Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Max smiled as he finished packing up the last of his things. “Finally,” he says, picking up his suitcase and walking to the door. He turns around, taking one last look at the blue, sailboat patterned wallpaper.

It was a good place, the little town of eastbunny hop. He had lived there all his life with his sister ruby, and it was a fine place to live. But now that he was a teenager, Max was moving out and heading to the big city of New York, to make his way in the world, or whatever. He just desperately wanted to leave.

“Max! Your bus is almost here!” ruby called. Max smiled. Just in time. He walks out into the hallway and down the stairs, where ruby was waiting for him. “Have you got all your stuff?” she asks. Max nods. “All my clothes, stuff for school, everything!” ruby smiled. “Good.” she sniffled a bit. “Oh, my little brother, all grown up and moving to the big city…” she hugs him gently. Max rolls his eyes. “Rubyyyyy, don’t get all mushy on me.” ruby laughs. “I can’t help it!” she nuzzles his head. “I’ll be glad to get rid of ya, ya little nuisance!” Max giggled, hugging her back. “And I'll be glad to be free of your nagging!”

The two good-naturedly laughed. Ruby pets his head. “But really, I am gonna miss you..” Max smiled gently. “Right back at ya sis…”

The sound of a bus pulled up outside. Ruby looks to the door, then back to max. “Well, I guess it’s time.” Max smiled gently as he walked out. The two spot Louise and Morris waiting for them, walking over to say goodbye.

“Well, I guess this is it…” Max says. He looks at Louise. “You’ll come back and visit us, right?” she asks. “Of course!” Max replies, hugging her. She smiles gently and hugs back. He then turns to Morris, hugging him as well. “Thanks for being an awesome buddy all these years…” Morris smiles. “Same to you.”

Finally, he turns to ruby, who puts her hand on his shoulder. “Stay out of trouble, ok?” she says. Max laughs. “Really??” ruby giggles. “Who am I kidding, I know you’ll get up to all sorts of hijinks.” she says, hugging him a final time.

Max steps onto the bus with his bag, then turns to them and smiles, misty eyed. “I’m sure gonna miss you guys..” he says, wiping his eyes. “We’ll miss you too…” ruby says, wiping her tears as well.

The bus door closes and Max immediately runs to the back seats to look at them through the window. He waves goodbye to the three of them until the bus drives out of sight.

Once he was truly on his way, Max smiled, sitting and thinking about where he was headed.

New York city. The big apple, the city that never sleeps, the capital of the world.

The city of dreams.

The bus ride from the town to the city was very long, and Max slept through most of the way there, dreaming about his new life. It was gonna be so much fun running through the city streets, seeing all the sights, going to school, and in general just living that city life.

He wakes up just in time to see them drive into the city. He looks up at all the tall buildings. “Woah…” he says. They were so much taller than he’d imagined. The buildings were so big and the sky was so cloudy… he smiled.

This was his home now.

Chapter Text

The bus pulled up at one of the many many stations and Max got off his seat, his legs a bit shaky from standing up. After he got his suitcase and got off the bus, he started walking. He didn’t know exactly where, but he kept walking down the street.

Suddenly, something caught his eye.

He spotted a flier, saying “wanna beat up bad guys?”

Max stopped, walking over to the flier and taking it . “If you are between 14-20, Ask about the freelance cadets program at your local police station. Join up, and fight for justice!”

A wide grin spread across Max's face.

About 3 seconds later, the door to the police station opened and the bunny stood in the doorway, breathlessly panting and holding the flier.

He walks up to the receptionist desk. The receptionist looks up. “Uh, can I help you, young man…?” they ask. Max places the flier on the desk. “I’m here about the freelance cadets program…?” the receptionist nods. “Ah, I see. Well, in that case, you’ll need to talk to our commissioner.” they pick up a phone. “Have a seat, and I'll ask him if he’s busy.” They point to the waiting area.

Max picks the flier back up, putting it away, goes and takes a seat while the receptionist talks on the phone. He listens in on the conversation.

“Hello sir?... Yeah, I have another recruit for the freelance program. Are you busy at the moment?.... Oh, awesome! I’ll send him your way.” they put the phone down and look at max. “Great news, the commissioner can see you right away!” Max smiles. “Awesome! Where can I find him?” the receptionist points down the hall. “Big door, end of the hall says ‘commissioner's office’.” Max hops up. “Great! Thanks!”

