floated closer. All Max did in response to PJ's remark was chuckle and shake his head.

"That means I can talk to you, right?" PJ said as he pulled his arms up to his chest and shook them in anticipation.

Max shoved PJ's arm, "of course it does. I really don't have anything better to do." He said, gesturing to the pouring rain outside his window.

PJ seemed unable to control his excitement as he threw his arms into the air. "Yes! Okay so, you know there's this neat comic book I saw in the shop yesterday! It looked like the next copy of that one with the hero who can move between the afterlife and the living world!" PJ stopped to take a deep breath before he carried on about the ghostly hero. Max recalled the moment he'd introduced the series to PJ. It'd been right after he'd told the ghost that it was dangerous for him to have a tool. He'd felt terrible after. The look of utter disappointment on PJ's face was like a punch in the gut. What else was he to do than show the boy that you definitely didn’t have to be alive to be a superhero?

“...And the cover made it look like he was going to do something spectacular about that group of necromancers!” PJ finished, panting from how much he’d said without a breath of air.

Max snorted and adjusted his hat. “I didn’t know it was out yet.” He responded. He figured PJ already knew that. Whenever a new copy had come out the seventeen year old made it his duty to get for the young ghost. “I assume you want me to get it for you, huh?” Max said with a knowing smirk.

The ghost in front of him smiled wider. “Well...Yes that was the reason I asked if you were busy. I know the weather is rather… Unsavory right now but could you? Please?” PJ begged, pulling his arms up to his chest again and giving Max his best puppy dog eyes. The ‘younger’ boy knew he had won by the way Max had rolled his eyes at him.

“Yeah, sure. Why not. I love long walks to town in the rain.” Max said sarcastically as he moved to throw on his grey and white striped hoodie. So much for company. Max thought as he zipped up the front. He was disappointed that PJ hadn’t wanted to actually talk, but at least it gave him something to do. Maybe I’ll run into Isaac in town? He dumbly hoped, despite how unlikely it was that he’d see the orange haired pacifist.

“Awesome! Thanks, Max!” PJ shouted from behind the high-schooler before floating right in front of him. “One of these days I will find some super cool ghosty way of repaying you.” The boy said with a smile.

“No. There is no need for that, PJ. Just like, don’t fade into the light without telling me. Or whatever.” Max said as he tugged on the hood of his sweater and smiled at the ghost. He watched as PJ gave him a thumbs up and floated back into the floor with a quick ‘i can do that’.

Max huffed when the ghost was no longer in sight. PJ must've had some kind of death grip on his mind for making him want to walk in that rain for a comic book. Actually he didn’t want to, but he’d promised the boy that if there was an issue, he would get it. Max then grabbed his phone and wallet, pocketed them and headed out of his bedroom. He needed to get going now, before PJ got restless.

//////////

It took half an hour to get to where he wanted to be and Max hated himself so much for agreeing to get PJ the comic. The rain hadn’t been too bad when he first left, but five minutes ago it had really started raining. The droplets had practically doubled in size and fell harder than ever.

“This issue better be a good one.” Max grumbled as he trudged on into the comic shop. The look of shock he received from the owner didn’t really bother him. The seventeen year old kind of expected it. You don’t walk into a shop with water falling off you in buckets without getting stared at.

“Uh… Can I help you?” The lady at the counter asked, looking Max up and down.

“Yeah. I heard theres a new issue for ‘The Fantastic Phantom’? I’m getting it for a friend.” Max replied from where he’d been standing at the door. “I’ll just stay over here so I don’t flood your shop.” He grumbled as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“…Yeah, sure thing.” The woman said before opening her store records to pull up the price for Max. “That’ll be four dollars and ninety nine cents. Uh… You get that out while I grab the comic for you.” She said, before rushing off to grab a copy off of the shelves.

Max reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Thank whatever god that told him to shove it into a plastic bag to keep it from getting soaked. He quickly pulled out six bucks and waited. The lady hadn’t taken very long. Actually Max had just begun to relax against the door of the shop when she came back.

“This is what you’re looking for, right?” The lady (Max now knew was named Debra because he could actually see her name tag) said, holding up a plastic covered comic. On the front there was the main character, Don, surrounded by a bunch of shadowy figures, one seeming to look like the head of the necromancer group. The slogan read ‘you can’t run from the dead’.

Max nodded at Debra before taking the comic into his hands and giving her the money. “The extra buck is for having to deal with…,” Max paused to gesture to the puddles forming around his soggy shoes, “All this.” He said. Debra nodded in understanding and sent the teen away with a quiet ‘thank you’ and a ‘have a nice day!’

Yeah sure, I’ll try that. Max thought as shoved the comic down his shirt and stepped outside the shop. He shivered as he began walking, he really wasn’t looking forward to the trip back. More rain, more cold, more wet.

“That’s it. I am never going to be dry ever again. I will be perpetually stuck covered in rain.” Max complained to himself as he blew water out of his mouth. The boy snorted a bit when he thought about how possible that could be if Isaac wanted it to. Wait, thinking about Isaac…

Max reached into his pocket to pull out the plastic bag, and from it, his phone. He leaned over the device and pulled it close to his chest to keep the water off it as much as possible as he powered it on. Despite everything telling him not to be, he was still worried about Isaac. Half of him told him that it was normal and nothing visibly bad had ever happened during these periods but… Seriously, how could anyone not worry? Having your friend occasionally disappear was something that should make anyone nervous, especially if it was never excused or explained.

The lock screen took a few more moments to load up, but once it did Max felt confused and shocked. He had a message. A message that was actually from Isaac! That was... Very unusual, seeing as he had never contacted Max during one of his ‘periods of disappearance’ before. The teen quickly punched in his password and opened up the message he’d received.

At 4:32 PM: Max where are you? I’m at your house.
At 4:32 PM: Or store… whatever.
At 4:33 PM: Seriously though, open up

“Shit!” He hissed as he looked up at the clock on his phone. 4:45 PM. You’ve gotta be kidding me. Max mentally cursed himself for not paying attention as he typed in his excuse and a quick apology. Isaac was outside his house, in the rain and he was a good half an hour away. Well actually… maybe more like ten minutes if he did what he did best.

Max reached into his hoodie and pulled out the comic book, quickly shoving it into the plastic bag along with his phone and wallet. He really didn’t want to drop the comic after his over-half-an-hour-long journey of misery.

And with that, Max took off running down the street completely disregarding any and all of the mud and water that splashed onto his clothes. His dad had bleach right?

---meanwhile---

Isaac sat quietly outside of the convenience store Max’s family owned with his head leaning back against the wall. He’d been there for a good ten minutes and was starting to seriously question where Max was. The teen huffed and tapped his feet on the wet pavement of the sidewalk nervously. It hadn’t been very long since he’d left, his eyes and lungs still burned and he still felt sick from all that had happened. He wrapped his arms around his middle and fought off the tears that threatened to fall as he let out a shaky breath. The boy still didn’t know what he was going to do. The best idea he’d had on the subject ‘was go see Max, he’ll help somehow even if you don’t tell him what the hell is going on.’ Isaac was about to bang his head against the wall at his stupidity when a buzz from his pocket interrupted him.
The teen pulled out his phone at lightning speed and looked at the notification.

Max (just now)
Shit im sorry i was in town

Max (just now)
I’ll be there ASAP

Well, isn’t that a relief, he thought as sank back down against the wall. Isaac sighed and rubbed at his eyes, he knew when Max said ASAP he meant it. He could practically see the brown haired teen launching himself off ledges and over railings in an attempt to reach his house as fast as possible. Isaac let out a weak chuckle despite how hollow he felt at the moment. He wordlessly opened his timer app. Let’s see how long he takes.

//////////

Max inhaled quickly as he vaulted himself over one of the railings that separated the road from a steep… like maybe fifteen foot decline and another road. Yeah okay that was probably a pretty bad decision. He thought, faintly upset about his lack of judgment as he prepared himself for the incoming impact. It’d probably hurt when he landed but he figured as long as he didn’t get hit by a vehicle he’d be fine.

He exhaled sharply as his feet came in contact briefly with the soft ground before he tucked in on himself and shoulder rolled. That was about the best he could do to cushion the fall but damn did it still hurt. He grunted as he shot back onto his feet and carried on sprinting in the direction of his home. Parkour really wasn’t as enjoyable in the rain as it was on a nice day, but he’d be damned if he strolled leisurely back to his house when he knew Isaac was there waiting. And in the rain. Of course it had to be raining today of all days.

Max mentally pinched himself as he jumped down a set of stairs. He needed to focus on not making more stupid mistakes like he did a few moments ago instead of how improbably unlucky today had been. Besides it’d be pretty shitty if he broke his leg or something when he was like, two minutes away from where Isaac was.

Max pushed on at that thought, despite how heavily he’d begun panting. His stamina had definitely been stretched past its limits and he couldn’t recall any other situation he’d felt as relieved to be almost home as he did now. Only a few more turns. He told himself as he ran through an alleyway. Isaac better thank him when he got there, or else he’d seriously hurt that orange haired nuisance.

Thinking of which, it was pretty strange that he’d just shown up at Max’s house out of nowhere. The brunet made a mental note to pester Isaac about that, if he didn’t seem too nervous about it. Max turned sharply onto his home street from the alley and grunted as he narrowly dodged an incoming stranger. A quick ‘sorry’ shot out as he straightened up and ran on.

From where he was standing he could clearly see the bright patch of orange that was his so-called best friend. A groan flew left his throat as he slowed to a stop to give his lungs, and limbs a break. He bent forward and panted loudly for a moment. There was no way in hell he could run the last block, his head felt light and his throat was burning. Isaac would have to deal with the fact that Max would be half a minute later than he usually was.

Isaac didn’t look up from the phone in his hand until the brunet was standing right in front of him. “Hmm… You took eleven minutes and twenty seconds to get here. Are you out of shape? Normally it only takes you like, nine or ten.” Isaac said quietly as he threw his phone into his pocket and jumped to his feet. The orange haired boy, at first, had a very plain expression but it was wiped away quickly, replaced by a teasing smile. Or at least it was until Isaac got a good look at the other teen’s state of being.

“Good god what happened to you?” He asked, humor underlining the slight worry in his tone. Max inhaled deeply as he pushed passed Isaac, trying not to let the ginger see the blush of embarrassment that rushed to his cheeks.

“I may or may not have had to roll through like, five mud puddles on my way here.” Max said as he fumbled in his pocket for his keys. He pulled them out as soon as he found them, unlocked and pushed the door of the convenience store open.

“Wow. I’m flattered. The great Maxwell Puckett rolled through five mud puddles to get to me. I’m swooning.” Isaac replied comically as he stepped into the store and removed his shoes. Max couldn’t help but roll his eyes and fight the redness growing in his cheeks that most definitely had nothing to do with his recent exertion.

“Yeah well, you should be. I don’t normally run halfway across town to let people into the store.” Max mumbled as he quickly took off his sweater and threw it onto the check out counter. “Speaking of which, why’d you show up out of nowhere demanding to be let in?” Max inquired with a raised eyebrow.

And that was it. All the humor Isaac had thrown on to try to cover up his actual emotions fell away. It left him looking nervous and... Scared?

“I… Well.” Isaac looked stuck. Like he wanted to say why but didn’t know quite how to word it. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” The orange haired boy mumbled finally, rubbing his arm.

Max nodded and was hit with the overwhelming desire to comfort his friend, even though he had absolutely zero talent in that profession. “Well as long as you didn’t like… Kill someone, then I guess I can wait until you tell me.” The brown haired boy said simply before changing the subject in an attempt to get Isaac’s mind off of whatever was bothering him. “How long were you planning on staying anyway?” Max asked, looking at Isaac curiously as he walked forward and up the stairs, glancing behind him to make sure his friend was following.

“Uh… The rest of the weekend? Maybe?” Isaac said, still nervous and closely watching for Max’s response.

“Pfff-ff. Freeloader.” Max said, turning around to give Isaac a smile as he reached the top of the stairs. The ginger behind him hadn’t stayed over since the first year he’d arrived in Mayview for… unknown reasons. Yet another thing that Isaac didn’t like talking about.

“Whatever, Max.” The shorter teen shot back as he crossed his arms, visibly looking less uncomfortable and more angry. That was more like Isaac. However, the look of mild rage in the ginger’s eyes was instantly replaced by a look of disgust.

“...Do you have any clothes that I could borrow? Preferably the ones that fit?” Isaac asked as he raced up the last few steps to catch up to the taller brunet. It was illogical how much taller Max had grown compared to Isaac, who seemed to stop growing once he’d hit fourteen. Isaac was standing at five foot eight at age seventeen and left to stare up at his friend who seemed to tower above him at six foot two.

Max turned around and shot a finger gun at the orange haired boy. “Very good question. Let’s find out.” The batter said as he turned open his door handle and walked into his room to see PJ floating with his hands in the air.

“Mr. Max! And… Isaac. Did you get it?” The small boy asked excitedly. Isaac stood on his toes to look at the ghost child over Max’s shoulder.

The taller teen nodded. “Yeah, but don’t expect me to do that ever again.” He said begrudgingly before pushing past the ghost and opening his dresser. “Oh, and you’ll have to get lefty to read it with you right now. The queen has arrived and I need to make sure he doesn’t sit in his soggy robes too long.” Max said with a shit eating grin as he glanced back at Isaac, who angrily glared at him from the doorway.

PJ turned to look at Isaac glowering at Max and stifled a giggle. “Oh well… Alright. Good luck and I’ll try not to spoil anything before you read it yourself!” The ghost shouted before floating up over Isaac and down the stairs. Silence quickly fell over the two boys in the room, save for the opening and closing of Max’s drawers.

Max continued to root through various shirts and pants in his dresser. He’d yet to find anything that would fit Isaac save for a few jeans he’d grown out of that hadn’t been disposed of yet.

“I cannot believe you just…” Isaac said disbelievingly as he walked into the room and stopped behind Max. “You know what, I’m not even going to bother chewing you out for that.” He said with an exasperated sigh. “Find anything that might fit?” He asked, suddenly eager.

The brown haired teen huffed before stepping away from his dresser with two articles of clothing. He swiftly threw them at Isaac, who seemed troubled by the fact that he was only holding pants. The boy looked up and cocked an eyebrow at Max and it was all he could do to not imagine his friend walking around the house shirtless.

“Ah… Don’t worry your highness, I’m pretty sure I have a sweater that’ll fit.” Max said with another smile as he quickly stepped towards his closet. Over the past year, the behatted teen had gotten exceptionally good at hiding the redness that often graced his features. He silently thanked this ability as he pushed the sliding doors open and gestured for his friend to take a look.

Isaac sighed at Max’s comment as he walked over and stared into the closet. Dear god, he didn’t think he’d ever seen that many sweaters in one place in his entire life. “Uh… Max. I think you being ‘pretty sure’ is an understatement. It’s like… statistically impossible for something to not fit me in here.” The pacifist said in bewilderment as he took in the sheer number of various hoodies.

Max sighed loudly and stared at his ceiling. “Yes. I am aware that I have a lot of sweaters. But thank you for making this fact clear to me once again.” Max said sarcastically before reaching over and pulling a dark grey hoodie off of the hanger. “Just pick one you like that fits and get changed. I’ll put your shirt in the dryer later or something.” Max stated simply as he backed away with the sweater he’d picked slung over his arm.

Isaac waited quietly as he heard Max rustle around in the dresser again. Probably for something other than a sweater. Isaac thought simply as he continued to stare at the plethora of hoodies in front of him, even after he heard the obvious click of the bedroom door closing. How the heck was he supposed to choose between the hundreds that Max owned?

The teenager rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking closely at the collection. Most were dull colours and shades. Grays and blacks, dark blues and a few maroons (most of which he’d never seen the brunet wear in the six years he’d known him). He was about to reach in blindly and put on whatever he happened to grab when he noticed a bright colour amidst the dull.

Light blue, at the back barely peeking out from behind a black sweater. Isaac curiously tugged it out, hanger and all to get a closer look. It wasn’t anything special, just a regular run of the mill baggy hoodie with a white crown printed on the front. He almost put it back as soon as he saw that little detail, knowing how much it would fuel Max with the ‘your majesty’ thing. But it was the only one that was even close to resembling something he’d wear. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. The orange haired boy told himself, before taking the hanger out of the sweater.

Isaac quickly threw off his wet light orange long sleeve and replaced it by the blue hoodie. He repeated the process for his pants as well, picking the light grey pair over the dark blue. After he’d finished dressing he made sure both his jeans and shirt were folded nicely in his arms. A content sigh left his lips as rubbed his hands together. He’d changed into dry clothing, now all he needed was heat. Didn’t Max’s dad ever turn on the furnace?

Isaac sighed lightly as he sat down on Max’s bed, quickly finding himself thinking of the first and also last time he’d stayed here. Everything had been alright at first, just two twelve year old boys having a sleepover. Him and Max ended up having too much fun, and when morning came Isaac hadn’t gotten home on time. Long story short, his dad didn’t appreciate it and refused to let him visit anymore.

Thankfully, Max burst back into the room before Isaac’s father occupied his mind any further. The look of shock on his friends face was damn near priceless.

“Oh dear god. Where did you find that?” Max said in horror, as he stepped closer and blinked a few hard times to make sure what he was seeing was real. It was clear to Isaac that this particular piece of clothing held some pretty embarrassing memories. That, or Max really hated it.

“Your closet is actually a portal that leads to a different universe. I explored your past and lived my life very differently, I think I was there for about twenty years before I made it back out. This hoodie is the only evidence of my journey.” Isaac said dramatically, holding his hand up to his chest and looking towards the closet with a forlorn expression.

Max groaned loudly and threw his wet shirt at Isaac’s face. “Good god, shut up already.” The brunet said as he walked up to Isaac and took the soaking clothes out of the ginger’s hands while he struggled with the blue piece of fabric sticking to his face. Max chuckled as he dropped Isaac’s clothes onto the floor, he’d deal with them later.

Isaac eventually pulled the shirt off his face and shot Max a dark, stormy glare. “You’re lucky you’re my best friend. Otherwise, you would be so roasted right now.” Isaac said, his tone slowly fading from angry to playful as his sentence progressed. He finished by swinging the shirt and hitting Max on the arm. The wet noise it made when it came in contact with the taller teen’s hoodie was enough to make Isaac burst into laughter.

Max rolled his eyes as he walked past the orange haired boy and fell onto the bed beside where he was sitting. “You’re a child.” He mumbled as he pulled out his phone and checked the time. It read 5:08 PM. How is it only five? Max thought as he glanced towards his window.

“That statement is anything but correct. I’m very sure I’m the most mature one in this room.” Isaac replied swiftly, swinging his legs onto the bed before crossing them and smiling down at Max. “I mean… I wasn’t the one who threw a shirt at my friend’s face.” He said with silly smile.
Max tore his eyes from the window, and instead pinned them on the blur of orange and blue that was Isaac. He avoided from letting himself think about how close together they were as he replied. “Yeah, but you were the one who whipped me with it. What are you? A middle schooler?” Max said, humour lighting his features as he pushed at Isaac’s arm. Said boy gave the teen below him a look of disbelief.

“I think you mean, what are we. You’re in this boat with me, Max.” The ginger said, his ridiculous know-it-all grin never leaving his face. This was probably the thing he treasured most about his friend, Max. It seemed like no matter how bad he felt, and how bad things were for him, he could forget it all when in the presence of the brunet.

The look of fake horror that passed over Max’s expression made Isaac feel even better.