Max plods down the hall past dozens of other doors until he finally reaches the commissioners office. He takes a deep breath, slowly opening the door. “M-Mr commissioner..?”

The commissioner was a tall man wearing a brown suit and a yellow tie. He looks up from his desk, smiling at max. “Ah, you must be the new recruit.” Max nods. “That’s me!” The commissioner gets a few papers. “Okay, before you join the program, I need some information.” Max nods. “Sure.”

Over the next 10 minutes or so, the commissioner asked max many questions. His name, his age, if he was good with weapons, how were his self defense skills, etc. etc. once the form was all filled out, the commissioner gave him a smile. “Alright max, congratulations, you’re officially signed up. Welcome to the freelance cadets!”

Max almost jumped out of his chair in excitement. “YAY!” He then looked back at the commissioner. “So, when do I get to beat up bad guys?” the commissioner laughed. “Well, see, you’ll have to move up a few levels before you go out on your own.” Max frowns and crosses his arms. “Aww man…” the commissioner smiles. “Buuut, there are still lots of things you can do to help out around this place.” max’s ears shift. “Really?” the commissioner nods. “Definitely.” Max's smile returns.

The commissioner pulls out a list from the stack of papers on his desk. “For your first official task, I want you to go to the post office on 5th street and pick up the box labeled ‘paper.’ it’s a package for one of our PIs.” he looks to max. “Think you can handle it?” Max smiled. “Can do!” He salutes and walks out the door. He sighed once outside.

Sure, maybe it wasn’t the beating up bad guys he’d been hoping for, but he was still excited to be working for an official police office.

He’d get there one day.

Chapter Text

“Get the box labeled ‘paper’!’” a seemingly simple enough task for the new cadet.

Max repeated the words to himself as he walked down the street to the post office address.

He walks in the door, ringing the little bell. Looking around, he could see a pickup counter, a mailing station, and some benches to wait on. He walks up to the counter.

“Excuse me, I need an order for ‘paper’?” he says. The employee nods. “Of course, sir.” She goes to look through the boxes.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Max looked curious. The door opened and in walked a tall teenage looking dog guy with brown fur and dorky clothes.

The dog walked up to the counter, standing beside max. “I need an order for ‘parker’, please. “Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, I'm workin on it!” the employee said.

The dog glances to max. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asks with a smile. Max blushes a tiny bit. “U-uh, it’s going good…” he replies. “cool.” the dog says, then turns away.

Max watches as he walks over to the waiting area.

He took a deep breath, then walked up to him. The dog noticed, turning around. “Hey man, you got a stamp?” Max asked. The dog looked at him weird, but nodded. “Uh, sure.” he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out, handing it to max. Max smiles. “Thanks!” the dog nods. “No problem!”

Just then, the employee places two boxes on the counter. “Okay, Parker and paper, got 'em right here.”

Max then sprints to the counter, picking up what he thought was his box and running out.

On his way back to the police station, he couldn’t stop thinking about that handsome stranger…

Later, He walks back to the commissioners office, carrying the box. “Hey commish!”

The commissioner looks up and smiles. “Max, you’re back!” Max smiled. “I got the box!” He places it on his desk. “Good job.” The commissioner said. He then looked at the box.

He frowned. “Max, this is the wrong box.” Max opened his eyes. “What..?” The commissioner shows him the label. Max reads it.

The label said “parker.”

Max’s face falls. “Oops.”

The commissioner sighs. “Oh well… It's no big deal. you just have to take this one back and get the right one.”

Just then, The door opened. Both of them looked to see who it was.

Max’s eyes went wide when he saw It was the dog man from the post office.

Max’s heart beat faster as he walked up, holding a box. “Hey there, I think our packages got mixed up.” the commissioner looked up to him. “Is yours for parker?” the dog nods. “I’m guessing you got that one?” the commissioner nods, and the two switch boxes. The dog smiles. “Thank you.” the commissioner smiles as he holds the right box. “No problem.”

The dog laughs. “I wonder how they got mixed up.” The commissioner looked to max. “Well you can thank this little guy for grabbing the wrong one.” the dog laughs, looking to max. “Oh hey, I remember you! You’re that guy that needed a stamp!” Max laughs. “Oh yeah!” He looks up to him. “I never got your name.” the dog says. Max smiles “Oh, I'm max!” He sticks his hand out. “Nice to meet ya, I'm sam.” he responds, shaking it. Max giggles. “Sorry for accidentally taking your box.” Sam smiles. “It’s fine, at least we got them switched back.” they let go.