“Oh god. On a boat? With you? Take my lifejacket right now because I am jumping off.” He said as he propped himself up on his elbows. The look Isaac got from Max after betrayed him, it was clear that the taller teen had no plans of ‘abandoning ship’ anytime soon. The ginger didn’t think he planned to either.

Max found himself looking at Isaac a few seconds longer than he should have. The smile Isaac was wearing, contrasted to the way he’d been outside of Max’s house just barely twenty minutes ago, was just so great to see. The seventeen year old inhaled sharply as he let his eyes fall from his friends bright blues, fixing them on his phone instead.

There was a silence after that. Isaac never replied and Max didn’t dare to look up from his phone as he absently played around on the homescreen of his phone. The behatted teen wasn’t sure what he’d see if he did anyway. Would Isaac look disappointed? Bored? Or maybe the less likely, but highly favoured, staring back down at Max? He didn’t get much longer to ponder the question, since Isaac broke the silence before he built up the nerve to look away from his device.

“So… Is there anything to do around here?” The orange haired pacifist asked simply. Max forced out a snort as he put down his phone and looked up at Isaac.

“Well, seeing as you did show up out of nowhere, I have absolutely nothing planned for us to do.” Max replied with a smug looking grin, looking up at his friend but not into his eyes. His grin only grew when the ginger beside him let out a deep sigh and leaned back.

“What sucks, is that you’re right. Sorry about that.” Isaac mumbled his last sentence and bit the inside of his cheek. He was very aware that he didn’t normally show up out of nowhere and stay over. Sure, he came by every now and then to invite Max to track down ghosts with him sometimes but… That was the farthest Isaac had ever gone with surprises. It looked like Max was about to reply with something majorly goofy, he could tell by the way the brunet’s lips curled up as he opened his mouth to speak. However, Isaac held up a hand and frowned a little.

“About me showing up randomly.” Isaac said in a soft voice as he struggled to figure out what to say. He knew he wasn’t going to tell Max the whole truth, he’d never look at the ginger the same way again if he did. So what was something that was technically true, but didn’t say the things he’d rather the brunet didn’t know?

The boy chewed on nothing for a few seconds before carrying on. “I… Actually don’t know when I can go back. To my house.” Isaac stuttered. The look of concern that immediately dominated Max’s features felt like a punch in the gut. Shit, hurry up and say the rest you idiot. Isaac thought as he clenched his hands and dug his nails into his palm.

“Ah, shit. No, it’s not like that. I just…,” Isaac paused and inhaled deeply and set his mind on the best statement to replace the truth. “My dad… He’s away right now. He does this a lot and I guess he accidentally locked me out of the house this time. I’m just not sure when he’ll be home.” That… Sounded satisfactory. Max seemed to buy it, if the way he relaxed back into his bed was anything to judge by.

“So you wanna know if you can stay here until your dad gets back?” Max asked as he tried not to let Isaac see how shocked he was. Isaac had mentioned his family, which was something he’d never done before. Max hadn’t had a single clue whom his best friend lived with in all the years he’d known him, until now. The brunet watched as Isaac nodded slowly.

“Essentially.” The ginger said with a shrug. “I know that’s probably a pretty big thing to ask, but you know I have a job. I can--” Isaac was cut off by Max sitting up and shaking his head. The boy prepared for the worst, but quickly loosened up when he heard soft laughter from the other boy.

Max rubbed his forehead after he’d stopped laughing. “Have you even met my dad? I’m very sure he wouldn’t even care. You don’t have to pay for anything, I’ll just talk to him when he gets back from Castleland.” The brunet said, smiling at the expression Isaac wore.

The orange haired boy grasped at the air before finally piecing together the sentence, “Are you serious?” He asked, shocked but relieved. The worry that he’d have nowhere to stay after Monday morning was eating at him, and it was an indescribable feeling to know that he wouldn’t have to.

“Are you? Yes, I’m going to kick my friend out, fully knowing he has nowhere else to go for an unknown amount of time.” Max said sarcastically. The brunet had gotten used to all of the insecurities he’d realised his friend had weighing him down. Truthfully, he could probably write each one down off the top of his head. “You’ve known me for like… Almost seven years now, dude. You know I wouldn’t do that.” Max carried on quickly as he prodded Isaac in the side with his elbow.

“Anyway. I’m like, ninety nine percent sure that theres a marathon of paranatural investigator 2.0 on right now.” Max said as he got up off his bed and stretched. He paid close attention to the way Isaac’s features lit up. Oh yes, this was a tradition of theirs. “You know what that means, right?” The behatted teen said with a mischievous smirk.

Isaac shot up off the bed and mirrored his friend’s expression. The ginger teen’s bright blue eyes shining even brighter with the excitement of upcoming events. “Time to pick out every detail that proves they’re fakes?”

“Hell yes.”

Chapter Text

Sunday morning came around all too fast. The ridiculousness of the previous night hardly seeming like something that had happened eight hours prior. The marathon, the late night customers, and of course, the food fight. Which started off with a single frozen pea, thrown with extreme precision into Isaac’s hair. Max could describe to you in explicit detail the way his ginger friend’s expression changed from shock, to frustration as the green sphere fell from his hair into his food. Max snorted softly at the memory, out of every person he’d ever bugged Isaac was the most fun.

The brunet teen had been awake for around half an hour, and had woken to his orange haired friend clinging tightly to his arm. He figured he dealt with it pretty well for someone who had an enormous crush on the boy who currently had his face buried in the sleeve of Max’s pyjamas. Of course, there had been a split second of panic before he actually did anything but eventually he’d taken action. This action being cautiously moving the rest of his body away and leaving his arm in Isaac’s grasp. Max was just happy he had his right arm to go on his phone.

Why can’t he just wake up at a normal time like any other person? Max pondered silently as he stared down at the orange haired teen sleeping against his arm. The sun was already up and shining through the window of his bedroom, it seemed illegal that Isaac was able to continue sleeping. Not to mention that the light made the shorter teen’s hair look like a wildfire, how did that much brightness not wake the boy next to him?

A soft sigh left Max’s lips as he tore his eyes off of his sleeping friend. The teen knew if he kept looking at Isaac he’d start thinking thoughts he shouldn’t. Thoughts that made the organ in his chest flutter and his stomach flip. Don’t get him wrong, these things weren’t bad. It was just that Isaac would be staying him for god knows how long and thinking these things on day one would surely result in disaster. He’d only just started the game on his phone back up when he heard a muffled groan and felt the grip on his arm tighten.

Max reluctantly allowed his player to run into a wall of spikes before slowly turning to look at his friend again. What he saw was almost enough to make him burst into laughter, but he held it back and allowed his cheeks to turn pink instead. Isaac had his face pressed right up against Max’s arm with his eyes shut tightly, an obvious sign that the boy was beginning to wake up.

The brunet smiled a little as he shook his arm, dragging another low groan from the ginger beside him. “Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty.” Max said at a volume that Isaac didn’t seem to like very much, judging by the whine that he made.

“Shht’pppp…” The orange haired teen mumbled grumpily as he lifted one of his hands weakly and dropped it down onto the other’s arm. All max did was roll his eyes and question how much longer his friend needed to sleep before he was satisfied. It’s already ten past eleven!

Max shook his arm again. “I get that you want to sleep, but could you at least give me my arm back? It’s starting to go numb.” Ah, that seemed to get a reaction out his friend.

Following his sentence, Isaac quickly opened his eyes to stare at the appendage in his arms in a mix of shock and confusion. Max could practically hear Isaac’s thoughts as he watched the various expressions pass over his friends face. The orange haired boy slowly leaned back before he pushed Max’s arm away with one finger and made a show of looking disgusted.

“Oh, okay. I see how you show gratitude.” Max grumbled as he pushed his friend’s face playfully. All Isaac could really do was swat at his hand until the taller boy moved it off, revealing two angry blue eyes. That colour seemed so unnatural, a mix of much too bright and much too blue, like lightning. Although that analogy may have been a bit influenced by the sparks of plasma that flew around the ginger’s face.

Isaac only glared at Max for a few more moments, before sighing and rolling onto his back. He really was tired, but waking up to realizing that you were cuddling your best friend’s arm was like a shot of espresso. Isaac yawned and rubbed his eyes groggily before mumbling out a quite, ‘I hate you’.

Max’s laugh rang in the shorter teen’s ears. “Aww, no don’t thank me. Letting you use my arm as a pillow was the least I could do.” The taller teen said mockingly, it was all he could do to keep himself from hysterics once Isaac turned his head to the side to gave him ‘the look’.

“You could have woken me up earlier.” The ginger mumbled quietly as he ran his hands down the shirt of the grey pajamas he borrowed. His statement elicited a rather loud burst of laughter from Max. Isaac hardly waited for him to stop chuckling before he spoke again in an irritated tone. “What?”

The boy beside Isaac covered his eyes with his hand before speaking with a wide grin on his face. “Did you even hear yourself when I woke you up? Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather live to see another day.” Max said as he removed his hand from his face to watch for the ginger teen’s reaction, his grin never falling.

Isaac didn’t like to admit it, but Max was right. He tried to fight the grin emerging on his lips as he shook his head, his friend was ridiculous. “Shut up, oh my god.” The ginger said with humour cracking through his voice as he swatted at Max. Over the years a lot of things had changed in the group and in their lives, but one constant was Max’s snarky attitude, and honestly… Isaac was pretty sure he’d never get enough of it.

“Try making me.” Max said as he sat up on his bed and swatted the orange haired teen back. What he didn’t expect was for Isaac to actually try to shut him up. His eyes widened in shock when the shorter teen shot up off the bed and pinned his hand against Max’s mouth. In fact, Isaac pressed his hand to Max’s mouth so hard that, with the force of him jumping back in surprise, it actually pushed the taller boy off the bed.

There was a loud thump when Max’s back hit the floor with his legs sticking up against the side of the bed. The ginger quickly flew to the edge to make sure his friend was okay, but his fear faded as soon as he saw the smile playing on the brunet’s face.

“Oh my gosh, he pushed me off the bed. Somebody call the nine o’clock news because Isaac O’Connor, the pacifist, pushed his best friend off of a bed.” Max preached as he pulled his legs onto the floor and propped himself up by his elbows. Quiet chuckles escaped his throat as he watched Isaac’s face go from shock to red with frustration in seconds.

“Someone is going to seriously hurt you one day, Max.” The orange haired teen grouched as he crossed his arms. “And no, that person will not be me.” Isaac added quickly before Max could reply. The boy on the ground simply shrugged as he straightened up the black shirt he’d worn to bed.

“We’ll see. I’d say Jonny would’ve already gotten to it, but…” The brunet trailed off and blew out a puff of air as he thought about the aggravating red head. Nobody had seen him since the summer of Max’s thirteenth birthday. It’d happened just after the brief war they’d had with the cousinhood, most of them had been defeated and eventually they fell back, the red head seeming to leave with them. The activity club had developed a lot of theories about why he disappeared, some more ridiculous than others, but they kept it as mellow as possible in respect of the boy’s parents.

Isaac nodded a little and cast his eyes to the side before standing up and stretching. He could sense the mood of the room drifting into the negative zone, and he wanted to keep it from doing that. The ginger teen changed the subject as soon as he was done with his stretch. “Anyway, Max. What time is it?” He said, dropping his arms to his side and looking down at his friend expectantly. If the brunet had been making a fuss before about Isaac sleeping in, he figured it must’ve been for a good reason. Like it being almost noon or something.

“Ah, well,” Max said, pausing as he got to his feet, “The last time I checked it was, like, ten past eleven. So, it’s probably around eleven twenty now.” He said logically as he stepped towards his dresser to grab a pair of pants. He’d slept in a black t-shirt and boxers, while Isaac had slept in his grey pajamas. He figured he should put on pants before going downstairs. He was starting to get pretty hungry, and he didn’t want to be without pants on incase someone came to buy something.

Isaac nodded, not looking shocked by the time at all. “You’ve got a breakfast menu fit for a vegan, right?” The ginger asked as he watched Max pull on his pants. They didn’t really eat all that much the previous night due to… shenanigans, and he was starting to get seriously hungry.

Max zipped up his jeans and gave Isaac a quizzical look, before nodding. “Of course we do, are you kidding? Have you ever met my father? He’d buy gorilla food just because someone might suddenly crave it for some ungodly reason.” The brunet rambled on as he grabbed the hat that was sitting on his dresser and stuck it on his head. Isaac seemed happy at that, it was rare that he got to eat much more than a vegan bar in the morning.

//////////

“Dude, just drink the damn thing.”

“Isaac. Isaac. You know how I feel about vegetable milk.”

“Okay, Max. Almonds are not vegetables.” The orange haired teen said as he motioned at the glass of almond milk on the counter. It all started after they had finished their breakfast. (Max with a bowl of cereal, eggs and toast while Isaac had an apple, toast and a glass of milk. Almond of course.) His behatted friend had stared at him weirdly as he poured himself another glass, and made a remark along the lines of ‘how could you possibly like drinking a nut?’

Isaac had laughed at first, but then he tried to convince the other boy to try some. After that, it had turned into a war.

“I know that! But that doesn’t change how I feel about drinking it. I’ll stick to cows. Thats normal.” Max replied with his arms crossed. Isaac just gave him a look of disbelief before shaking his head. Why do you have to be so stubborn?

“You are aware that people in north america are the some of only people in the world that drink milk from cows, right?” Isaac stated, crossing his own arms to mock his friend standing behind the checkout counter.

Max just sighed and stared blankly at the wall behind his ginger friend. “Isaac, that it everything but the point.” He replied solidly before shifting his gaze back to the orange haired vegan. Max had not expected him to try this hard to get him to drink the absurd substance in the glass.

“Look, I promise it’s not disgusting. Do you like almonds?” The ginger asked, crossing his own arms to mock his friend. He cocked an eyebrow and waited for a reply.

“Well… Yeah, I guess.” Max said defeatedly as he uncrossed his arms and stared at Isaac. They’d been arguing for a long time due to both of them being extremely stubborn, but Max was bored of it now. “What’s in it for me if I drink this nut milk?” The taller brunet inquired, giving his friend a sly smile.

Isaac shook his head and looked up at the ceiling, he shouldn’t agree to anything. That would be giving Max too much power. “Just shut up and drink it.” The shorter teen said sternly, it was very clear that nobody was moving until Max did as Isaac demanded.

He heard a loud sigh and the sound of dragging glass across the counter, which was enough to cause a smile to play on his lips. When he let his eyes drop from the ceiling of the store he saw the taller teen staring at the cup of milk. Isaac couldn’t help but notice how unsure the boy looked, it was kind of ridiculous actually. He figured he’d probably stare at a glass of cow’s milk the same way though, if he was ever even allowed to drink it.

Eventually the brunet brought the glass to his mouth and tipped it back, causing Isaac to lean forward on the counter in anticipation. After around twenty minutes of trying to convince his friend to try it, he’d finally done it and he was seriously wondering how much Max would like it. Which is exactly why Isaac couldn’t help watching closely as the other boy slowly put the glass down and slid it back over to the orange haired teen.

There was a long pause as Max stared down at the now nearly empty glass in front of himself, nodding slightly. He looked up slowly at Isaac before speaking. “That… Actually wasn’t that bad.” Max said, as he looked back down at the glass and furrowed his brow. “Did I really just argue with you about that for like… twenty five minutes? Did you really argue with me over this for that long? Why the hell was getting me to drink almond milk so important to you?” Max pondered allowed, throwing his hands up to emphasize certain points.

Isaac simply snorted as he reached over to grab the glass, and made a show of turning the glass around to the exact opposite side Max drank from before downing the rest of it. “For the exact same reason you tried to get me to eat steak when we were fourteen.” Isaac said with a large smile. “At least you drinking that wasn’t completely against your morals.” He continued with a quiet chuckle.

“True. But I didn’t draw it out for half an hour!” Max complained as he sat back down on the chair behind the counter. The brunet pressed a few buttons on the cash register out of boredom. It had been a really slow sunday, there were very few people who had entered the store for whatever they’d been looking for.

Isaac rolled his eyes as he placed the now empty cup onto the counter. “It was necessary, Max. You may not understand why now, but I am like… five percent sure it’ll impact your life somehow.” The shorter teen said as he waved his hand about, smiling when he saw the look of frustration Max gave him.

“Why can’t you just admit that that was completely pointless and you just wanted me to try your dumb vegan milk replacement?” Max asked, looking confused as he leaned back on his chair. “I mean, It’s cute that you want me to try the things you like and all… But you gotta know when to stop.” The taller teen’s look of confusion slowly turning to one of sly humour, his trademark smirk erupting as he saw Isaac literally start fuming.

“Max. Remember what I told you this morning. Those words are wise ones.” The orange haired boy said through gritted teeth as he slowly released his balled fists. In all honesty, he wasn’t actually that bothered or frustrated by Max’s ridiculous attempts to get him riled up. He just knew that his reactions amused the taller boy, and that was enough to get him to pretend to be angry.

“Wise words? from you? Why am I so skeptical about this?” The behatted teen said with a cocky smile as he crossed his arms. Max barely even flinched when Isaac threateningly raised his fist. It was definitely not the first time Isaac had done that, and he was one hundred and three percent sure that the orange haired boy wouldn’t actually hit him, being a pacifist and all.

The ginger slowly exhaled before smiling. “Yeah… Like I said earlier. The one who ends up hurting you will not be me.” Isaac said as he slowly lowered his fist to his side and shook his hand. Once again, he was pretending to be more angry than he actually was for the sake of the dumb smile that would result in his actions. He cherished that smile, Max (in all that entitled. Yes, including the teasing) and the lessons of doorman to even think about physically hurting him.

“Oh Isaac, just seeing your face hurts me. You’re already failing at your own game.” Max said as he laid his elbow against the counter and rested his head in the palm of his hand. He knew Isaac wouldn’t think about the brunet’s shift in position too much, he’d probably just pass it off as a way of emphasizing what Max had said but in all actuality… He just really wanted to get a closer look at his friend for absolutely no particular reason.

The boy in front of Max narrowed his eyes and let mouth hang open. At first, Isaac didn’t know how to respond to what his friend had said. He only really knew two things, one, he was offended, two, the smug grin on Max’s face had to go. And so, he latched onto the most prominent feature of the brunet in front of him. His hat.

In one swift movement, Isaac threw his hand forward and knocked the aged dark blue cap off of his friends head. The way his friends expression changed from his typical wise-guy-grin to one of pure shock almost broke the orange haired boy into a teary-eyed fit of laughter. And by almost, he meant it most definitely did.

Max continued to stare at Isaac in shock, before his open mouth slowly formed into an unbelieving smile. It looked like he was about to say something more when the door to the store burst open.

“We’re hoooooome!” An all too excited voice shouted from behind a gigantic armful of what looked like carnival prizes. Right, Max’s dad and Zoey were supposed to be back around twelve thirty. The person carrying the pile of goodies took a couple more steps into the store before dropping the armful of toys to the ground, revealing an overly excited forty year old man. His dad hadn’t changed much. The older man still had long brown hair that he kept in a short pony tail and kept the same style of clothes. There actually weren’t any obvious differences between his dad from when he was twelve and his dad now.

Zoey walked in behind their dad slowly, looking neutral as she always did. “Dear son, we got you a--”

“Oh,” The older man stopped his previous sentence when he saw Isaac standing in front of the checkout. It had taken him a few moments to realize that the ginger was not a customer, but instead a friend of his son’s. “Hello orange haired companion of my son whom I seem to be forgetting the name of at this moment.” Max’s dad said, miraculously all in one breath.

Zoey rolled her eyes in their father’s direction as she walked over to the pile of… stuff, and pulled out a bag of cotton candy. “His name is Isaac, Dad.” She mumbled as she opened the bag and shoved a piece of the fluffy candy into her mouth. Over the years, Zoey had remained much better at dealing with their dad than Max.

This was evident as Max rolled his eyes as he slid out from behind the counter. He waved a little, “Hi, dad.” The brunet said, shaking his head when his dad waved enthusiastically at him in return. It was unknown to Max how his father had remained as childish as he was.

“So, I’ve got something to ask you.” He said as he leaned back against the counter and glanced over at Isaac. Max’s dad nodded and was probably about to tell him to ask away in some ridiculous way that only his father could come up with, but Zoey interrupted him.

“Let me guess, one of you finally confessed your undying love to the other and now you’re moving in with him, or he’s moving in with us.” The fourteen year old said with a sweet innocent smile. Well, that’s what it would look like to any other person, but Max knew the truth. She was not innocent; she was the equivalent of a hell spawn.

Max tilted his head back and let out a deep sigh. He was so used to her teasing him about this that it didn’t even faze him anymore. Well, at least she said ‘one of you’. He thought optimistically.

“No, Zoey. That definitely did not happen.” He didn’t know how she found out about his crush on Isaac but she had, and for the last year and a half she hadn’t ceased teasing him about it. Max got even more annoyed when he heard his dad snort.

“Okay, if it is not that then what is it you were going to inquire about?” Max’s dad prompted quickly, before his children got into another argument. The brown haired teen shot his younger sister one last glare before looking up at his father’s smiling face.

“Isaac’s dad locked him out of the house by accident and he has no idea when he’s going to be back. I was wondering if he could stay here until his dad gets back.” Max said as he crossed his arms and childishly stuck his tongue out at Zoey for the sole purpose that he knew it would bug her. She’d been mostly wrong, besides the move in part, which was sort of true since Isaac was going to be staying with them for an x amount of time. Max glanced back at the orange haired teen and noticed he looked as nervous as he had when the ginger had originally asked if he could stay with the Pucketts.

“I don’t see why not!” His dad said cheerfully before reaching down and picking up a grey ape-looking stuffed animal with bright blue spots. As his father was doing this, Max rolled his eyes and nudged Isaac in a way to say ‘told you it’d be good’. This action drew a small smile out of his friend. However the brunet was suddenly drawn back to reality as he felt something soft hit his shoulder. He snapped his attention back to his dad and noticed that the man was standing in a throwing position, which prompted the teen to look down at his feet. Sure enough, the stuffed ape was laying on the ground right below him.

“Now son, back to what I was saying before. I got you a stuffed animal!” The older man said excitedly, as if it were the product of a great victory. Thinking about it, the thing was won at a carnival and the monkey was about as big as his chest. Looking at all of that from an amusement park perspective, it probably was a pretty decent accomplishment.

Max slowly reached down and grabbed the stuffed animal. The ape probably would’ve looked much nicer if it didn’t have two shiny black orbs for eyes. He briefly considered ripping the things off and getting his sister to put buttons there instead, since it would make it vastly less creepy. “Uh… Thanks dad.” Max replied reluctantly. He didn’t really how to reply, but it was polite to thank people. Even if it was an unsure thank you.

Suddenly, a hand darted forward and grabbed at the monkey in his hands. It took him a moment to realize that Isaac had taken it, and only a second to shoot his friend a questioning look before the ginger looked up from the stuffy and stared at Max’s dad.

“How did you manage to win something this big?” The shorter teen asked, obviously in shock. He’d had his share of carnival games and knew how difficult it was to win something of its size. Max’s dad seemed to light up, a large smile parting his lips.

“Well, Isaac. I’m glad you asked.” The older man said with an excited smile. “I can’t tell you exactly what I did, since when I learned the skills necessary I made a promise to the person who taught me to never share the knowledge.” The brown haired man paused and held his hand in front of him as he began to explain how he managed to win it from one of those ‘knock all the blocks off and you win!’ games with one ball.

Throughout the entire story Max was groaning internally. Dear god I’ve made a mistake. He thought as he stared at his dad who was proudly explaining his victory to Isaac, who looked very interested in the story. His dad finished the story by acting out the motion of throwing the single ball that had won him his prize.

Max sighed when Isaac turned back to him and exclaimed loudly that ‘his dad was the almighty god of carnival games’. The last thing he’d expected in this situation was the ginger and his father bonding over carnival games. “I cannot believe this entire situation, so I’m just going to pretend it never happened.” The brunet said with a smirk as he snatched the stuffed animal back from Isaac.

Zoey laughed from where she was standing behind their dad. As she’d gotten older, she’d dropped the pigtails in favour of just-above shoulder length hair and had gotten braces to fix the gap in between her teeth. Max had no idea where his dad got the money for them from. “Don’t pay attention to him, Isaac. He gets jealous easily.” She said cheekily with an annoying grin.

“You’re unbelievable.” Max said as he stared blankly at his sister. The idea that he’d have to put up with her teasing him constantly for the next who knows how long made him nervous. He thought he’d done pretty good concealing his feelings from Isaac, whom he was at least eighty percent sure was not interested in men at all. But, knowing Zoey, there was a huge risk of the shorter teen finding out because of her.

Speaking of the ginger boy, Max could clearly hear the quiet laughing from beside of him. No doubt, when he turned his head he saw Isaac chuckling quietly. “What’s unbelievable is your family. God, it’s going to be fun staying here.” Isaac said happily.

Max shook his head in response, since he found himself unable to form a proper one. It could’ve had to do with how ridiculous the present was, or possible just how nice it was to see his friend smiling instead of… what he’d looked like when he’d first got here. The fear that had flashed across Isaac’s expression and the redness in his eyes made Max nervous. Isaac wasn’t the kind of person to readily show fear, or weakness of any kind. He didn’t know if it had to do with Isaac’s dad locking him out accidentally or if it was something else. While the ginger being upset was enough to freak Max out, the fact that he didn’t know what was wrong bothered him more than anything else.

“If you find my family that amusing, I’m sure it will be.” The brunet said as he gave Isaac a friendly push on the shoulder. The boy’s smile never left his face as he simply rolled his eyes back at Max.

“Your family isn’t as amusing as they are interesting.” Isaac replied as he gestured to the two standing a few feet away. Interesting had been the best word he could use to describe Max’s dad and younger sister. He didn’t think he knew a family even close to being similar to his friend’s. He was about to make another comment about the taller teen’s family when the chime of his phone distracted him.

Isaac huffed and uttered a quick, quiet sorry before pulling his phone out of his pocket to look at the text he’d received. Max watched as the orange haired teen squinted as he read the message, the ginger had a habit of holding the phone too close to his face when he was on it. The behatted teen was about to say something about ‘lowering the phone from his face before he pushed it into it' but the look of shock and the way the colour drained from Isaac’s cheeks shut him up. The boy opened and closed his mouth as if trying to figure out something to say before he pocketed his phone again and tried to look calm.

“I, uh. It’s my dad, he’s not home but he said there might be a spare key.” The shorter teen said, forcing a smile onto his face. Max could tell just from the way the corner of Isaac’s lips twitched that he was faking. “I should probably go see if it’s still there.” He continued casually.

Max nodded and gestured to the stairs. “I’ll go grab my coat, it’ll only take a-” He stopped when he saw his friend wave his hand and shaking his head.

“Oh no, I think I should go by myself. Your dad will probably need your help to put all of that…” Isaac paused and leaned to look past Max at the pile of junk on the floor, “...away.” He excused simply. Max raised an eyebrow at Isaac, clearly showing his reluctance to believe the ginger in his expression. All the shorter teen did was sigh and put his hand on the brunet’s shoulder as a way to try to pacify him. “I’ll text you if I find it, so you aren’t waiting for me to get back.” He finished with a smile and a wave as he turned around to walk out the door. The last thing he heard before he had completely left the store was Max and Zoey arguing about something to do with ‘dreamboats’ and ‘too much anime’.

Isaac walked quickly with only one last glance at the store before he turned a corner. There was no spare key. There was no going home. The text message had been from his dad, but it was not to tell him there was a way for him to come back to the house. Or at least… Not in a way that made you feel welcome. The ginger felt his eyes burning as he thought about the messages. There were two. The first saying ‘you’d better get your ass home within the next hour or so fucking help me.’ Which was normal, considering how his father was but… the second had stung. ‘I should have never had kids.’ The message had read. It wouldn’t have been as bad as it was if Isaac hadn’t imagined it in his dad’s voice, slurred and full of hate. Hate for just about anything he saw.

The orange haired boy shuddered and dug his nails into his thumb to try to keep himself from crying all over again, like he had the day before. After he’d ran. The boy couldn’t help but begin to walk faster as he thought of these things. He just wanted to be somewhere where no one would be able to see him cry, or whatever else he needed to do to deal with these emotions. Isaac bit his lip, he wanted to tell Max, he wanted his friend to know what he was going through and most importantly, he wanted someone to lean on. He’d been taught to hold in his negative emotions, anger by the doorman and his 'weakness' by the spirit whom he shared his spectral energy with. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t absolutely sick of it.

Isaac dug his nails into his thumb harder as the seconds passed. All he wanted to do was to scream, to cry, to do something that made him feel better and it was getting more and more difficult to repress these feelings as time progressed. It was all he could do to avoid screaming as he crossed the road in front of the forest. His eyes began to burn with the threat of tears, and that was probably what prompted him to begin to move faster.

However, once he started running he found that he couldn’t stop. Trees and bushes flew past as he darted deeper into the woods, away from judgement to someplace where he’d be farthest away from those who could call him out on showing his weakness. When he finally stopped, he had no idea where he was but he couldn't care less about it. He rooted his fingers in his staticy hair and yelled until his throat was sore.

Almost eighteen years of holding in all of his emotions, keeping all of them hidden from his friends and trying to please the doorman. There had never been a time for him to vent, until now. That was why he screamed and yelled and cried until everything hurt and he wasn’t able to anymore. He allowed himself to sink to the forest floor and close his eyes as he shook. He didn’t know if he felt better after doing all of that, just less tense, less like a compressed gas container that could explode with one wrong move.

It was then that Isaac saw a bright flash before he was pulled in by his spirit. “You’ve been ignoring me.” The stormy ghost said with anger clearly flashing in it’s eyes. “I demand an answer as to why.” It said as it clenched it’s fist. Why was it that the creature Isaac least wanted to talk to decided to show up now?

“If you know I’ve been ignoring you, why pull me in now?” Isaac replied blankly as he removed his hands from his face.

“Do not answer my question with another question.” The ghost said sternly, thunder sounding loudly after it’d spoken. “I asked you something, and I expect a proper answer."

“I’ve been trying to keep myself from lashing out. That’s why.” He said quietly, unable to muster the energy to argue with his spirit. As the years progressed Isaac had found it harder and harder to keep himself from fighting back against his father, and the last few days had been harder than ever before. The last thing he needed was a spirit that was the literal embodiment of anger goading him on.

“And why is that bad? He deserves it. You know better than any other being on this wide Earth that he does. Maybe even more than I.” It said as it crossed it’s arms and floated closer.

Isaac shot up from where he was sitting and pointed a finger right in it’s face. “Exactly! This is exactly why I have been ignoring you!” He yelled again, ignoring the ache that resulted.

“Because I speak the truth? Because I share the same opinions you do, the ones you’d rather you didn’t have?” The ghost said with anger as it uncrossed it’s arms and pointed back. “Isaac O’Connor, you are not the same boy you were when you were twelve. Stop pretending you are the same boy preaching non-violence. You’re angrier, more dangerous. I live in your mind, do you think I have not seen what you think of?” It yelled

“You don’t know anything.” He whispered angrily.

“The anger you feel has begun to eat at you.”

“It hasn’t.”

“I know what you think of when you see your parent.”

“You don’t.” Isaac hissed, as he balled his fists at his side.

“I have never seen another soul with as much anger as you. There is so much hate deep within you, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.”

“You're only telling me what you want me to be!” Isaac yelled as he began to shake. A dark chuckle sounded throughout the room as he ghost floated right up to the orange haired boy’s face, ignoring the teen's words.

“Do you remember my lecture from when you were younger? The twelve year old pacifist who wouldn’t dream of using violence to assure justice. The boy who would tell others that there is no purpose in attacking as he snarled with fury at those who dared to push you far enough.”

“Shut up.” Isaac said, shaking harder with his rage than he ever remembered doing.

“You would utter threats, but never act upon them, but that was then. Now? You fantasize about sinking your fangs deep into the flesh of those that are deserving. What was originally a growl of warning has become a bite.”

The ghost's accusations were picking away at the boy. Over the years it had proven relentless in it's attempts to anger him, to push him over the edge. Isaac knew the spirit only wanted to make him like it, a body of rage that would do anything for the sake of justice. He'd been angry throughout the entire spiel, but he was used to it from the spirit. It never seemed pleased with anything Isaac did, and he had begun to accept that. But what he couldn't accept was it telling him he'd become ruthless and that was what enticed the ginger to take action.

“Just shut the hell up already!” He roared as he pulled his fist back and aimed it at the ghost in front of him. However, the ghost pushed him out of it’s domain before Isaac’s fist could make contact. As he was pushed out, all he could hear was a faint chuckle and one final sentence. ‘Do not continue to neglect your power, Isaac.'

It happened too quick for Isaac to correct himself, and the next thing he knew his fist made contact with the tree directly in front of him. The orange haired teen guessed that he had unknowingly reinforced his punch with electricity, judging by the loud boom that resulted. When he pulled his fist away he saw a large black scorch mark where his fist had previously been. The same fist that sent waves of pain up his arm. Shit. Isaac cursed himself as he held his hand to his chest and looked at the damage he’d caused. No, the damage that his spirit had made him cause.

Isaac inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, forcing the words that the storm spirit had said to him out of his mind. It's not telling the truth. It's only trying to make me like it. He told himself as he moved his eyes away from the tree to look at his hand. It was definitely bloody, to the point where he had no idea how he'd be able to hide it from Max. Would he come up with another excuse, or would he tell him the truth? He exhaled slowly and decided he'd purposely take the long way back to the store, maybe take a few extra turns too to be safe. He needed as much time that was logical to think about what he was going to say when he got back to Max's house.

Chapter Text

Max sat on the stairs inside the convenience store quietly while his dad sat behind the counter and dealt with the customers. The carnival objects had finished being put away and that left Max with nothing else to do while he waited for Isaac to return, or at least message him. His phone was on and facing upwards in his lap, making it very difficult for the brunet to miss a message from his friend, which is, unfortunately, something he is famous for doing. He tried not to worry as he estimated how long it’d been since Isaac left. The teen knew that something had been wrong, simply from the way the ginger’s expression dropped when he looked at his phone. Max knew he shouldn’t be trying to stop himself from worrying because this time, unlike the others, it was warranted.

Putting two and two together was nothing Max found difficult. Everytime Isaac’s dad came up in conversation the boy looked like he’d much rather talk about something else. Then there was Isaac apparently being ‘accidentally’ locked out and him leaving because there might be a spare key. That was the only thing that struck Max as strange. The orange haired teen didn’t seem happy about there being a chance he’d be able to go back to his home. It lead Max to believe that there was something seriously wrong, but he had no idea what it could be. His lack of knowledge of Isaac’s home life prevented him from making any educated guesses. Could it have been the death of a family member? A divorce? Maybe Isaac had a stepmom that was absolutely despicable and his dad wouldn’t do anything about it? The teen huffed quietly. There was no way he was going to find out what was going on, not until Isaac told him himself.

Max leaned forward a bit to get a better look at the street outside the store, hoping that he’d see Isaac. The ginger did say that he’d text him if he found the key, so it was sort of safe to assume that he’d be walking back right now. The behatted teen leaned back again when he saw nothing before checking his phone. He slumped forward when he saw that there were no messages from his friend.

“Still waiting for your boyfriend to get back?” Said a voice right into his ear. Max jumped a little before sighing deeply at the realization of who it was. Zoey. He turned to give her a fiery glare, but that apparently did not faze her.

“To answer your question, yes, but he isn’t my boyfriend, Zo.” Max replied blankly as he placed his phone down on his lap.

“Yeah, but you wish he was.” Zoey replied quickly as she sat beside him on the stairs.

Max straightened up as he turned his head to look at Zoey with an expression that said he really didn’t feel like talking about it right now. “So? That’s completely irrelevant to the point.” The older teen replied. He watched his sister roll her eyes and shake her head.

“Max, you don’t even know the point of me bringing it up, so you can’t actually say it’s irrelevant.” Zoey stated matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms and lost the shit eating smile for a more serious expression.

“Oh okay. Please, do tell me what the point actually is then.” The older sibling insisted with mock interest, sparing a quick glance at his phone to make sure the screen wasn’t bright with a notification.

“If you like Isaac so much, why don’t you ask him on a date?” She asked with shocking sincerity that immediately pulled Max’s eyes away from his phone and towards his sister. Zoey, while being much better at dealing with issues of all kinds, was not one to offer advice without prompting.

Dear god, Max thought, I don’t look that miserable, do I? The brunet shifted uncomfortably at that thought. If his sister could tell, then there was a chance Isaac could as well. “Incase you haven’t noticed, two males in a romantic relationship is typically frowned upon. That and I don’t think Isaac is interested in guys.” Max replied honestly, still feeling a little strange about the conversation as a whole. His younger sister seemed to have had responses pre-planned seeing as she answered damn near immediately.

“Well yes, that’s true. But not by everyone.” Zoey said in response to Max’s first reason. She barely took in another breath before continuing onto what she was planning on saying next. “And what makes you think that? I’ve seen what you two are like together, I think it’s very possible he’d be interested in you.” She said as she uncrossed her arms and gave him a look.

Max tilted his head back and let out a weak laugh. “I wish.” He uttered quietly. Max had never been a very hopeful person, once something happened, it happened. There was no reversing or changing what you didn’t like or didn’t want to believe. “Like I said earlier, you watch too much anime. Your ‘yaoi’ is making you think there could be anything between me and Isaac.” Max said with a teasing smile to try and alleviate the awkward tension between them.

Zoey just groaned playfully and swatted at the brim of her brother’s hat. “No no, you two aren’t cheesy enough.” She replied swiftly. Max just grinned back and shoved her with his elbow. The two of them were usually at each other’s throats, tossing teases and empty threats back and forth like siblings typically did. Every now and then though, they had moments like this, where the seventeen year old and his fourteen year old sister could manage to get along.

“Seriously though, Max.” Zoey continued after she’d stopped smiling enough that she could talk properly. “There could be something between you two, you just have to take a risk.” She said, losing the playful tone and bringing back the sincerity once again.

Max shook his head and gave her a look that showed he couldn’t argue against her point anymore. “Okay well… Thanks. I’ll think about that.” The older teen replied in an unsure tone. He’d known Isaac for nearly six years, and not once had the orange haired boy ever displayed any interest in other guys, or anybody for that matter. It seemed dumb to hope that Isaac would be interested in him.

Zoey gave him a soft smile, which was unusual on his younger sister’s face. “Just don’t think about it too long, you might miss your chance.” She said as she stood up with a quick punch to Max’s arm before walking back upstairs. The older teen figured she was probably going back to her room to finish watching, or start watching whatever she had put aside to talk to him. He still found it strange how she’d suddenly initiated a heart to heart conversation with him about his crush on Isaac. He didn’t know his mom very well, but he figured Zoey was probably a lot like her.