Max then looks to the commissioner. “So, that box is for a pi of yours, right?” he asks. The commissioner nods. “Yes.” Sam looks to the commissioner. “Wait, you guys have pis?” the commissioner nods. “We have all kinds of investigators here.” Sam smiled. “That’s cool.” he looks at the ceiling. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a detective.

The commissioner smiles at him and max. “Well, You know, we're currently looking for new cadets for our freelance program, would you be interested?” Sam tilts his head. “Freelance program?” the commissioner nods. “Yes. Have you seen the fliers around town?” Sam shakes his head. “I’m afraid not.”

Max remembers something, then reaches in his pocket and hands Sam the flier he still had. “Here, I kept mine!” Sam takes and reads it. As he does, a small smile makes its way across his face. “Wow, that sounds like fun! When can I join?” he asks, looking at the commissioner.

The commissioner hands him more sign up forms. “Right now.” Sam smiles and gets a pen. When he was done filling out forms and answering questions, the commissioner thanked him and put the sheets away.

He then looks at both of them. “Now, Since you two are the only ones that have signed up so far, it means you’re gonna be working together.” max blushes a bit. Sam smiles. “Cool!” The commissioner gets a notepad and pen. “Now I need both your addresses.” Sam nods. “Sure. Mine is the apartment building at 1004 holly road, room 305.” the commissioner writes it down. “Got it.” He then looks to max. “And yours?” Max looks a bit shy.

“Well… I don't really have one yet…”

Sam and the commissioner look confused. “What do you mean?” Max looks to the side. “Well, see, I just arrived in the city today… and.. I don’t really have anywhere to live yet…” the commissioner nods. “I see…” he looks to the side too. “Well that might be an issue…”

Sam suddenly gets an idea, smiling. “Hey! He could stay with me.”

Max blushes more. The commissioner smiles. “Really?” Sam nods. “My apartment might not be huge but I'm sure I have enough space for him. Besides,” he laughed. “When my parents were helping me get set up, they accidentally ordered a bunk bed by mistake.” the commissioner smiles. “Well that’s convenient!”

Sam then looks to max. “What do you say? Wanna live together and be detective buddies?” Max thinks. Getting to work and live with his cute and funny guy sounded awesome!

He smiles widely. “Can’t think of a reason not to!”

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since they were partnered together, and a lot had happened. Sam and Max had grown closer, gotten used to living together, and had even defeated a giant cell monster in their school’s science class.

Tonight was the night of the school's fall dance. Max was excited to spend more time with his new best friend, and they were walking together down the sidewalk.

“So max, are there any girls you’re interested in?” Sam asks. Max shakes his head. “Nah, I'm not really into girls, they’re kinda boring.” Sam looks at him kinda weird. “Uh, ok then… are there any guys you’re interested in?”

Max stops walking. “Wait… I can be interested in guys…?” Sam stops too. “Well, yeah, why not?” Max thinks for a bit, then smiles. “Cool.”

Sam smiles too and they continue walking.

Later, they were standing next to each other in the gym, boredly staring at all the people dancing.

“Say max, Do you know any good jokes?” Sam asked. Max looks up at him. “Jokes?” Sam nods. “Yeah,”

Max thinks for a bit, then nervously nods. There was only one joke he could remember:

“It smells like updog in here.” “what’s updog?” “Nothing much, what's up with you?”

But whenever he tried to tell it, it either didn’t work or the target just didn’t find it funny.

When he told it to Louise, she said “well I'm sure someone else will find it funny!” When he told Morris, he said, “man that was lame.” and when he told ruby, she just said “aren’t you supposed to be doing laundry?”

“Well, let's hear it, max.” Sam said with a gentle smile. Max nods. “O-okay…” he looks to sam. “It smells like updog in here.”

Sam sniffs the air. “I don’t smell anything…” he then thinks. “Wait, what even IS updog?” he looks to max, confused. Max grinned very widely.

“Nothing much, what's up with you?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he mentally beat himself up, thinking, ‘that wasn’t funny. He’s gonna think you’re lame. You’re an idiot.’

But then Max's thoughts were interrupted by Sam's laughter. Max looks up at him.

Sam was laughing his head off. Max blushes, he looked absolutely beautiful.

The country song on the dance speakers kept playing as he laughed.