Max exhaled deeply as he turned his eyes back to the phone in his lap. Still no message, and no sign of Isaac. It’s almost been an hour. Max complained in his thoughts, it usually only took twenty minutes for his friend to walk to the store so walking back to his house shouldn’t be over an hour long of a walk. On top of the worry about what was taking Isaac so long, he was actually pretty bored. His dad insisted that he handle the shop today since he missed it so much, and that left Max with absolutely nothing to do.

With a grunt, the teen leaned back on the stairs. They definitely weren’t the most comfortable place to sit to wait for his friend but it would have to do. Besides, Isaac shouldn’t take too much longer. He told himself as he turned his phone on vibrate and placed it on his chest.

//////////

Isaac stood just behind a turn that would lead him onto the street of the convenience store, nervousness causing him to hesitate. He still had no idea what he was going to do about his wounded fist. His knuckles had swollen up and the scrapes had stopped bleeding a long time ago, but the dried blood was glaringly obvious on his hand. The worst part was that he wasn’t wearing the bright blue hoodie Max had let him borrow, so he couldn’t hide his hand in his pockets. Which, wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he knew how to tell Max about what happened. Explaining why his hand was scraped would mean having to explain everything else and… Well, Isaac didn’t know if he was ready to spill all the secrets he’d kept for the past ten years. Of course, he trusted Max, but he’d never told anyone about it, or at least not on purpose.

Isaac ran his fingers through his static-y hair; he had no plan and no cover. He didn’t know if he was emotionally stable enough to be able to hold up a wall like he’d done before and he knew he’d crack if Max looked at him the way he usually did in these situations. He didn’t know why his friend cared so much. Sure, others seemed to worry about him, like Mr. Spender, but not in the same way the brunet did.

The teen continued to stand silently, watching people pass by and trying to steel himself up for whatever would happen when he walked back into the store. Isaac knew he didn’t have much of a choice on whether he went back or not. Where would he stay instead? His house? He shuddered at that thought. There was no way he was going back there anytime soon, not after what happened. So, that left him with one choice that wasn’t terrible to think of, going back to the store.

Isaac inhaled deeply and held his breath. He didn’t want today to be the day that Max found out about everything that had been going on since he was seven, but he knew he’d just have to deal with whatever happened. If the remnants of the emotional wall he’d built up didn’t stop him from telling Max everything, he’d deal with the after effects. Now, with that, the ginger stepped out of the alleyway and onto the street.

Nervousness made his stomachs do knots in his stomach as he approached the store. Isaac couldn’t see any way for him to avoid letting Max know that something was very wrong in his household. He wasn’t sure how the brunet was going to react to hearing about all that had happened. The shorter teen felt frozen as he found himself standing right in front of the entrance of the convenience store. He took in one last deep, shaky breath before opening the door.

The orange haired boy was immediately greeted by Max’s all too cheerful father.

“Isaac!” The man shouted from his place behind the counter. “Welcome back, my most cherished vegan guest.” Max’s dad said as if Isaac wasn’t the only vegan guest he had. The orange haired boy just shook his head, as he felt unable to come up with any other form of a reply.

“Is Max in his room?” Isaac asked quietly, gesturing with his thumb towards the set of stairs that lead to the portion of the store that the Puckett’s lived in. The older man replied with a quick ‘Yep, he should be.’ before turning back to whatever he was doing before Isaac had entered the shop. The orange haired boy tried to shake the nervous stiffness out of his limbs as he stepped towards to stairway and slowly made his way up. However, the closer he got to Max’s bedroom, the more apparent it was that he was talking to somebody. He approached the door and let his knuckles (the ones that hadn’t been destroyed by the tree) make contact with the wood. Isaac barely had a chance to pull his hand from the door before it shot open, revealing a very shocked looking Max.

The brunet stepped forward a bit making it look like he was about to hug Isaac, but the taller teen halted in his movements. Isaac looked over his friend’s shoulder to see PJ and lefty floating around in the room behind him. The ghost boy gave him a small wave before floating out of sight for the time being.

“What took you so long?” Max asked eagerly, clearly worried as Isaac had known he’d be. Preparing yourself for an idea of what might happen does not actually prepare you in any way for what actually happens, Isaac realized as he felt himself freeze in nervousness all over again.

The orange haired boy exhaled deeply, knowing full well he’d been gone for just over an hour and a half. “Well…” He started, still unsure of what he should say and very surprised that he manage to respond without it coming out garbled. “The key was supposed to be at an old ex of my dad’s, so that’s why it took a bit longer than it usually does.” Isaac lied. He spoke fast, so that he didn’t have to consider the plausibility of what he’d said. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you that.” He mumbled, looking up apologetically at Max, who was unaware it was because everything the ginger had said to him was a lie and not because he’d forgotten to tell his friend he’d be longer than normal.

Max seemed to buy it however, judging by the look of relief that flooded his expression. “Alright, that’s acceptable I guess. Just glad you’re here and not dead in a ditch or something.” The brunet said jokingly as he turned around and walked back into his room. Isaac followed immediately, pushing down all the nervousness that bubbled up. He figured he could tell Max a bit of the truth when he saw the state of his right hand, which was probably a little immature.

His friend’s room looked about the same it had earlier that morning, bed unmade with the blankets laying in a messy tangle at the end, dirty clothes that Max hadn’t bothered to put away littering the ground and a backpack with the brunet’s tool sitting neatly inside. About the only difference in the room was that there was a comic sitting open on Max’s bed, leading Isaac to assume that he and PJ had been reading it before he’d gotten back. With a sigh, his behatted friend flung himself onto the heap of blankets as Isaac snatched up the comic with interest.

He spent a few minutes staring at the cover and flipping through the pages, admiring the artwork and seemingly flawless story telling. In those minutes the ginger teen hadn’t notice Max sit up, or how he’d sat staring at Isaac for a very long amount of time. What finally did catch the vegan’s attention however was a quiet sigh that caused Isaac to look up from the comic in his hands.

“I was really worried about you, you know.” Max spoke quietly, sincerity heavily coating his words. He watched as his friend lowered the graphic in his hands to look at the brunet with confusion.

“Why?” Isaac asked, genuinely wanting to exactly what he’d done or said that resulted in Max worrying about him.

The brunet teen shrugged a little after the ginger’s sentence. “You looked upset when you left, like you had on Saturday.” Max said, looking up at Isaac with a searching gaze. He hadn’t known what caused Isaac to look the way he had hours earlier, he still didn’t. It was probably the lack of an explanation that worried Max the most, like usual. What else is troubling as knowing someone you deeply care about is upset but not knowing what they’re upset about. Isaac let out a soft sigh before mumbling a quiet ‘I’m okay. You don’t have to worry.’

“Maybe, but I have no idea what makes you feel that way. It’s what I don’t know that worries me, Isaac.” Max replied earnestly, staring up at Isaac with eyes that seemed to be searching for answers in the ginger’s expression. There were still a lot of things that were going unsaid in the conversation, but the brunet figured that telling Isaac what unnerved him was a start.

The ginger paused, returning Max’s stare but with more nervousness. “There is a lot you don’t know, and I don’t think tonight is the night I’ll be able to tell you all of it.” Isaac responded as he sat down on the bed next to Max, looking almost apologetic about he was unable to tell Max what he wanted to know.

“Then tell me some of it.” The behatted teen said solidly. “I’m not an idiot, Isaac. I know something is wrong and I want to know a bit about what it is.” Max watched as the ginger beside him began to poke at the wrinkled sheets of the brunet’s bed. He knew it made Isaac nervous to talk about his family, but Max needed to know that he didn’t have to worry whenever his friend left the store without him.

It was quiet for a few minutes as Isaac continued to play with the fabric of the bed sheet and Max waited for the ginger to answer. It was obvious the he needed to think of what to say and Max fully understood that, he would wait hours if he needed to. Once Isaac finally opened his mouth to say something, five minutes had passed and Max was eager to hear what the ginger had to say.

“It’s hard to talk about.” Isaac started, tugging at the sheets hard before continuing. “I can’t tell you everything; I don’t think I’d be able to but… Most of it has to do with my dad.” The ginger sighed as he glanced over at the taller teen, trying to decide if he should say anything else or not. He observed as Max nodded slowly, and Isaac suddenly felt overpowered by the anxiety that shot through him. What if Max had already assumed what had happened based off of what he’d said so far? Isaac huffed loudly before adding on one last point. “I can’t think of much else I’m ready to say at this point.”

Max seemed to be content with that. “So whatever is bothering you strictly has to do with your dad, and as long as you don’t have to deal with him you’ll be fine?” The brunet asked, trying to confirm that what he’d taken from Isaac’s vague explanation.

Isaac looked up from the bed and nodded at Max before speaking again. “Now can we please stop talking about this and do something else that’s a little less emotional and a bit more… I don’t know, fun?” The ginger asked, wanting nothing else more than to leave this topic behind and pick it up when his insides felt a lot less like they were trying to destroy each other.

Max pulled his hat off and slapped Isaac’s arm with it. “Sounds like a good idea.” The teen said as he leaned to the side and pulled his laptop out from underneath his bed with a grunt. “I’m pretty sure I found a good quality copy of ‘Golden Nebula’ online, so we could watch that if you want.” Max said with a large grin. That animated movie had been the most prized part of his childhood, namely because of the space pirates.

The two teens had found out long ago that they both shared a deep love for that movie, and ever since the day they’d discovered this they had made it a goal to watch it together sometime. Isaac smiled up at Max with relief that they were moving on and that their ‘topic changer’ was the absolute best animated movie of all time.

“If I want? Max, I don’t want to, I need to watch that movie.” Isaac said, his features lighting up and looking a lot more like the Isaac Max was used to. “Just get the file up already.”

“With pleasure.”

----------------- 

Many hours later, somewhere in Mayview a man stood silently as he listened to the instructions he was being given by a ghostly messenger. The person whom the spirit was delivering a message from had many like it; the man knew this for a fact. They stayed similar in appearance; nearly all of them were humanoid with very few being animalistic.

“They ask if all is going according to plan regarding the young spectrals of Mayview.” The spirit said, its voice was deep and garbled as if it were speaking through water.

“Oh yes, the four of them have grown into exactly what we need. I have no doubt that they will do anything but impress.” The man replied to the spirit honestly. The fourth had not been planned on, but his sudden appearance did nothing except accelerate what they had planned.

“Good.” It said with a nod. “You know what to do from here. The Consortium demands that no mistakes are made in their final year.”

The man let out a soft chuckle at the spirit’s last sentence, amused that she had felt the need to include that. “Trust me; the plan will be executed perfectly. I did not spend the last seven years on this mission for them to fail now.”

The ghost nodded, making a mental note to report that back to whom had send it. “Is there anything you would like for me to include?”

“Only that I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect batch of students.”

Chapter Text

The first day back to school after the weekend was just like any other, except that this time Max got ready with Isaac instead of meeting him downstairs in the store like usual. Also that instead of having a glass of regular milk, Max’s glass was filled with almond milk and responded to Isaac bugging him about it by simply saying ‘I will not ignore a good product when I see one’. The brunet was mostly glad that Zoey didn’t know the story behind the alternative milk; otherwise he would’ve had to defend himself from two people dead set on embarrassing him for liking something he avoided trying for so long. Breakfast had gone pleasantly after that, mostly filled with Max’s dad making ridiculous jokes and promising to get Isaac some more food that was suited to a vegan.

That had been hours ago, however. Max was in socials, his second period, staring blankly at the teacher writing the material on the board and occasionally asking questions to make sure the class understood what was being taught. It was Max’s last year in high school, and despite how often the teachers told him that he needed to start planning his future, he had no idea what he was going to be doing. None of his hobbies could get him very far, parkour? No way, he wasn’t that good. Ghost hunting? It was a possibility, if he disregarded the fact that he couldn’t leave Mayview at all. (Which was also a major problem if he decided that he wanted to do literally anything else). Also more often than not that kind of work was a hit and miss, you either made it big or you didn’t make it at all.

The teen huffed quietly as he directed his attention back up to the board and away from his thoughts of his future. As much as he hated being in school, there was absolutely no chance of him having a decent future if he didn’t learn what most universities and colleges thought was standard. One of these standards was English, to a thirty dash one or dash two level. Fortunately this was no problem for Max. He wasn’t the best at writing essays and had a very obvious lack of skill in writing a text analysis, which put him in dash two. It was bare minimum, but Max was succeeding and that was all that mattered to him. Plus he was in dash one for all his other core classes, some by sheer luck (like math) and others just because he had a very mild interest in what was being taught.

The teacher was explaining something completely ridiculous and irrelevant and Max found himself wondering why he even bothered paying attention. Whatever it was, it had something to do with the Middle East. Absolutely nothing else logical could be picked up and the brunet didn’t want to know what had started the discussion. He felt bad for the teenager that got asked what side he was on and could only reply with a quiet ‘yes’. Well at least I’m not the only one who’s confused. Max thought.

Social studies was a strange class sometimes, but it turned out to be one of Max’s favourites. For what reason, he didn’t know. It was nearly identical to English, there were still essays and there were still sources to analyze. Something about it was just more appealing to Max. He figured it might’ve had something to do with the curriculum was based on events that were happening in the present, or happened fairly recently. What you based your evidence on in essays were real life conclusions, not ideas drawn from between the lines. The brunet wasn’t very good at seeing what was going on behind the big picture, not that he was dense or anything, he just had a much harder time seeing it than others. This could possibly be why he found it difficult to judge what his best friend’s sexual preference was.

Max accidentally let his mind wander once again, still on the subject of his future but from a… slightly different perspective. It seemed strange to think that him and Isaac could have a future together, but with what Zoey told him the day before he found it difficult not to. She’d told him that she thought that they could be something, that she thought Isaac might have feelings for him. It all seemed imaginary to Max. None of his middle school crushes had ever reciprocated and the brunet couldn’t see Isaac being much different. He could practically hear his sister telling him to ‘just take a risk’ and to tell Isaac how he felt, or to take him on a date.

It was apparent to Max that Zoey had no idea how nervous that thought made him. Isaac was his best friend, and jeopardizing their friendship just because there might be a chance that the orange haired boy felt the same way seemed ridiculous. Max enjoyed the relationship they had right now, even if he wanted to be so much closer to Isaac than he already was.

A loud chime came from the speakers, indicating that it was time for third period. Max quickly scrambled to collect his things, shoving his textbook, loose papers and pencils into his binder haphazardly. Every single one of his teachers were terrible at keeping track of time, which eventually caused Max to make the decision to carry everything he needed for the day with him twenty four seven. While this at times was fairly frustrating and somewhat difficult, he knew he’d never be late for a class again (which was a plus).

The brunet exhaled deeply as he made his way into the hallway and towards the location of his science class. He hated the overcrowded hallways, but knowing that he was headed to the most bearable class this semester was enough to drive him forward. That and he had friends in that class, friends being Isabel, Ed and Cody. Company helped when the teacher went on out-of-nowhere spiels about Botany. Max would be damned if any other person liked plants as much as that guy.

On the way to the classroom he had to swerve to avoid people and spirits alike, the latter as discreetly as possible but Max did make it. As an added bonus, he did it with fewer than five people giving him weird looks when he jumped out of the way when no one was there. The teenager dropped into his assigned seat with a loud sigh.

“Hey guys.” Max directed to the three of his friends as he pulled out his binder and science textbook.

There was a small group of normal people who still associated with Max after the incident in grade ten, Cody, Jeff and Violet being this small group. For some reason they stuck around throughout his ‘strangeness’ (him jumping at ghosts who popped up out of nowhere, moving out of the way of things non-spectrals couldn’t see, being caught talking to ‘nobody’ etc.) Violet had justified it by saying if their friendship made it through the weird crush Max had on her in middle school, then it could survive anything, while Cody and Jeff just said they liked him and that was enough to remain friends.

“Hey, Max.” Cody replied first with a friendly grin as Isabel waved and Ed looked up from the blank paper on his desk to shoot him a finger gun. “It’s a quiet morning.” The black haired teen whispered quietly to Max, glancing over at Ed, who was doodling, and Isabel, who was watching him draw.

“That’s unusual.” Max muttered as he stared at the two who were sitting in perfect silence as Cody nodded in agreement. He briefly considered if it had something to do with the video game competition. Did they lose? Did they stay up so late and put so much effort into winning that they drained themselves of all energy? The latter seemed most likely, the pair tended to get terrifyingly vicious in tournaments and something would have to have been seriously wrong for them to come anywhere close to losing.

Max directed his eyes back to his black haired friend before sharing the information. “They did say that they were participating in a competition of sorts.” The brunet said with a comical wince, everyone knew how many terrifying things could come along with the ‘super scroll’ pair in a competition. Blood? Yes. Glory? Definitely. A sweet revenge in the form of virtual murder when someone cheated and managed to defeat one of them? Yep, all of that and so much more. Cody gave a quiet snort as he pulled out his own textbook.

“Jeez, I guess that could explain a bit of it.” The teen beside him quickly tugged out a piece of lined paper before continuing. “You think they yelled so hard at the other competitors that they lost their voices?” Cody inquired with another quiet laugh. Max couldn’t help but agree and add it to the growing list of theories for the usually hyperactive Ed and Isabel’s silence.

“That’s definitely a possibility.” Max mumbled mere seconds before the bell rang, signaling that class has begun. Their elderly teacher stood up from his chair quickly and grabbed his pointer stick.

The man, Mr. McKinnon, cleared his throat loudly to grab the attention of the students who were still talking. He had a bright green flower pen stuck in the pocket of his beige shirt and some very noticeable floral pants. Max’s teacher seemed like a backwards version of the stereotypical ‘retired and living in Miami’ kind of person. The first thought that had popped into his mind when he saw his science teacher had been ’aren’t the pants supposed to be beige and while the shirt is floral? ' He quickly learned that Mr. McKinnon simply had an undying love for plants and would never let his students forget it. (The front of the classroom was teeming with various flowers, grasses and vines.)

“Alright class, you remember what we were working on yesterday. Open your textbooks to page one ninety two and get out the homework.” The damn near bald teacher instructed as he waved around his green pointer stick. The majority of the class obeyed, while a few quietly panicked about not having the assigned questions done. Max was hardly one of those students, he knew with confidence that he’d get at least seventy percent on the assignment.

So, he flipped open his textbook and listened carefully to the teachers answers, and explanations of which questions were right and which were wrong and why. Max made a small face of confusion whenever one of his answers were incorrect, but quickly moved on with a shrug. Like previously mentioned, Max couldn’t worry about his grades too much. Besides, it was almost spring break and the teen was done with trying hard for the last couple weeks.

//////////

Noon came quicker than Max was used to for a Monday. They usually seemed boring, slow and lacking in excitement, making the three hours that passed feel more like six. He was relieved that this one wasn’t the case.

Ed and Isabel perked up eventually, excusing their unusually quiet behavior with the classic ‘we stayed up all weekend celebrating our glorious victory’. The pair described every detail that lead up to their ranking at second, out of apparently what was thousands of online players. Isabel specified mostly in the graphic details, while Ed jumped in at any time he deemed necessary to add a comment about something like ‘how funny this one guy’s character’s head looked as it flew off its body.’ The brunet hardly understood the point of the game as the three of them walked to where they usually spent their noon hour (during the warmer parts of the year anyway).

Their main two hangouts included a hallway that was usually left empty, where they stayed when the weather was unfavorable, and just behind the school when it was. Isaac was already sitting down at one of the splintered picnic tables the school had in random places around the property. The orange haired teen seemed to perk up a bit when he saw Max and the group walk over, but mostly just Max.

The activity club had gone through a lot together, facing all kinds of internal and external drama, spirit wars and so many other things. They had grown closer than they were when they were twelve. However, it was mostly just Max that kept Isabel, Ed and Isaac from clashing horns twenty four seven. Sure, they had come to respect each other a lot more than they had in the past, but the rift the three of them created never truly healed.

“Isabel. Ed.” Isaac greeted with a wave of his free hand (the right was buried in the sleeve of Max’s bright blue sweater) and a miniature smile before turning to Max and giving him a proper smile. “Hey, Max.” The brunet almost rolled his eyes, the way his friend seemed to switch personalities in the span of a split second was ridiculous. Max wasn’t complaining though, the frequency and length of time that Isaac kept his pale blue eyes on him was all that mattered. The taller teen pulled his hat off his head and placed it to his chest before bending low in a deep bow. There was no way he wouldn’t be bugging Isaac about the difference in treatment he gave to Isabel and Ed compared to him.

“Is his majesty happy to see his dearly devoted servant?” Max asked with a playful smile, glancing up at just the right time to see Isaac cross his arms and shake his head. The brunet could faintly see the corners of his friend’s lips twitch upwards as he did this though, giving away that he was more amused than frustrated. Max straightened up and turned to look behind himself when he heard Ed walk up.

The blond haired boy snorted and adjusted the glasses on his face before speaking. “His servant? Since when does Isaac deserve that kind of devotion?” Ed asked with a light chuckle as he leaned his elbow on Max’s shoulder.

“Since his holy rump decided to settle in the land of Corner Store.” Max replied as he nudged a chuckling Ed’s elbow off his shoulder. The brunet tried to push the thoughts away that told him he’d be a lot more devoted to Isaac if he was allowed. No, Max. Those thoughts aren’t good. Stop that. He told himself as Isaac stood up from his seat on the splintered dull brown table.

The ginger looked like he was about to say something when Isabel cut him off, jumping up beside the two and placing a heavy hand on their shoulders. “Are you saying Isaac moved in with you?” She asked in a very, very serious tone, eyes drilling holes into anyone her gaze fell onto.

Max leaned back a little, giving Isabel a strange look. “Yeah? I’m pretty sure it’s temporary, nothing permanent.” Not that I wouldn’t let Isaac stay that long. He added silently as he moved Isabel’s hand off of his shoulder. It seemed that Max’s answer didn’t satisfy her completely, judging by how she still glanced back and forth between himself and Isaac.

“Why’s he moving in with you?” Isabel asked as she folded her arms across her chest and stared at them pointedly. Max huffed loudly and glanced at Isaac, who had his eyes narrowed and was probably thinking ‘you don’t need to know why’. There was absolutely no way he was answering Isabel’s question for him, since he wasn’t even sure if Isaac was okay with other people knowing his predicament.

The orange haired teen sighed loudly and finally answered Isabel’s question. “I got locked out, and I have no idea when my dad is due back.” Isaac said quickly, obviously aware that this was one of the first times anyone had heard him mention his father directly. It was when Isabel looked like she was going to ask something else regarding Isaac’s family that Max interrupted.

“That’s enough about that though. You guys should retell the story of how you managed to score second place in your tourna-majig.” He placed his hat back on his head as he spoke his sentence. Max almost missed the thankful glance Isaac shot his way after the subject change. The brunet simply flicked him on the shoulder with a smile while Ed and Isabel were getting their story together for what was probably the third time they’d told it. It was silly how their faces never failing to show how proud they were of their achievement. The two of them really were an amazing team, and it was an all around thing. Sports, spirit fighting, video games, training. If the ‘superscroll’ pair were doing it together it was guaranteed to be a success.

Max gestured towards the picnic table, silently saying ‘this is gonna take awhile, let’s sit.’ The shorter teen boy responded immediately, sitting down right next to Max. Actually they were so close that the behatted teen found it hard to name one spot Isaac’s left wasn’t touching his right (not counting anything from the shoulders, up of course.) He considered the idea that Isaac was doing this on purpose, which would be of much greater comfort than what option two was, simply that Isaac didn’t notice.

Since the brunet had heard this story before, he found himself zoning out and thinking about the various things the group had been through in the past six years.

The most memorable event had been the war with the cousinhood. It was the summer in between grade eight and nine when the group of trench coat wearing strangers barged into the town. Many of them were spectrals, and a very small group of them being mediums or tool wielders. In the brief moments the activity club had to study them that wasn’t involved in war they’d learned two things. One, they were particularly against using ‘trapped’ spirits in battle, preferring to walk with the spirits free to do as they pleased. Two, that the barrier around Mayview was to keep something, or someone out and that it was in no way a means to protect the spectrals in training.

Both these pieces of knowledge were soon pushed out of their minds. At that point, the cousinhood was done with talking, making demands to know where ‘she’ was, and that they knew we were hiding her. The battle broke out soon after. Activity club, Consortium members and Isabel’s grandpa’s trained spectrals battled the large numbers of the cousinhood. It had been a fair battle for a while, since the cousinhood’s vile spirits kept the majority of Mayview’s battlers busy. However, after about an hour people started figuring out sly ways to slow down the beasts. Enough so that some of them could start focusing on the members of the cousinhood themselves. Once the vile spirits had been dealt with, the rest of the group practically fell apart.

Max remembered how he’d felt throughout the war that had taken place in the forest at the edge of the barrier. Something about the entire situation had seemed fishy to him, like there was something he was missing. Nobody else seemed to feel this way though. Everyone celebrated the victory excitedly, not once considering what they didn’t know. The giddiness hadn’t lasted very long though.

Only hours after the group of anti-tool wielders/mediums word had quickly spread that someone had gone missing. That someone had been Jonny, Max’s relentless bully. A day turned into a week, a week into a month and then a month into years. Nobody still had any idea where the violent redhead had gone to, no one had heard from him at all and eventually people started to give up. Theories about where the boy had gone were quietly whispered around town, usually kept secret from Jonny’s parents and friends. They’d gone through enough without having to deal with the sometimes cruel ideas of where the redheaded boy had gone.

Max was suddenly tugged out of his memories by an elbow being jabbed into his side.

“Hey, Earth to Max.” Isaac said, laughing quietly at the look of shock that the brunet gave him before apologizing.

“Sorry, what? I was thinking.” Max excused weakly.

“We asked if you’d be willing to join us for a friendly battle via Monsters and Mages today or tomorrow.” Isaac repeated with a silly smile. The brunet thought about how cute Isaac’s grin was briefly before considering what he’d asked. Max had never been very good at video games that were those of the fighting genre. Plus, the group got scary when they played competitively against each other.

Max shook his head. “Isaac, you saying it is ‘friendly’ is a gigantic lie. You should be ashamed.” The orange haired teen didn’t seem to mind this, and just considered to smile his stupid smile and laugh his stupid, endearing laugh. The taller teen boy continued with a deep sigh. “Anyway, you know I can’t play those games for the life of me. I’ll watch and administer the ice packs when necessary, like I usually do.” Max said, holding his arms up to show that he definitely wanted nothing to do with the bloodshed of playing video games with his friends.

Isabel was the first one to protest Max’s decision, slumping forward and letting out a loud groan. “Oh my god, Max. You’re so boring.” She practically yelled before taking a breath to continue. “Come on, give us a chance. It’s not like we’re going to bite your head off.” Isabel complained, pulling her hands up to her chin and giving Max the closest thing she had resembling puppy dog eyes. (In all honesty, it was more like a glare promising death to all those who disobeyed.)

“You remember winter break in grade ten, don’t you?” Max defended, crossing his arms and refusing to budge.

Everyone fell silent being making a few faces and shrugging. Isaac, Isabel and Ed mumbled in unison ‘touché’. That had been the last time Max had ever thought about playing video games with the group. Individually, maybe but together? Dear Christ he’d have to be on his death bed before he considered that.

“But if you’re sitting out you have to provide the junk food!” Ed argued, pointing his paintbrush right in the brunet’s face. All Max could do was laugh and hold up his hands.

“Alright, alright. That can be arranged.” The behatted teen said, laughter lacing his tone. He adored his friends, they’d been through more with each other than most adults had been through with their lifelong friends and to Max, it seemed like nothing in the world could break their friendship apart, or at least not permanently. They’d become almost like a family.

A quiet noise of content came from each of his friend’s once he agreed to bringing the snacks. Max’s dad had a reputation for having the strangest, but coolest foods in the corner store. No one else could pick party snacks like the Puckett’s.

Max shook his head and mumbled something about having strange friends. "Anyway, I can fit this in tomorrow. I've got a crazy amount of chem homework so tonight is not a good time for me." Various groans echoed through the small group, Ed even pulled out his paintbrush to draw a frowny face in the air.

"C'mon Max, you could just get Isaac to do it for you later. Homework isn't a necessity." Isabel whined.

Max raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Puckett's carry their own weight." The brunet reached his hand towards the painted frown Ed had drawn and smeared it up. "Besides, you guys don't need to have me there to play your geek games. I'm just the guy who cheers for the loser," Max paused to nudge Isaac with his elbow, ignoring the offended look the ginger shot him before continuing ", and brings the snacks. If I wasn't there you'd just have to go without the mystery flavour chips."

Isaac's expression quickly changed from offense to horror. "Max. You don't understand how much we can't let that happen."

//////////

"...and then he tells the guy on the sidewalk 'No, no! You don't understand. His name was Stephan and he was this big!'" Isaac said, speaking through his laughter with great difficulty. Max barely made it to the end of the joke before bursting into laughter.

It took a long time for the two boys to properly contain their laughter. They'd gotten off the bus about two hours ago and Max had finished all his homework within those two. However, after many long, painful, silent minutes the two decided to tell jokes back and forth to waste time.

Max rubbed the bridge of his nose as he shook with the aftershock of their laughing fit. "Okay, okay, but that reminds me of something my aunt did when she drove down here one time." Isaac had his hand over his face, a very large smile was all he could see.

"Dear god, just tell it. Please." The ginger wheezed out as he slowly dragged his hand off his face to reveal two eyes, bright with humour.

Max snorted and took a few deep breaths before beginning to tell his friend the story. "So we were at that rib place in town, right? I swear to god my aunt loves ribs more than she loves her family but that's besides the point." The brunet said, Isaac simply snorted and nodded.

"Anyway, the waiter was coming to take our plates away but she was under the impression that her plate was still too hot." Max continued with a wave of his hand. "So when the guy reached out to take her plate she stopped him, leaned in and said..."

Max paused to stare fondly at how Isaac's cheeks twitched in anticipation of the punch line and how his eyes darted back and forth, showing that he was definitely paying attention. After he'd finished taking in all the perfection he could from that single moment, he smiled and continued. "... Would you like me to blow that for you?" Max could barely finish before he started laughing.

Isaac immediately bowed over and rooted his fingers in his hair as violent waves of laughter shook his shoulders. "Oh my god who does that?!" The ginger asked as be sat up, visible tears running down his face. Max began to laugh harder, after seeing how hard Isaac was. Minutes later the two teenage boys were reduced to silent laughter, clutching their aching guts with wet eyes.

Max started gasping for air, his chuckles interrupting any attempt at him getting a proper breath. Eventually, the brunet gave up and fell forward into Isaac's side. He was too oxygen deprived to care though, so he simply pressed his forehead into the ginger's shoulder and tried to calm himself down.

It took Max a few seconds to realize Isaac wasn't moving him. After this realization he started to pay attention to all the little things about the ginger, like Max usually did around him. The way Isaac's shoulders jumped up and down with every laugh, the stale smell of unworn hoodie mixing in with the ginger's indescribable scent, how close their hands were.

Max had never had such a strong urge to hold Isaac's hand before, and he was almost tempted to do so. However, he told himself that it would be really weird to suddenly just grab your best friend's hand. So, he opted for a more platonic gesture and wrapped his arms around Isaac's middle.

At first the the orange haired teen was shocked, taking in a sharp breath. "Dude, what are you doing?" Isaac asked, not that he minded hugging, it just seemed out of nowhere.

"No, shhh. Don't question it, just embrace it." Max excused, thanking god that his flushed cheeks could be blamed on the laughter from before if needed. It didn't seem like Isaac cared though, judging by the quietly mumbled 'alright'. Quickly, there were arms around Max's back that hadn't been there previously.

It was in that moment that it occurred to the brunet teen that he might be able to follow Zoey's advice. Although it probably wasn't going to be today, Max felt a small amount of confidence in himself. He knew eventually he'd take Isaac out on a date. No matter what.

Chapter Text

Max was one hundred percent sure that no human being alive knew what havoc was, not until they’ve been around Ed, Isabel and Isaac while they were gaming.

The evening had started the way they always did, deceitfully friendly and calm. Someone who was new to this experience would probably assume that they had over exaggerated how competitive the group got. Max did exactly that the first time they invited him to join, and had never made that same mistake since.

Their gatherings always escalate quickly. One minute everyone will be sipping their drinks and munching on junk food, and the next minute those drinks become projectiles that are being thrown at anyone who would dare challenge one of the three’s superiority. The brunet couldn’t count on all of his fingers and toes how many times he’d almost been hit by an empty pop can or cordless device. Of course, this escalation happened within the span of ten minutes and by the time they’d gotten to that point Max was where he usually was in the room, under the table eating from the only untouched bag of chips left, barbeque.

“Oh my god, Ed!” Isabel suddenly yelled, her voice accompanied by the generic chime that went along with the ‘You’re dead! (Respawning in five seconds)’ message. “You’re on a friendship suspension for the rest of the night! You better find a good fucking place to hide because I swear to god if I can still see you when I respawn…” She stopped there; nobody needed her to continue, they all knew what she was planning. Anyone that ever managed to shoot her down in a video game was guaranteed a slow, bloody, virtual death. Max could tell from where he was sitting that Isabel was gripping the controller so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

The only response Ed gave was a very cheerful laugh, which was followed by the loud crunching of chips. “You can dream, Izzy.” He mumbled after finishing his mouthful of chips.

Holy crap he must be confident if he’s eating in the middle of this. Max thought in bewilderment as he continued to watch. Unfortunately the game didn’t keep track of the killscore on screen during the battle so he couldn’t see exactly how many times Ed had defeated someone, but by the sound of the past few minutes he must have been winning.

Max watched the screen carefully, noticing Isabel’s gamer tag pop up on Isaac’s side of the television. The brunet guessed that she was too busy grumbling about Ed’s betrayal to notice the orange haired teen’s player sneaking up behind her. Max silently prayed that Isaac would turn around and avoid killing Isabel in the rudest way possible if he knew what was good for him, but apparently the ginger wasn’t listening to god’s good advice right now because in the very next second a sword swung cleanly through her player’s neck and the room fell into a deep silence with the only sound being the tone that signaled a character death.

“Are you freaking kidding me?!” Isabel screamed, which despite how loud it was, could hardly be heard over the triumphant cries that came from Isaac.

“Yes! Finally! Get taken down!” The ginger screeched as he shot up from his spot on the ground with his arms in the air and his wireless controller clutched in his hands like a trophy. “Max you saw that right?” He asked eagerly, turning around quickly and giving the boy positioned under the table a wide smile. Max hardly got to think about how adorable his friend seemed in that moment, let alone a reply, seeing as Isabel was much too upset to let Isaac celebrate such a cheated victory.

Isabel quickly wrapped one arm around Isaac’s neck and threw the rest of her body into his back, effectively tackling him to the ground. “Who the hell taught you to kill someone when they respawn?!” She demanded, removing her one hand from behind Isaac’s neck and groaning loudly when she heard weak laughter. “You’re a jackass.” She said in anger, paying no mind to the soft ‘I learned it from the best’ that the ginger was able to wheeze out from where he was pinned on the ground. Max couldn’t help but grin, his friends were ridiculous.

“You wanna know what happens to peasants who lash out against their superiors?” Ed said, turning his attention away from the game to stare at Isabel and Isaac with empty eyes and a dark smile. Isabel turned her head slowly to face Ed, returning the smile in exactly the same manner. It only took the ginger a few more seconds for the realization of what was about to happen sink in. Isaac immediately begun trying to squirm out of Isabel’s grasp, but her knees dug sharply into his back and she placed her hands firmly on his shoulders to prevent him from moving.

“You know what to do, Ed.” Isabel replied in a chillingly calm voice.
The orange haired teen lifted his head off the ground after hearing that sentence. Anyone knew that Ed and Isabel collaborating in a punishment was sure to lead to disaster. Isaac tried to turn his head around to see what they were doing, but quickly gave up and decided give Max a look that pleaded for help instead. The brunet simply shrugged and gave him a look that said ‘you got yourself into this, you can get yourself out’. Even if he wanted to help Isaac, it was much more amusing to watch what was about to unfold.

The ginger couldn’t see what the superscrollers were doing behind his back, but Max could and oh man was Isaac going to get pissed. Ed was walking around the room gathering and pouring all their half finished drinks into a bowl. Ed gave Max a look and gestured for him to ‘come here’ while he mouthed ‘give me the chips’. At first, the brunet was reluctant to do so. This was the only bag of normal chips left and he really didn’t want Isaac to get mad at him later (as much as he hated to acknowledge the fact, Isaac’s fists weren’t exactly like wet bagels anymore). However, Max took one more look at the situation and made a decision. He had chips at home, and Isaac would forgive him… probably.

“Okay, okay guys let’s talk about this.” Isaac tried to reason when he realised he wasn’t going to get help from the guy he thought was his best friend. He laughed nervously and shot Max an angry look for his betrayal. It was then that the ginger noticed the looks Ed and Max were sharing and oh boy if he thought Isaac looked angry before then he had no words for the level of rage painting the ginger’s features.

Max gave his friend a small smirk, before whispering a quiet ‘sorry’ as he crawled out from under the table and handed the half full bag of chips to Ed. He knew he was in for it later, after Isaac was done being punished for killing Isabel in game, but the brunet always found a way out of it somehow. Isaac never stayed mad at him very long.

The blond boy took the bag of chips gratefully, giving Max a pat on the shoulder. “The gods thank you for your sacrifice, Sir Max.” Ed said with an all too wide grin as he swiftly began crushing whatever chips were in the bag before pouring roughly half the contents into the bowl. “We’ve got the supplies, Izzy!” The short blond boy shouted as he turned to look at his friend, holding up the bowl of soda and chips in both hands like it was an item of divinity.

“Would you like to do the honors?” Ed asked Max with a large smile that could be mistaken as innocent if you didn’t know the blond teen well enough.

“Nah, this isn’t my revenge to take. Plus, I think if I do anymore to help you guys Isaac is going to kill me.” The brunet replied as he stepped backwards and sat a few feet away from Isaac. He wanted a good view of what was about to happen without being in the splash zone.

Ed shrugged and answered with an indifferent ‘suit yourself’ as he moved to stand to the left of Isaac. Isabel looked up at Ed with a sly smirk, somehow keeping Isaac from escaping despite how much he was struggling to get free. “Ready?” She asked Ed excitedly as she shoved her knees harder into Isaac’s lower back, warning him that there were worse things the pair could do to him.

“Ready!” Ed shouted, just as giddy as his counterpart as he knelt down beside Isaac’s head. Apparently the blond felt like being cruel today, because he waited about five full seconds and just sat there watching how the ginger stiffened up and trying to curl in on himself to avoid whatever Ed was about to do.

There was a quiet chuckle from Isabel before she whispered. “Maybe this’ll teach you not to be a jerk in video games. Now Ed!” She finished with a shout; Ed obeyed, quickly turning the bowl upside down over Isaac’s bright orange hair with a triumphant yell.

“You may be royalty in Max’s home, but here you are as low as a dog, and dogs get no mercy.” Ed said as he high-fived Isabel.