“It only took one look, from your amazing eyes, for me to realize, you are the one, i loved your smile, your style, and then i felt your touch, your body said so much, boy i was done….
It was, love at first sight, it felt so right, that magical night, when i saw the light,
It was, all around you, like a halo of truth, so pure and white…
It was love at first sight… ”

When Sam had stopped laughing, he wiped a tear from his eye. “Man, that was the best joke I ever heard!” He looks at Max, his eyes sparkling. “You crack me up, max.”

Whether it was the music, sam being absolutely precious, max’s lack of impulse control, or a combination of everything, max wasn’t able to stop himself from saying,

“I love you.”

Both immediately turned red, and their eyes went wide.

“W-what did you say…?” Sam asks, whispering. Max panicked. “I-i said, ‘i’m glad you liked it too’!” he smiled. “The joke I mean!” Sam shakes his head. “N-no that wasn’t it.. You said-”

Max interrupts him. “I GOTTA GO TO THE BATHROOM!”

He then bolts across the gym, shoving a few people out of the way in the process. Then once he was in the bathroom, he jumped up onto the counter and out the window, tumbling out and landing outside the gym.

He ran over to the football field, hiding underneath the bleachers.

Once he was hidden, he sat down against one of the steel support beams.

“Ohgodohogdohgodohgod what was i thinking?! Where the hell did that even come from?!” he said as he started to tear up. “What on earth does he think of me now…?”

He hugs his knees. “God… I ruined everything…” he covered his face and started to cry.

“Max! There you are!” Sam's voice said.

Max freezes.

he hears the sound of feet walking over as he slowly looks up. Sam kneels in front of him, a gentle look on his face. “Why’d you run off?”

Max shakily sighs. “Because i said something stupid… and now you probably think i’m weird…” Sam smiles gently. “Aw max..”

He moves to sit next to him. “I already thought you were weird… but…” he puts an arm around him. “You’re the good kind of weird.”

Max slowly smiles a bit. “...Really?” Sam nods. “Yeah…” Max looks down, softly giggling a bit. “Cool.”

The two sit in a comfy silence for a bit, until Sam speaks again. “You know max… I know we haven’t known each other long, but…” he pulls max a bit closer. “Ever since we’ve met… I've felt a connection to you… that I've never felt for anyone else…” Max was a bit confused. “What do you mean…?”

Sam shifts so that he’s facing max, taking his hand. “D-did you really mean what you said back there?”

Max blushes. “U-uh… if i did… would you laugh at me? Or… be upset..?” Sam smiles gently. “No, sillyhead….” he nuzzles Max's forehead gently. “I’d say it back.” Max blushes more. “Oh…” Sam giggles.

Max takes a breath. “Well, in that case….” he takes Sam's face and looks into his eyes. “Sam… I like you a whole lot… more than a friend i mean…” Sam nuzzles his forehead. “I feel the same way…” Max smiles, hugging him. “Do… you wanna start dating? Maybe see where this goes?” Sam hugs back and nods. “Sure, that sounds cool…”

The two sat together under the bleachers for a while, just softly snuggling.

Max didn’t even know he wanted to be with Sam until tonight, but now that they had each other, Max knew he’d never let him go.

Chapter Text

Max was walking down the city street beside Sam, reminiscing on how much his life had changed after that party 5 years ago.

After they started dating in high school, they continued working on small cases for the commissioner, getting more experience in the world of detectiving.

After they graduated high school, Sam went to college while Max tagged along, not really for school but just because the two couldn’t bear being separated. It was a lot of fun for them, and they worked on both small and slightly larger cases for the commissioner.

And of course they went on hundreds of dates together, each one unique from the others before it. They could turn anything into a date, shopping, mini golfing, blowing up an old baby pool and relaxing in it, dental surgery, retiling a roof, playing dungeons and dragons, anything could be fun and romantic as long as they were together.

Immediately after Sam graduated college, they got a bigger and better studio apartment in a red brick building and officially moved in together, their new office being right next door.

Back to the present.

Max smiled, letting out a happy sigh. “Something on your mind little buddy?” Sam asks, taking a lick of his popsicle. Max shrugs. “Just thinking about the past.” Sam smiled. “I see.”

Sam started to sing an old showtune.

“New York, new York, it’s a helluva town, the Bronx is up and the bowery’s down…”

Max happily listened as he thought about when he’d first moved here. Imagine if he’d never mixed up those boxes…

Max silently thanked whatever higher power that had allowed him and Sam's paths to cross as he gently slipped his small hand into Sam's.