The other three burst into laughter while Isaac sat there shuddering at the disgusting texture of sticky pop and soggy chips running down his face and neck. Blue sparks jumped off of his hair after the concoction made contact with his hair.

He made a noise that sounded like a mix between a cough and a gag. “I hate you guys…” Isaac muttered with an emotionless tone as he let his forehead fall against the floor in defeat. He knew that Isabel and Ed wouldn’t let him shower to rid himself of the stickiness, and if he left right now to go have one at his—No, Max’s place they wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. Isaac simply sighed and turned his head to give his ‘best friend’ a fiery glare. “Especially you. I hate you, you traitor.” It irked him that Max had the audacity to laugh.

“I don’t have to play video games to know that shooting someone right after they respawn is a dick move, Isaac.” Max said with a small grin as he leaned forward and patted his shoulder.

“It’s called hitting the enemy when they’re at their weakest. It’s not like I could have attacked Isabel at any other point in the game!” Isaac defended himself as the brunette girl slid off his back and sat down beside him.

“You seem to have a lot to say about fighting for someone who’s a pacifist.” Isabel countered. “Besides, that’s the idea! I am an indestructible force that can only truly be beaten through cheating and unfair moves.”

Isaac pushed himself up to his knees with a groan, feeling some more of the soda/chip combination slide down his back as he switched positions. God, he was never going to erase that feeling from his mind and body. “Ugh, whatever, I killed you and that’s all that matters.”

“No, you cheated, and got punished. That’s all that matters.” Isabel muttered as she flicked his ears. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got somebody else’s but to kick.” The teenage girl shot Ed a competitive glare before scooting back to her spot on the floor and resuming her screen.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ed shouted, diving next to Isabel and getting back into the game as well, mere seconds before the girl next to him took a shot at his player (the attack just barely missed him).

Isaac didn’t even turn around to look at the screen or for his controller, he just sat there staring at the wall in front of him with narrowed eyes. Max didn’t know if he’d ever seen Isaac looking this uncomfortable before. The ginger stayed quiet like that for a long time, and with each minute Max found it harder and harder to keep his attention on the game.

“Hey,” He finally said after watching Isaac for a good half a minute. The shorter teen didn’t move, and only shifted his gaze from the wall to look at Max with a raised eyebrow. “You okay?” Max asked once Isaac was looking at him.

The pacifist sighed loudly. “I’m fine, just dealing with betrayal. Nothing important.”

“Fine, I’m sorry.” Isaac shot Max a look that said he clearly didn’t believe him. “…A little bit sorry.” The brunet corrected after a moment, causing Isaac to chuckle softly. Well at least he wasn’t mad at him. Even after his friend returned his eyes to the wall Max continued staring at him. It was obvious Isaac was thinking about something, although at first glance it looked like sulking. You could tell the difference by looking for where the ginger’s eyes were trained on, for example if he was sulking he’d be looking down.

“Look, we can leave early so you can have a shower.” Max spoke again, to prevent the two of them from slipping into an awkward silence. He ignored the wails and shouts of triumph that the other two in the room made.

Isaac made a face and swung around to look at Max. “Do you know how they’ll react to us saying we’re leaving early?” The ginger asked, despite how much he hated feeling sticky he’d prefer not to be called countless names relating to him ‘abandoning’ them because he ‘lost’.

“I’m not sure they’ll care.” Max said, gesturing with his thumb to Ed and Isabel who at some point in time had switched to battling generated enemies instead of themselves. Isaac looked to where the brunet was pointing and frowned a little.

The ginger huffed a little as he turned back to Max. “Fine, but you’re telling them. I’m also not going to consider forgiving you until I have that shower.” He finished by sticking out his tongue at the boy sitting next to him.

“We’ll see about that.” Max replied, shoving Isaac’s shoulder as he stood up. He knew Isaac knew that he’d already forgiven the brunet, even if he did feel a bit upset that Max had joined their side so quickly.

It seemed like the pair didn’t care much at all if Max and Isaac left or not, which could be blamed on how the two of them were being swarmed by monsters. There was only a quick demand of why, a few groans and then a quick bye from both Ed and Isabel. As Max and Isaac grabbed their bags and were about to leave they heard Isabel shout ‘have fun you two!’ while Ed clearly made loud kissy noises. This left both boys bright red as they left Isabel’s room and made their way out of the house.

It was a very long walk, but it went by faster because of the company. Neither of them were used to having someone walk with them back to where they were staying and it was a nice change. For the majority of the walk Max made puns and told cheesy jokes in an attempt to get Isaac to laugh, he remained like a brick for most of the walk though. Hardly ever full out smiling or chuckling at anything Max had said, but near the end of it when they were about half an hour away from reaching the corner store Isaac cracked and gave in.

Max sat in the living room quietly, laying back on the couch as he waited for Isaac to get out of the shower. The ginger had been living in his house for a total of four days now, and as much as he enjoyed having the boy close to him… it was starting to get unbearable. He’d originally assumed it wouldn’t be difficult to hold back his emotions, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

For the past five minutes he’d been staring at the ceiling thinking about nothing but Isaac. The way you could sometimes hear static if he moved too quickly, the dumb way he’d snort and bite his lip to stop himself from laughing too hard, the dorky smile he’d have if he did well at something and you noticed, how proud that dumb ginger would get afterwards. The brunet could probably watch Isaac do something simple and unimportant like walk to school and he’d still be captivated. There was just something so incredibly endearing about everything Isaac did.

Max rubbed his cheeks to try to get rid of the blush that was creeping onto his cheeks; he couldn’t believe how far he’d fallen for his best friend. It was embarrassingly far. He didn’t even think it was a crush anymore, it was almost like he—

There was a loud noise accompanied by the rush of warm air, signaling that Isaac was leaving the bathroom. Max huffed, thankful for the interruption, he had started thinking about things he wasn’t sure if he could face yet. So instead he looked over at his friend, hoping his blush wasn’t too noticeable. However, any greeting that he would have said died in his throat and the blush he hoped wouldn’t be seen only got worse as soon as his eyes landed on Isaac.

The ginger stood there in the doorway with one of Max’s towels tied around his waist and he suddenly realized that he’d never seen Isaac without a shirt on before. The brunet had hardly allowed himself to fantasize about the shorter teen, let alone what he looked like underneath his clothes but he couldn’t have ever imagined Isaac looking like he did. He didn’t have any muscles across his chest or down his stomach that bulged, and nothing seemed defined, except for the very noticeable V down the ginger’s lower torso. Max felt his cheeks burn when he realized that the only thing keeping Isaac from being completely naked was a white towel.

“Uh… I forgot to bring clothes in with me. Could you grab some?” Isaac asked, obviously embarrassed by his mistake, Max hardly heard him over the sound of his heart beating loudly in his ears. It took him a few moments to process the question, but once he had he immediately remembered that Isaac still only had one outfit that belonged to him.

“Oh,” Max finally got out, quickly standing up from where he was sitting, “, yeah, sure. I’ll be right back.” He tried to block out the thoughts that told him Isaac should be removing clothes instead of putting them on as he stepped into his bedroom. They weren’t good thoughts to have about somebody you shared a bed with in an entirely platonic way. Well, it was platonic on Isaac’s end. Max had to fight himself every night to keep it from becoming more than that. He shook his head a little to dislodge any ideas that were still clinging to his mind as he grabbed a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and… shit, Isaac would be needing underwear wouldn’t he?

The brunet inhaled deeply before rushing out of the room. “Here, I’ll uh… I’ll be right back.” Max muttered as he handed the clothing to his friend. “I think my dad sells boxers.” He continued before turning to race down the stairs. Thankfully it didn’t take very long for Max to return with a pack of underwear in hand. It felt really awkward to stand half naked in your best friend’s bathroom, no matter how close the two of them were. It took about as long for Isaac to get changed as it did for Max to retrieve the underwear, and the brunet found himself wishing the ginger had taken a bit longer to get changed.

“Hey.” Isaac said in a cheerful voice as he plopped down onto the couch next to Max with the towel in his hands. The brunet just couldn’t seem to get the image of his friend’s chest out of his mind, or the way drops of water that hadn’t been dried off yet rolled across his skin. Those thoughts just felt sinful, especially since Isaac was sitting calmly right next to him as if he didn’t notice how Max had looked at him before, or the deep blush that was staining his cheeks. “Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes again. I can’t really go get mine right now so…”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Max replied with a laugh that sounded a little too forced. God, he felt awkward. It didn’t help that the clothes he’d gotten for Isaac happened to be about five sizes bigger that what would normally fit him. The grey shirt Isaac wore was big enough that the collar was almost hanging off one of the ginger’s shoulders. It seemed like it’d be a little too easy to slide it off the rest of the way and expose his chest again…

“Dude you okay? You’re zoning out again.” Isaac’s voice broke into his mind and tore Max from his imaginings.

He inhaled deeply and shook his head. “Shit… yeah.” The brunet felt like slapping himself. It’s only day four you pathetic idiot. “Yeah I’m fine. You wanna see if there’s anything interesting to watch?” He changed the subject quickly, leaning to the left to grab the remote off the side table. Max would prefer if Isaac didn’t ask what he’d been thinking about anytime soon or ever, actually.

Apparently it worked because Isaac snatched the remote from Max’s hand so fast he didn’t even get a chance to process what happened. “Yes! It’s not like we have much else to do.” Isaac said as he turned the television on and immediately went to guide.

The brunet shook his head and leaned back against the couch, letting his friend decide what weird show they’d be watching tonight. Despite it being nearly nine thirty at night, about half an hour from the time Max usually forced himself to sleep, Max knew that they’d end up staying awake long after ten. For what reason, he didn’t know, it could be blamed on their reluctance to sleep because it would mean another boring day of school. Although, another part of Max wished it was because Isaac wanted to spend just as much of his waking hours with the brunet, as he wanted to with Isaac.

“Very true.”

Chapter Text

The next week and a half of school went by quickly. Everyone’s teachers were very lenient because of how close they had come to spring break, Max started to get used to having Isaac around him constantly and there were only maybe two or three run ins with Johnny's old crew, whom still pestered him despite their ring leader being gone. All this aided in speeding up the last week before the break, to the point where it didn’t feel like it was the last. However, it was, they’d all gotten their mid semester report cards, and it felt exactly like a last day should, minimal work, maximum fun. It was the only thing they knew to count on the teachers of Mayview for and was one thing that Isaac knew for sure, there was nothing that felt as good as the last class of the last day before a break.

Or at least it did for him. When you’re in an honors class the teachers tend to not try as hard to teach the material. He guessed it was probably because they figured their student’s learning capacity was already at its highest, so they could afford to stray from the topic a little more often. This was probably why Isaac’s English teacher decided it was okay to replay a movie that they studied in grade ten, instead of actual work.

Despite the movie, all the students were turning to their friends and chatting aimlessly about what they’d be doing on the break with their family or friends. Well, all except Isaac. He was the stereotypical nerd who sat alone at the front of the class without anyone to talk to, which left him to drift back and forth between his thoughts and the movie playing on the smart board without noticing.

The ginger didn’t think he’d ever been this excited for a week off school. He guessed that it meant he wouldn’t have to go back home to his dad, or face his disappointed sigh when he saw Isaac’s grades (despite all of them being over ninety percent). Instead, he’d be spending the time with Max, it’d be fun and he’d continue being happy for once. The brunet hadn’t prodded him with questions about his dad, and the idea that he could just forget about everything that happened was a very tempting one. He knew he’d have to tell Max eventually, he just really didn’t want to. About why he didn’t? Well…

Isaac was anything but an idiot, he knew Max cared about him a lot more than a friend. He’d seen how the brunet reacted whenever something bothered the orange haired boy, or just when something seemed incredibly wrong concerning him. It was terrifying how much Max worried, and he just didn’t want his friend to learn about what had been happening because Isaac had no idea how he’d react, just that Max would be worried, more worried than what would be considered healthy. Sometimes Isaac felt like he could drown in his friend’s concern.

But then again, he could probably do the same with his affection.

It was shocking how subtly affectionate Max was around him. Like he said before, he wasn’t dumb. He could tell that the brunet stared at him a little too often, with a little too much fondness. He always noticed how much more Max smiled when he was around and it seemed like Isaac was one of the only people that could get the taller teen to blush as much as he did. It was all just so glaringly obvious and Isaac didn’t know how to feel about it at times.

Of course he’d always felt close to Max, and there had been many times in the past he’d thought he might have felt the same way for the brunet. Sure, when he saw the bat wielding spectral he felt indescribably happy and sometimes when Max was staring at him, like he so often did, he could feel his cheeks heat up a bit as well. He just didn’t know if he was over thinking it or not.

Max was his best friend and at times Isaac was sure he was his only friend, so it seemed possible to him that he was just mixing up intense platonic feelings with romantic ones. What would he do if he did start a relationship with Max, only to find out that he didn’t actually feel as strongly for him as he thought?

Yeah, no… I’d really like to avoid playing with his emotions like that. The orange haired teen thought as he rested his head in his arms.

It was all just a loop of second guessing and reluctance. So many times he wished he could draw on the determination he’d felt when he first met Max, when he’d ignored what Mr. Spender told him and tried to talk to the brunet. If he could, he saw himself catching Max by surprise and just… telling him. Telling him that he noticed how much he stared and he definitely did not miss the way the brunet looked at him in those moments where he was showing a bit more skin than usual, that he had entertained the idea of kissing him more often than he’d like to admit…

He sighed deeply out of his nose as he hid his face, not wanting anybody in the room to notice the red tinge to his cheeks. So many things pointed him in the direction of liking Max that it felt completely ridiculous that he’d question how he felt. He just couldn’t help it though! He questioned it every time he caught himself thinking about Max because of how scared he was to make a definite decision; there was just so much he could damage by misunderstanding what he was feeling.

Isaac stayed in that position for awhile, so lost in his uncertainty that he’d apparently lost track of time. The next thing he knew, the bell was ringing and his English teacher was wishing them a ‘happy break’. Unfortunately, because they didn’t work there was nothing for Isaac to take his time on putting away. So, he was forced to head to his locker and meet up with Max sooner than he usually did, which left him a lot less time than he was used to for him to disguise his emotions.

He almost tripped when he’d turned the corner and saw Max waiting by his locker, bag on his back with the handle of his bat sticking out a bit. Why’s he here? He usually takes forever to meet up with me. Isaac would have been a bit more excited to see the brunet if he didn’t feel how he felt was still transparent. I guess he got out early. He thought as he tried to pushed away all of what he’d been thinking for the last… however long it was.

The brunet looked up from whatever game he’d been playing and gave the ginger a small smile as he adjusted the bag on his shoulders. “Hey,” he said casually, “how was your last class?”

Let’s hope he doesn’t pay more attention that he usually does. Isaac thought, taking in a deep breath before he replied. “Decent, we watched a movie so that’s about as good as it gets.” He said as he moved his binder under his arm to work on the combination for his lock.

Max made a sound akin to a snort. “Yeah, maybe, unless you had a sub that brought ‘treaty treats’.” He said in a high pitched, mocking voice.

“No way, you had her?” Isaac gave the brunet a look of disbelief and jealousy. There was one substitute teacher that constantly gave out junk food to whatever class that had her, and the stuff she gave out would range from cookies to gummy bears. Honestly, it probably wasn’t healthy, but getting her as a sub was like getting a blessing from the heavens.

“Yes, yes I did. You should be thankful you’re my best friend, because I spared you a cookie.” Max said as he reached into his pocket and took out a plastic wrapped cookie from his pocket. “Wait, wait… No sorry. I saved you a ‘treaty treat’.” He corrected himself with a laugh, waving the cookie around with each syllable.

Isaac just rolled his eyes before snatching the snack from Max’s hand. “If you’re going to do something nice for me, don’t make a fool of yourself while doing it.” After he was done speaking he unwrapped the cookie and placed it in his mouth and then went back to working on opening his locker.

“Me? A fool? Are you even seeing yourself right now?” Max asked, gesturing to Isaac with his hands. The shorter teen had one arm pressed awkwardly against his side to keep his binder from falling to the floor with a cookie held between his lips as he glared down at his locker.

There was a pause in Isaac’s movements before he turned his head to the side to give Max an aggravated look. “Oh shudduf.” He muttered around the cookie as he tugged the lock down to open it. He quickly pulled out his backpack and placed everything that he felt the need to take with him inside before closing his locker and snapping the lock back into place. All of this was done while ignoring the snorts and comments Max shot at him about being ‘a ridiculous nerd’ and various other things.

“Whatever, Max.” Isaac huffed as he swung his bag onto his shoulders, changing the subject as soon as weight on his back felt comfortable. “Any plans from the rest of the group?”

The brunet quickly turned on his phone and showed his friend the empty notifications screen. “If there are any, we aren’t in on it.” He said with a shrug, pocketing his phone after he finished his sentence. “It’s just you and me.” And there it was, the silly redness that made its way onto his Max’s cheeks whenever they talked.

He inhaled a little when he saw it, before reminding himself that he was supposed to act natural around Max and act like he was oblivious (despite how loud the voice in his head was shouting at him to stop pretending). “Fun, fun,” He said with a roll of his eyes, “Any plans from you?” Isaac asked as he started walking down the hall to the nearest exit. It was a good idea to get outside as quickly as possible to avoid missing the bus to the corner store.

“Uh… Not really, no.” Max said with an embarrassed laugh before he jumped ahead of Isaac to hold open the door. “I was just thinking we could do what we usually do.”

“So, nothing?” Isaac replied with a raised eyebrow. “Why am I friends with such a boring person?” He asked nobody as he dramatically raised his fist to the sky. The ginger kept his eyes trained on the sky and his shaking hand until Max elbowed him hard enough to make him stumble.

“Oh shut up before I force you to watch Boogeymen again.” Max threatened, but it hardly seemed like one because of how hard he was laughing. Although, whether the brunet meant it or not, Isaac hated that show.

The orange haired teen feigned a look of horror, slapping his hand over his heart to reinforce the mockery. “Oh no… You wouldn’t dare!” He muttered in an almost-whisper as he looked Max up and down. The frozen gasp on Isaac’s face quickly melted into a small grin when the brunet in front of him shook his head and whispered in a soft, affectionate tone ‘you’re ridiculous’.

It nearly winded Isaac to hear Max speak to him with that much affection in his voice. A sentence so simple shouldn’t have been able to pack that much meaning. His head felt light and he found it hard to come up with a reply that didn’t sound lame. But, as he was looking around for anything that would help him with something to say, he saw a familiar streak of yellow. He proceeded to thank whatever god decided that today was a good day for the bus to come early and give him a very effective subject change.

“H-hey, is that our bus?” The ginger asked with a slight stutter, pointing his finger at the vehicle parked about ten meters away. Max turned his head to look in the direction that Isaac had pointed in. Sure enough, it was there with a grumpy looking driver behind the wheel.

The brunet cursed quietly. “Yeah, it is. Let’s hope he hasn’t been waiting for us.” Max said, giving his friend a worried look which was immediately returned by Isaac. He’d heard the horror stories about Max’s bus driver and he’d really rather not experience whatever fury had inspired them.

“I swear to god, you kids best be thankful that this can be excused on me comin’ a heck offa lot earlier than I usually do.” The obviously grumpy driver said after he’d opened the doors to the two boys. “Get your arses in here, I came early and I’d like to leave early.” The driver grumbled impatiently as he watched Max and Isaac get into the bus.

Isaac shot his friend a look that said he’d rather not go through that again. The driver… what was his name? Seemed terrifying, and that was when he was in a good mood! Experiencing him while he was slightly ticked was enough to have the ginger hitting the panic button. He wasn’t ready to see that kind of rage from anyone ever again, let alone Max’s bus driver.

“…Thank god we don’t have to see him for over a week right?” Max responded as he neared the spot they usually sat in.

Isaac gave his friend a look that said it all, before smiling like he had some sort of silly retort as he started sliding into the seat. Whatever he was going to say was lost almost as fast as he’d thought it up though. A flash of shoulder length blonde hair was all Isaac saw before Max’s body slammed into his and their foreheads made contact with a resounding crack. Loud groans escaped both boys throats as they tried to figure out what just happened. They hardly noticed the girly giggle and the snap of a camera.

As Max slowly recovered from the collision, he realised was positioned over Isaac with a knee between the gingers legs and his hands pressed on either side of his head. The brunet immediately tried to correct himself, scrambling backwards and mumbling a plethora of curses and apologies as he tried to will the growing blush away. It seemed he wasn’t having any breaks today though. The bus started moving almost at the same time as he tried to push himself away, the jerky movements causing Max’s arms to give out and slam their bodies together.

Isaac squirmed uncomfortably under Max and eventually was able to pull his arms up and press back against the brunet’s shoulders to assist in getting themselves separated. When they finally were sitting apart both their cheeks were fiery red.

“Suzy? Seriously?” Max raged as he looked around his seat for his hat, which he assumed fell off during… whatever you’d call what just happened.

“The one and only!” She replied cheerily from behind her friend-servant Collin, who muttered a quiet apology for pushing them. “I’ve been trying to get a good picture of you two for ages now.”

The brunet rolled his eyes as he picked his hat up off the floor and readjusted it on his head. It was incredible how much of a nuisance the blonde haired girl was. “You’re that needy for a new story? Wow that paper of yours must really be falling behind.” He grumbled as he glanced behind him to look at a strangely silent Isaac.

“No, no. This will be a great one, Maxxi.” Suzy said with a wink and the creepiest grin Max had ever seen. “I think I’m going to title it ‘local teen finally makes move on the man of his dreams!’” She teased, completely ignoring Collin’s comment of ‘Suzy that’s terrible please don’t’.

He shuddered a little at what Suzy called him before turning around to face the seat in front of him. The variation of his name just felt very wrong coming from her. “Try something a little less cliché, maybe then you’ll actually interest someone.” He spoke again after a few seconds. When he didn’t get another reply from the blonde haired girl, aside from a high pitched string of giggles, he turned to look at Isaac who was still staring at the floor quietly.

“Are you alright?” Max asked in concern, his heart still pounding in his chest from the position the two of them had been in only minutes before.

The ginger’s eyes slowly flicked up to meet Max’s. It looked like Isaac took in a deep breath before he replied with slight humor. “Yeah, I’m fine. Your skull isn’t that thick.” He spoke in a quiet voice and lifted a hand to rub at his forehead while he leaned back against the bus seat.

Max gave him a look. “Seriously though, you looked like something was bothering you. Plus you didn’t say a single thing to Suzy about Collin to pushing me into you, and that’s just… weird for you.” Apparently Isaac could tell Max wanted a straight answer because the teen frowned and let out a soft sigh.

“I’m fine, just thinking.” Isaac muttered.

There was a beat of silence before Max asked something else. “About what?” And that was the question that the orange haired boy didn’t know if he could answer. He sat there opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to form some kind of answer that wouldn’t out what he’d been thinking of for the entire day. Was there a way to tell your best friend that you were deeply considering whether or not you reciprocated their feelings without actually telling them that? Probably not.

It became clear that Isaac was unable to answer that question, since eventually he stopped trying to come up with a reply. Instead, he stared aimlessly out the window hoping Max wouldn’t be too bothered by him ignoring his question. Apparently he wasn’t, since the brunet didn’t ask the question again throughout the rest of the drive to the corner store. The only response he got was muttered ‘alright’.

Hours later, even after they got back to the store, Isaac never said a word to Max. At first, the brunet accepted it and simply told himself the ginger would talk to him eventually. However, he began to notice that Isaac was avoiding him. Every time Max found himself in the same room as his friend it wouldn’t last long, Isaac would step into the washroom or head back upstairs whenever the brunet made an attempt to say something. Of course, he was alright with giving the ginger his space to think about whatever it was but it was almost eight at night! At this point, Max was getting worried and that was probably what prompted him to wait until Isaac came out of the washroom to corner him.

The ginger stood there wide-eyed and speechless when he opened to door to see Max standing there, blocking the entrance. Whether it was because of the defeated expression his friend held, or the fear of finally being forced to face Max, didn’t matter. The behatted teen took in a deep breath.

“We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

Everything seemed to freeze in that moment. Max stood firmly in front of the doorway with an expression that said too many things at once, while Isaac stayed in stunned silence. Neither boy said anything for what seemed like minutes. Cornering the ginger had been the only solution Max could think of, seeing as his friend had spent the last four hours avoiding him. He would be damned if he went to sleep next to Isaac without figuring out what was going on. So, the quiet that the two were sharing at the moment, naturally, made Max very nervous.

Blue eyes studied grey for what seemed like an eternity as Isaac tried to tie down all the loose thoughts in his mind so he could attempt an answer. There were a lot of things that had been flying around his head for the entire day and after the bus incident… he felt unable to hold it all in. The fear that everything he’d been considering would just spill out was probably why Isaac was having trouble answering. If he wasn’t careful with what he said and told Max something that wasn’t actually true, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Anything could come out of their ‘talk’.

It was only when the brunet looked like he was about to give up that Isaac mentally kicked himself into responding. “About what?” He asked, trying his hardest not to stutter under the pressure he was putting himself under. Frustration erupted across Max’s expression, making Isaac wish he really hadn’t asked that particular question.

“About this, Isaac, about what you’ve been doing for the past four and a half hours.” The brunet said in a stiff voice. “Why have you been avoiding me?” Max finished, looking up at his friend with all the emotions he’d felt over the past couple hours condensed into a single look. He wanted straight answers, and if he had to corner Isaac in a washroom for an x amount of time to do so, he would. It seemed to be working though, judging by how the ginger shifted under his gaze.

Answers began to bounce around Isaac’s mind once more. Some were telling him to be entirely honest with Max and to just tell him that he was scared. Scared of making a mistake, scared of saying something he didn’t actually mean, scared of messing up something that was so incredibly precious to him. And of course, there were thoughts practically screaming for him to just stop thinking so much and take a risk.

“There are a lot of reasons, Max.” He spoke quietly and bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to think up what to say next. Unfortunately he couldn't because his mind was continuing to scream for him to take a risk, take a risk, just take a fucking risk.

“Yeah? Tell me some of them.” Max replied, crossing his arms and dropping the frustrated tone for something lighter. All he wanted was for Isaac to tell him what was going on. Of course he was scared of what he would say. The last time they’d spoken was on the bus, which lead Max to figure it had something to do with the brief moment they’d been laying on top of each other, and that didn’t exactly ease the brunet’s worry.

I don’t know? Isaac thoughts, wishing more than ever that he had the guts to say his answer out loud. Maybe it's that I think I feel the same for you as you feel for me but I can’t shake the idea that I’m just blowing my emotions out of proportion despite all the signs that point me in the direction of reciprocating? Isaac rambled in his head as he stared dumbly at Max, desperate for something that would give him an idea of what to say to the brunet. He knew he felt for Max, and he couldn’t deny that at times he’d entertained thoughts of what it’d be like if they did start a relationship, but there was always something holding him back.

Isaac stayed like that for longer than he realized. Staring at Max’s face and being mesmerized by the anticipation in his eyes while simultaneously trying to break out of his circle of self-doubt. It was only when the brunet let out a deep sigh and looked at the wall beside him that he remembered he hadn’t said anything.

“You know what…” Max let his arms drop to his side as he shook his head slightly. “Isaac, I’ve been dancing around this for well over a year now, and whether you’ve figured it out or not doesn’t really matter.” The brunet let himself look back at his friend, noting how his troubled expression hadn’t changed. He blinked slowly, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to tell Isaac. It’d been a long time since he’d originally fallen for the ginger, and he couldn’t handle not knowing how he felt in return. Just tell him how you feel.

Max visited the memory he had of when he’d figured out he had a crush on Isaac.

They were on a mission to pacify a vengeful spirit in a maze underneath one of the warehouses in town. At some point they’d gotten separated from the rest of the group and were left to attempt retracing their steps back to the entrance. Unfortunately Max ended up tripping on a can and slamming right into the ginger. For a moment, his face had been buried in Isaac’s neck and his hands were on his sides. It left the brunet with a strange feeling that he always seemed to get around his orange haired friend.

That feeling was exactly what he was feeling now. “Remember that mission we went on near the beginning of grade eleven? Yeah, well, when we were alone I realized that I…” He paused and chewed his lip, looking everywhere but Isaac’s face. “That I’d… Fallen for you.” The words felt clunky and awkward against his tongue, like he shouldn’t have been saying them. Max waited a moment to see if Isaac had anything to say yet, but after a few long seconds of silence he continued.

“It only got worse after that, and I still feel that way, but I have a feeling you don’t feel the same and that’s fine. That’s perfectly fine I just need an answer.” Everything he said went unanswered, and Max was terrified to look at Isaac. However, if he had taken a moment he would have noticed a shift in the ginger’s expression from worried to determined. “I have to hear it from you. If you don’t—“ He started to say, but was interupted by Isaac firmly grabbing his shoulders.

“Max.” Isaac said in a loud voice that sounded more solid than it had before as he moved closer to his friend. His eyes were trained on the brunet’s, and he was tempted to avoid saying what he needed to in favour of just doing what he needed to, but he shook the idea of just outright kissing Max and remembered that wasn’t the point. “Do you really think I don’t have feelings for you?” He asked in a softer tone this time as Isaac let his fingers brush against the nape of Max’s neck. Both their cheeks were burning a bright red, but they weren’t as worried about hiding it like they usually did in the past.

The brunet paused, unsure of what to say or if he was allowed to wrap his arms around the orange haired boy in front of him. After a moment, he tentatively moved his hands to Isaac’s waist and waited to see if Isaac would protest. When there wasn’t a reaction, besides the fingers that continued to lightly stroke the side of his neck, Max looked back at the ginger to see a goofy grin.

“W-well, I… Yeah, I really didn’t. I thought you were straight.” Max mumbled as he stared at Isaac and slowly returned the smile he was giving him. They hadn’t been as close as they were in awhile, or at least, not willingly. The brunet felt like punching his shorter friend when he rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Seriously?” The ginger couldn’t control his chuckling. “You didn’t notice the way I looked at guys sometimes? Jeez, Max. Your observation skills are worse than I thought.” Isaac said with a large smile while he let his arms slide around the taller teen’s shoulders. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of rightness that passed between the two of them, and mentally slapped himself for second guessing his emotions for so long. Sometimes, Isaac let logic take control of his actions a little too much, but he wasn’t doing anything like that right now. His actions were purely from want and it felt wonderful to wrap his arms around Max’s neck like he had wanted to do for so long.

“Oh shut up.” Max said with a snort and absently ran his hands up and down Isaac’s sides. God, he’d wanted to stand like this with him for so long, and it felt surreal to be doing it now. The brunet let his forehead rest against Isaac’s before he spoke again. “So, you feel the same way?” He asked, still slightly nervous despite how they were holding each other at the moment. The question was dumb, and he knew it, but like he said before he needed to hear it.

There was a pause between them, but Max knew it wasn’t because Isaac was hesitating to answer. The arms around his neck began to shift until there was a hand under his chin and Isaac was on his toes to match Max’s height.

“Of course I do.” Isaac muttered softly before pressing his lips softly against the brunet in front of him. It was slow, and soft the way most cliché movies showcased them to be, but the overwhelming feeling of finally doing what both of them had only dreampt prevented it from lasting very long. Wide smiles stopped them from being able to kiss each other properly, leaving them clinging tightly to each other with their foreheads pressed together instead.

They stayed like that in the doorway for awhile, kissing the other timidly and letting out quiet laughs when they stop themselves from smiling any longer. Max figured they probably would’ve stayed in the doorway if Zoey hadn’t interupted them with a loud ‘yes! Finally!’ before pushing them out of the bathroom and closing the door. After that, they had moved to sit on the couch to watch television.

It didn’t matter what they were watching, or how late it was. All that mattered right now was how their legs were tangled together, and how Isaac’s head was resting comfortably on Max’s chest and the static that crackled whenever Max ran a hand through Isaac’s orange hair. The brunet tugged the bright purple blanket that Zoey had given them—since neither wanted to get up and grab one from Max’s room—back up to the middle of Isaac’s back. A fondness washed over Max like a wave at the soft hum the ginger gave in response.

That ended well… Max thought as he stared at Isaac, who was constantly drifting in and out of sleep. He knew Isaac didn’t answer his original question, but he felt like he didn’t need to hear whatever it was. No, it could wait for later. Both of them were at peace, and if it was anything that didn’t have to do with their newfound… relationship, it wasn’t looking like it was ver important. Max moved his hand to rest it against Isaac’s neck and began to stroke his cheek lightly with his thumb. The way the ginger’s eyes fluttered open briefly and the small smile he gave Max before clinging tighter and relaxing back into sleep filled him with a suffocating happiness. Everything in that moment seemed perfect, and eventually Max felt himself drifting off as well.

//////////

It was hours later, and both boys were fast asleep with their legs a tangled mess. The blanket they'd been using was laying useless at their feet in favour of the heat they shared on their own. However, they were not aware of the figure standing behind the couch, completely disgusted by the intimacy below them.

"I can't believe he was right." The muffled feminine voice said in disturbed disbelief. It wasn't clear who she was talking to, the room looked empty of any other being, whether they were on the spectral plane or not. "This can't happen." She hissed angrily as she leaned forward and dug her fingers into the material of the sofa.

"You know better than anyone that if you want to continue living with the luxuries I've given you then this must end." She said in a quieter voice before taking a step back from where the boys were sleeping. "Find a solution for this, or else our deal is off!" The silhouetted figure said in a hoarse whisper before stepping away.

The only reply she received was a single spark of electricity that lit up the room for less than a second. After that, the house fell back into the silence it was in previous to the disturbance, as if nothing had ever happened.

Chapter Text

Isaac didn’t think he’d ever slept that good in his life. While it had been shocking to wake up with his friend’s arms around his waist, he didn’t think he’d want to trade that morning for anything.

Actually I guess we’re not really just friends anymore Isaac thought as he stared at Max’s still sleeping form. It had been the first time he’d ever woken up before the brunet and while it made sense that he had—seeing as he’d fallen asleep first—it was still extremely strange. However, he took the opportunity consider a few things.

The early morning light was playing so innocently over Max’s features, and it made Isaac’s chest squeeze with fondness. Had the brunet always felt like that when he woke up before the shorter teen? Were those times where Max woke him up a good ten minutes late with a faint blush on his cheeks related to staring longingly at Isaac in the only times he could without getting caught? It seemed very possible to the ginger that he had, and it made him feel bad for avoiding to confront Max sooner.

“So I guess we’re boyfriends now.” Isaac whispered softly to the unresponsive teen beside him. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer, but he just wanted to hear himself say it. A vocal confirmation of what he felt for Max, and what Max felt in return, was exactly what he needed to stop doubting himself. It was ridiculous to still worry that his emotions were fooling him, and Isaac knew it well. Especially about how he’d felt the night before.

His heart had fluttered every time Max made a move to tug him closer and at every moment their lips brushed. There was a soft tug in his chest as he thought about the night previous. The sheer number of words that ran through Isaac’s head as he stared at him was crazy, and none were influenced by his past doubts. He figured it had something to do with how Max’s almost permanent cynacle expression was wiped from his face while he slept. It left the brunet looking impossibly relaxed. Isaac exhaled softly through his nose as he stared at his sleeping boyfriend. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t considering waking Max up with a kiss.

The only thing holding him back from doing just that was the idea that he had no clue how Max would react. Isaac couldn’t help but worry about that, even as he lifted himself onto his elbows and shifted his face closer to the brunet’s. He hesitated for a moment, thinking about all Max’s possible reactions while studying his peaceful expression. Isaac felt very dumb after a moment of thinking. He’d seen what Max was like the night before, and any thought that he’d shove the ginger away seemed completely ridiculous. The ginger smiled a little, his doubts could go to hell.

A soft hum escaped his throat as he leaned close enough to the other that their noses were brushing against each other, their lips less than a centimetre apart. Isaac had a fluttery feeling in his gut as he let his lips fall against Max’s gently. The ginger almost snorted when he felt the hands on his waist twitch slightly before groggily pulling him closer. There was a brief inhale before Max was kissing back, impossibly slow and sweet. Isaac gave the other a few more quick kisses before putting space in between their lips.

“Good morning,” The ginger said in a soft voice while he gazed down at Max, drinking in the way his eyes stayed closed even after their lips parted. There was a small smile on the brunet’s lips that left Isaac wondering how he’d ever imagined Max would react badly.

Max groaned quietly before lifting himself up to press a kiss to Isaac’s lips, obviously not satisfied. “G’morn’n.” He slurred tiredly against the ginger’s lips as he opened his eyes to find himself looking right into Isaac’s bright blues. After a few seconds of Max staring lovingly into the ginger’s eyes, Isaac felt the arms around him tighten before Max rolled Isaac onto his side. The brunet used the moments where Isaac was struggling to register what happened to press a hard kiss to his lips, effectively stopping his squirming.

The kiss lasted much longer than the others, and at some point Isaac’s arms had found their way around Max’s neck. It was slow and soft, their early morning laziness bleeding into the kiss.

“I’ve been waiting so long to have a morning like this.” Max whispered into the kiss and Isaac couldn’t help but notice the way his lips stretched into a small smile. The ginger found himself realizing that a part of him had been waiting for this moment as well. Another string of lazy kisses were placed against his lips before Isaac got to reply.

He hummed softly to let Max he was planning on saying something before he pulled away. “I think I have too.” He muttered as he looked at Max’s happy smile. It was the kind you didn’t see on him very often, and it took quite a bit to coax it out, so seeing it now was… shocking. It made Isaac smile more and more the longer he looked at Max. He shook his head slowly before pressing one last quick kiss to the brunet’s lips and pushing himself off the couch. Isaac snorted at the soft whine Max let out, and responded by picking up the bright purple blanket and throwing it in his face.

“Oh hush, it’s like… Ten in the morning.” Isaac said with a teasing smile on his face as he watched Max push the blanket off with a groan. “We have to have breakfast sometime.”

Max made a noise of amusement at Isaac’s statement. “No we don’t. We could just lay in bed all day doing nothing. I wouldn’t care. My family wouldn’t care. You shouldn’t care.” The brunet rambled as he pushed himself up with his elbows. Isaac had to strain to prevent himself from spitting out numerous innuendos after Max had finished speaking.

“Yes, but I do care.” Isaac said, crossing his arms as his sentence progressed. “It’s healthy to eat in the morning. Besides, if I’m going to eat I might as well get you to as well.” The ginger reasoned before turning around and walking up the small set of stairs to start towards the kitchen. The sound of Max rolling off the couch after him didn’t go unnoticed. There was a grunt behind him as he stepped into the kitchen, and he turned around to see Max behind him with a blanket draped across his shoulders. Isaac had to try his hardest not to laugh.

“What if I said I’m not hungry?” The brunet asked as he leaned forward to press his forehead against Isaac’s shoulder blade.

“Then I’d still cook you something.” Isaac replied almost immediately. He quickly felt a redness rise to his cheeks when Max’s arms surrounded his waist and pulled him into a hug.

There was a soft whine before Max pressed his face harder into Isaac’s shoulder. “I do not want to be awake right now.” He mumbled as he tried to tug the ginger back towards the couch.

“Max, I’m starting to think you aren’t the cool guy people take you for.” He joked, and only let himself lean into the taller teen slightly before pulling away. “Why are you following me if you want to sleep?” He asked with a soft chuckle as he glanced over his shoulders. The ginger watched as Max gathered the blanket tighter around him and shuffled towards the kitchen table before sitting down.

“Because,” Max started with a huff. “If no one is in here to watch you, you’ll probably burn the house down.” There was humour in his voice, even if he was trying to hide it.

Isaac shook his head as he poured himself a glass of water and set out the vitamins he took. “I’m making oatmeal. Please, inform me how I could possibly cause a house fire by doing that.” He said before popping the pills into his mouth and swallowing with a small gulp of water.

“That’s the thing, Isaac. I don’t know how you do it. Every time you walk into a kitchen catastrophe is sure to follow.” The brunet said with a large smirk. Isaac quickly lifted one of his vitamin bottles off the counter and pretended to throw it at Max.

“Watch it, or I might intentionally burn yours.”

//////////

Well, Max thought as he swallowed a mouthful of the oatmeal his boyfriend had prepared. It’s a lot less burnt than anything else he’s made. He figured it was also a good thing that it wasn’t plain oatmeal. Isaac tended to put as much in it that wasn’t an animal product. Nuts, fruits, cinnamon, the list went on. Max was very thankful for it since all of it drowned out the taste of slightly burnt oats.

He turned his eyes away from his food to look at Isaac, his boyfriend. A smile threatened to appear just at that thought. His boyfriend. After a year and a half of longing Isaac was his boyfriend. For some reason that seemed to make the food he was eating so much sweeter.

“This is actually pretty good.” Max said semi-honestly as he quickly shot his eyes back down to his bowl of oatmeal so Isaac wouldn’t find out he’d been staring. “I mean, if you ignore how burnt it is in some areas.” He continued, deciding it was safe to look back up at the ginger with humour in his eyes. A laugh immediately bubbled up from his throat when he saw the look of conflicting emotions on Isaac’s face.

“I’m not sure if I should punch you or thank you.” Isaac said as he slowly lowered his spoon back into his bowl. Max let another laugh escape as he leaned his elbows against the table and rested his head on his hands.

“Well, you could kiss me again. It was really nice when you did that earlier.” A wide smile spread across his face and he wasn’t sure if he meant it honestly or not. Although, if Isaac did think he meant it he wouldn’t complain. However, all the shorter teen did was roll his eyes and scoop the last of his oatmeal onto his spoon.

“Why, out of all people, did I end up falling for you?” Isaac asked teasingly before shoving the last bite into his mouth. He almost threw his spoon at the brunet across the table when he snorted loudly.

“Obviously because of my irresistible charm.” Max said before he put another scoop of the oatmeal onto his spoon and ate it in a fashion that could only be described as amateurly seductive. Isaac thought it might have worked if a glob of it hadn’t fallen off of the spoon and was now hanging grossly off of Max’s chin. The orange haired teen simply stared at him and shook his head, his mouth hanging open slightly in pure awe that his boyfriend could be such a dork.

“Uh-huh…” Isaac said as he stood up from his chair to put his bowl in the sink before he stepped next to Max—who was currently grinning up at him as he wiped the food off of his chin. He lifted his arm to pat Max’s shoulder, “keep dreaming.” In an instant Isaac ripped Max’s hat off his head and placed it on his own.

Unfortunately, the ginger only got a split second to feel excited about his victory before Max shot to his feet with arms outstretched and grasping for his hat. Isaac would’ve thought he was angry if it wasn’t for the smile on his face.

“You little shit!” The brunet shouted as Isaac turned on his heels and bolted out of the kitchen. He was fast, sure, but Max had longer legs than him so he really had to sprint to stay out of the brunet’s grasp. A half laugh, half yell escaped Isaac’s throat as he ran to the opposite side of the couch that Max was on. “Okay… Give me my hat back.” Max said with amusement bright in his eyes.

“Well, I mean…I could.” Isaac said with a super-sized smirk. “But I kinda like it.” All it took was for the ginger to childishly stick his tongue out to get Max speeding towards him. A string of curses left Isaac’s mouth as he raced for the stairs and he almost shrieked when he saw Zoey slowly climbing them. Sadly, he couldn’t stop now, Max was right behind him and stopping would mean openly giving up. “Shit! Zoey look out!” Isaac yelled as he thundered down the stairs.

The red haired girl looked up in shock, and it was clear that she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or be shocked when he saw Isaac sprinting down the stairs with Max’s hat.

“Oh my god.” Isaac saw her press herself against the wall of the stairway and slap her forehead as he ran past. He practically fell over in laughter when he heard Max yell at her for helping a “traitor”. However, he had someone else’s help with that. The brunet was a lot closer behind him than he’d originally thought, since the next thing he knew, he was being tackled roughly to the floor with a triumphant Max straddling him.

Isaac let out a weak groan from where he was laying. Thankfully it hadn’t hurt too much when he hit the floor. He felt the hat being tugged off of his head accompanied by a hand roughly messing up his hair.

“Thank you.” Max said, giving Isaac’s head a final pat before he apologized to the two customers who had been disrupted by their yelling. He could feel Isaac struggling to sit up but he was reluctant to move. At least, not until he felt Isaac was allowed to. He could practically feel their customer’s eyes burning holes in his back, and he prayed to whatever god there was that they weren’t homophobic.

Max pressed his forearms against his upper back and leaned his head against Isaac’s messy hair—purposely ignoring the static that attacked his skin. “Mm, why’d you start dating me again?” The brunet asked, fully intending to make Isaac say it was because he was definitely the most charming person in Mayview. Isaac had plans of doing the exact opposite of that though.

“Because you’re a huge dork and I felt bad for you.” The ginger lied with a laugh that was squeezed out of his chest. Max hummed quietly before pressing down on Isaac’s shoulders a little harder. The brunet shifted his head so that his nose was touching the back of Isaac’s ear.

“Sorry what? I didn’t hear you, try again.” Max muttered quietly into Isaac’s ear. “The sooner you say it is the sooner I’ll let you go.” He moved his head away and spoke in a louder voice as he grinned down at the ginger below him. There was a moment where Max assumed he wasn’t putting enough pressure on Isaac’s back, since the next thing he knew was Isaac had completely flipped around from underneath him.

Max’s smirk quickly melted into a look of shock and a blush quickly spread onto his cheeks when Isaac’s hands moved to his thighs. This being mainly because their situation went from innocently playful to something that could be considered much more sensual. In other words, their PDA went from subtle to right in your face within seconds and that made people uncomfortable. Isaac didn’t seem to care at all though, judging by the smile he was giving him.

“Alright. It’s because you’ve been my best friend for years now and I fell for you without knowing it.” The ginger said in a voice that made it sound like he didn’t care how obnoxious his affection for Max was. “Oops, I love you. Now can you please get off?” He asked in a devilishly sweet voice. Disappointingly, Max didn’t object at all, and quickly dragged the two of them back upstairs. It was clear that he was thoroughly embarrassed, if the bright red across his face and ears was anything to judge by.

“Did you really have to say that?” Max asked in an almost whine when they were back in the kitchen. “And I mean that particular thing. I wasn’t asking you to be honest.” Not that I’m upset that you were. He added on in his thoughts.

“Well,” Isaac paused so he could pull his chair closer to Max’s. “It worked didn’t it?” He knew Max wasn’t anywhere close to upset, only worried about what the customers thought.

The brunet snorted before taking the last bite of his now much colder bowl of oatmeal. “Too well.” Max said with a small smile as he stood up. He paused to lean down and press a quick kiss to Isaac’s cheek. It was nearing noon, but Max wasn’t as worried about today as he’d been the night before. Today would be an amazing day.

“It worked way too well.”

Chapter Text

"Come on Max! Move your ass!"

"Isabel, shut the hell up. You're making it harder to concentrate."

"Children! Stop that foul language right this second!" Isabel's grandfather snarled from where he was watching. Each of them paused their brawling to quickly apologize. It was training day, meaning the group had to spend the entire day at Isabel's working on their spectral abilities, fighting each other and having their improvements tested. All of them except Isaac. For the fighting part anyway.

At some point in their earlier years Mr. Spender had begun to feel bad about Isaac's uninvolvement. It had been at that point that he'd realised the ginger had no training whatsoever. Not even in defensive moves. Thankfully, there was another spectral in Mayview that was exceptionally talented in protection and while Mina Zarei hadn't exactly jumped at the prospect of training Isaac, she had been willing. Now Mr. Spender was proud to say that Isaac was exceptionally trained in the art of defense Exactly what he needed to be.

"Focus on your training, not on each other. Your heart and mind must be in battle." The older man said as he crossed his arms. He scowled when he saw Isabel mocking his speech, but for some miraculous reason, he let it slide. "Again. Start over." He issued in a frustrated tone.

Max hardly hesitated to return to the starting stance, while Isabel moved slowly out of disobedience. He had to hold back a retort about "who was dragging their ass now" but her grandfather scared him enough as it was. He didn't want to risk angering him any more than he had.

"Good. Now be serious this time." Her grandfather spoke sternly, showing that he was done watching the teens goof around. Max didn't disobey, his hands immediately being surrounded by swirling black energy. It took barely a second for Isabel to copy his movements and shoot him a competitive expression. Her grandpa looked between the two, studying their stance momentarily before giving them a nod of satisfaction. "Begin."

They didn't need much else to start. In a split second Isabel and Max jumped into action. The swirling energy at their fingertips exploded, trailing up their arms and over their chest as they threw themselves at each other. Isabel was faster than Max, but he wasn't about to let her land the first hit because she was agile. The boy back stepped to avoid her fist and waved his hand in a sweeping motion, conjuring the image of a swirling black serpent that wrapped it's way around Isabel's chest. A flick of his wrist and Isabel was tugged violently to the side, throwing her away from Max. He didn't hesitate to fire a spectral shot, but Isabel acted fast, recovering from being thrown with a shoulder roll before throwing up her arm and conjuring a shield.

The two stood and straightened up, beginning to pace around each other, both with eager grins on their faces. They trained together often, and while they knew almost all of each other's tricks, there was no one else in the school on their level anymore. Max and Isabel continued to circle, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Their spectral energy flickering angrily between their fingers.

Something seemed to snap in the air as the two shifted stance, mimicking the other almost perfectly as they pulled their hands back and fired a powerful shot of energy. The balls whistled past in a blur. Fast and precise before colliding with each other in the centre, causing the energy to explode outwards in a harmless shock wave. It did nothing to faze the two teens as they threw themselves at each other once again. Isabel was fast with her fists, but Max had faster footing and stronger kicks. With every reinforced punch Isabel threw, Max stepped back and brought his arm up to block it. They had each other memorized.

Isabel grunted when Max landed a kick to her abdomen, but pushed on regardless. In one swift movement she pushed herself to her feet and swung her elbows against Max's forearms to knock him out of his defensive position. She used her newfound frustration to push herself farther than she normally did, driving her elbows hard against Max's forearms, pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the ring.

Max's face screwed up in pain with every assault on his arm. It was harsh and fast, and the brunet couldn't see any way out. That is, not until Isabel's energy began to dwindle. Her twisting movements grew slower, and Max found enough of a gap in her attacks to duck and land a hit of his own. He collected as much energy as he could in his hand before slamming his open palm against Isabel's middle, sending her flying across the yard.

For a moment, Max thought he had won and was about to turn his back on her when she moved. Isabel had twisted mid air to focus her spectral energy into a cushion that stopped her fall almost entirely, allowing her to drop to her feet safely. Horror flashed through Max's body as he realized how frustrated he'd made her.

Isabel's red spectral energy covered her from her waist up, swirling in a pattern that could only be described as featherlike. Pulsating in angry masses, especially around her fists. The furious calm that had taken over Isabel was quickly broken as he lifted her hands to her chest, spun, and threw the biggest sphere of energy she could. Max didn't have nearly enough time to dodge the shot. He blindly lifted his arms to form a shield, but it exploded into a burst of black and red energy as soon as the two forces collided. It sent him stumbling backwards, his arms flailing to steady himself, but it was all in vain. The next thing he knew, Isabel was right in front of him. A quick one-two punch, duck, a sweeping kick, one last spectral shot to the chest and Max was on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Spectacular! Now that's what I like to see!" Isabel's grandfather was clearly very pleased by their performance. Judging by the way his eyes were widened just a bit more than usual. "You two have come far. I think you may be just as ready for your graduation here as you are for your graduation at school. A perfect mix of grace and power..." The old man clapped his hands together, letting a genuinely proud smile emerge. "Now, go inside and tend to yourselves, I need to have a word with Richard about your improvement," her granddad said, nodding his head to the man on his right who looked proud enough for tears. Wait, actually... He was crying wasn't he?

Well, that was all Max and Isabel needed to head inside, the two jokingly shoving each other's shoulders playfully as they went. Isabel had clearly taken the last of her frustration out in her finishing burst of power.

Once the two were out of sight Richard and Francisco turned around and began walking towards where Ed and Isaac were training.

"BL will be pleased," Spender said in a professional tone as he folded his arms behind his back. His sunglasses glinted when the much older man offered a noncommittal grunt.

"We don't know that yet. We still have two more to check in on," Francisco said simply, ignoring the look Richard shot him.

"Do you doubt Mina's ability to teach? And you have already seen Ed. He is just as spectacular as Max and Isabel." Richard reasoned, looking irritated, but only sighed when his co-worker didn't reply.

It took them a few more minutes to reach the other training ground and my were they greeted with a sight.

Isaac was standing in the middle of the training area with conjured spectral swords and shields flying around him as green serpents and mammalian creatures attempted to attack him from all sides. A snake broke through a shield but was quickly cut in half by a floating blue sword, but the creatures surrounding Isaac began to attack with a new ferocity when they realized a weak point had been revealed.

Isaac grunted as he just barely held back a large bear-like creature with a shield and knew his plan was no longer working. The creatures around him rammed into his shield, knocking him back a few feet before he lifted the swords and caused the shields to spin around him. The faces of the conjured creatures were assaulted by the circling shields and quickly backed up. Once they were far enough away the ginger called his spectral energy back and formed a large blue dome that exploded in a burst of energy, officially destroying the green spectral animals.

Ed didn't give Isaac a break, quickly throwing himself at the orange haired teen and throwing punch after punch, kick after kick. Unfortunately for Ed, each of these attacks were expertly blocked by a combination of spectral shields, sharp forearms and shins. The blond boy practically screamed in frustration as he repeatedly threw himself at Isaac, only to be brushed off as if he were nothing. Spender took a moment to turn to the older man next to him and shoot him a grin. They had seen enough, and Richard knew Guerra was anything but able to pretend to be disappointed.

"That's enough!" The practically ancient man shouted as he stepped forward. It was always so pleasing to see how quickly their students stopped and turned to pay full attention. They really were everything the consortium needed. "I must say, I am impressed." Francisco said as he walked up to the two boys, focusing solely on Isaac. "I expected a lot from you but... Not this much." The man spoke slowly, clearly aware that he was admitting he was wrong and not liking it.

"Thank you sir," Isaac said with wide eyes, clearly unused and unprepared for the praise. Guerra nodded, before continuing.

"When you first came here, I thought you were weak because of your avoidance of violence. Now I know that you are just as strong as my brightest pupils, punches or no punches." The older man said in a deep, rumbling voice. He glanced between Ed, Isaac and his tutor, Mina before humming. "I've made my decision. Come, follow me back to the house. We have one last matter to attend to."

//////////

"Jesus, Max. You looked like you were about to shit yourself those last few minutes," Isabel said in amusement as she filled up her water bottle.

"Actually...," Max started, leaning his head back to look at his rear, "I think I might have." He rolled his eyes as he spoke, flicking water from his newly filled water bottle at the girl beside him. The two laughed for a moment, Max taking a long drink of his water and Isabel filling up her own.

"So do you know what Ed's doing?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't often they were told to train one-on-one instead of all together. Max knew Isabel would know the reason though, she and Ed were too close for her to not know.

"Mm," she hummed before swallowing her gulp of water, "He's being paired with Isaac today. They want to see how he handles himself against someone as multi-skilled as Ed," she explained with a wave of her hand. Ed was something else. He had too many tricks up his sleeve and was equally skilled in tool usage and spectral energy. "From what I heard, if he does well now they're going to put us all against him."

"Holy crap," Max whispered as he shook his head. "Well, I mean. It's Isaac. I'm sure he could do it." The teen muttered as he checked his arms and chest for scratches.

"Yeah, but we're still a lot to handle. And you know my grandpa will kick our asses if he sees us holding back," Isabel said with a frown. "Even someone who has spent six or so years of training in defense would have trouble, especially against three of us." Isabel and Isaac had never really been on good terms, but she cared enough to be concerned.

Max huffed and nodded. What she was saying was definitely valid, and he really was worried that the three of them would be too much to handle, but he still wanted to believe that Isaac could do it.

"Anyway," Isabel interrupted his train of thought, leaning her elbows on the counter and giving Max a sly grin. "Isaac has been staying with you for quite some time now. Max, I was just wondering if you had anything to tell me." The girl in front of him waggled her eyebrows, and he knew exactly what she wanted to hear, but Max was definitely not ready to tell her. Better he just play oblivious.

"Uh, well... No. Not really," Max said simply, trying his best to look casual. He knew his cheeks had definitely reddened a bit, but he wasn't going to let that stop him.

"Oh come on Max!" Isabel whined, pushing herself upwards again to jab her finger at his chest. "You hitting that?"

"I--What? Isabel please!" Max said, his awkwardness definitely showing through as his face flushed. "First of all, it is none of your business if I am,--"

"So you are then?"

"No! Not at all, at least... At least not yet," Max said in a mumble, looking very embarrassed. Isabel gasped, shooting Max another shit eating grin.

"What does that mean, Mr. Magneto?" Isabel said, crossing her arms in silent demand. "Do you have plans?" She drawled, making a few lewd gestures with her hands.

Max looked horrified for a moment, electing to slap her hands to get her to stop. "Let me guess, you won't leave me alone unless I tell you?" Max asked, and sighed when Isabel simply raised her eyebrows. "Fine... Well, it turns out last weekend me and Isaac uh...," The teen started nervously, and was about to continue his sentence when the door to the house was flung open to reveal their teacher, Mr. Spender.

"Kids!" Spender said as soon as he saw the two sitting by the sink. "I'm sorry, I know you two haven't had very long to rest, but we have one more thing planned."

"One more thing planned?" The two teens echoed in unison, shooting each other nervous looks. Both of them knew what the other was thinking. They weren't going to fight Isaac now, where they?

"Yes. I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy it too." Spender said as he stepped to the side to hold the door open. "Now hurry up, Ed and Isaac are already waiting."

Chapter Text

Hey guys! I'm sure most of you have realized I've stopped updating every Saturday like I said I was going to, and I really regret it but I want to say I definitely haven't fallen out with this story. I'm still very very in love with it. I've actually started a rewrite, since part of the reason I stopped updating was because I didn't like where it was going any more. So yeah, I've spent the past couple months trying to settle back into a spot where I'm comfortable enough to write, and while I've been doing that I've been planning and making character designs, and all in all I'm much more excited about it! The only thing is that I'm not sure when I'll have time to write because holy crap do I have a lot of homework. So basically this just means there won't be a set schedule for awhile.

Thanks for tagging along this far! I promise not much changes and I'll be leaving this one up, it's just that I really hate how I let the story play out. See you on the new one guys cc: