Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Winning the College X Games had been a huge success for Max. It had been a huge dream for himself and his friends alike. Being able to know that they had been the first team in College X Games history to beat the infamous Gammas should have boosted his ego out of the roof. However, despite the copious amounts of success surrounding him – Sylvia and Goofy’s sudden marriage, the overwhelming popularity as a result of the games, and his new gig as a well-known guitarist – he could only focus on one thing. That thing was, of all things, Bradley Uppercrust III.

The brown-haired boy somehow always found his way into Max’s mind. Whether he was sleeping, doing homework, or even skating, Bradley was always somewhere in the corner of his brain. Max wouldn’t have minded so much if the one memory he’d been recalling had been so… weird.

It was right after Max had finally been able to slip away from the gigantic crowd, noisily chanting his name over and over. Sure, he loved it, but it was overwhelming. He needed to shower and change into some clean clothes, anyways. He carefully made his way behind the makeshift stage set up for the games, looked both ways, and quickly beelined for the locker rooms, careful not to catch the attention of any reporters before he was able to get himself somewhat presentable for the cameras.

When he was finally in the locker room, he slumped on the concrete ledge near his locker, panting and taking a few minutes to absorb everything that had just happened. He had just won the College X Games, his dream ever since he had been in middle school! Not only that, but he was able to humble that rich Bradley asshole. A cocky smile spread across his face, granting him the motivation to peel off his blue and yellow uniform t-shirt.

Just as he was inspecting his belly button to see if it was fit to slip his piercing back in, he heard a strange sound from the shower room to his left. He raised an eyebrow, ignoring it for the most part. It wasn’t until he had slipped the bar into his stomach and tightened the ball securing it that he heard another similar sound coming from the shower room. Curious, he quietly headed to the room’s doorway to take a peek inside.

Bradley was curled in a ball in the corner of the room under a showerhead. He was half naked and shaking uncontrollably. His tears were blending into the shower water, turning his face a pained shade of pink. His eyes were puffy and it was clear that he was trying to stifle his sobs with little success.

Max hadn’t known what to expect, but he knew that it wasn’t that.

Despite his terrible impression of Bradley, he couldn’t help but feel pity for him. After all, he had probably wanted to win as much as Max had. Out of nowhere, Max started to make his way towards Bradley, ignoring the water soaking his shorts.

Bradley looked up and defensively coiled further into the corner, his scowl failing to hide his puffy deep blue eyes. He looked up at Max and immediately stared at the ground.

“How’re you holding up, Brad?” Max asked.

“What the hell are you doing here, Freshman? Shouldn’t you be enjoying the paparazzi?” Bradley hissed, quickly wiping his face.

“You might not believe it, but I actually got kind of scared of it,” Max admitted.

Bradley dared to look up at Max, a subtle smirk lining his mouth. “Scared of it? Ha, I used to bask in it.”

“Well, we’re quite different, aren’t we now?”

Bradley hesitated for a few seconds, breaking eye contact and dropping the small smile that he was somehow able to obtain. “Yeah, I guess we are,” he mumbled.

“Hey,” Max began, plopping himself on the floor next to Bradley. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, man. Getting to the finals, let alone winning the whole championship for five years straight, is a lot of damn work that I respect like hell. Even if you cheated,” Max acknowledged. Bradley only let out a small grunt. Determined, Max continued. “I mean, think of your folks! They must be proud as hell of their little boy. Just look at you, you’re–”

“You don’t know anything, Freshman,” Bradley snapped. Max slumped, scolding himself for being oblivious to the sensitive nerve he just struck. “My dad’s going to fucking kill me. You have no idea how important it is for him. I’d thought I wouldn’t have to deal with him in college. I mean, what the hell, he’s across the goddamn country! But he’s always calling me, and yelling at me, sometimes he even flies out here just to fucking yell at me. I’m so –” Bradley was cut off by the growing knot in his throat. Tears began well in his eyes as he began to cover his face with his hands.

“Ghost that bitch,” Max said after a few minutes, coaxing a small chuckle out of Bradley. “No, seriously, fuck him. He deserves nothing.” Bradley’s eyes widened, staring at Max in disbelief of his seriousness. Max just chuckled. “Honestly, I thought my dad was a lot… but look at yours! My god, we need to get you a new dad.”

Bradley’s wide eyed face slowly turned into a silly smile. He started to laugh, beginning softly and growing uncontrollable. Max joined him, and the two boys were kicking their feet and clenching their stomachs in a corner of the shower room.

It took about 5 minutes for them to calm down, leaving them slumped against the wall, grinning and staring at the wall. Max started to ramble on and on about everything in his life, from his dad to his piercings to his high school stories. Some way through that, Bradley leaned his head on Max’s shoulder, sparking an unfamiliarly joyful comfort in both of their stomachs.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately for Max, not much had happened between Max and Bradley in the remaining 3 weeks until graduation. With Max being a freshman and Bradley being a junior, they both had little to worry about. Max, being preoccupied with keeping his dad on top of his studies now that the games were over, didn’t have much of a chance to check up on Bradley. He had optimistically tried to strike up a few conversations with him, leading to nothing but failure. Max had noticed that Bradley had gone back to his old cocky self for the most part. Max honestly would’ve thought that Bradley was still upset about losing the games if it wasn’t for one factor; Bradley’s facial reactions.

After trying to talk to Bradley a few times without success, he had noticed a common mannerism of Bradley’s. His face would always deepen into a slight cherry red shade, avoiding all eye contact with Max. Max had somehow recognized this reaction, not knowing where from for the first few days of these encounters, but then, with the help of a conversation with his dad, remembered where.

“Gawrsh, Max, you’re such a good kid, being so nice to that Uppercrust kiddo. If it was me, I would be jumpin’ outta my socks to give that boy a nice punch in the face!” Exclaimed Goofy, comprehending the story that Max just told him.

“Whoa dad, no need to be that extreme. I mean, he’s got his own issues to deal with, and everyone could use a …” Max hesitated, not knowing how to describe his relationship with Bradley. “Acquaintance? Friend?”

“Well, I hate to break it to you Maxie, but the way he’s blushin’ up when he sees you is makin’ me think that he wants to be a little more than friends! Why, that’s the way I was when I went on my first date with Sylvia. We were sittin’ on a park bench and I was blushin’ and lookin’ away…”

As Goofy talked, Max began to think about it. Bradley Uppercrust III liking, of all people, Max Goof? But Max started to replay all of the events in his head, from the moment they first met to the day in the shower room. He found this whole thing confusing, so he decided to just think about it later.

Later, however, seemed to be constantly for Max. The more he tried to push the idea out of his head, the more he started daydreaming about Bradley. Going on little dates, showing off all of his piercings, cuddles leading to deep kisses leading to more, every happy little situation that they could be in as a couple.

At first, these thoughts were strange to Max, invasive even. But as the school year was ending so was his self control. He would imagine stupid little scenarios where he could bump into Bradley, maybe share a kiss. After daring to let these thoughts pleasure his mind, he started to talk to PJ and Bobby about it, soon making it the only thing that he could ever talk about. Lunch became his favorite time of the day, being able to freely talk about his insane train of thoughts.

“Okay, so, what if the teacher wants to put us into pairs and … Banana … and I get to work together and then we exchange numbers to work on a project and we’re in my dorm and we, like, kiss? That would be so cute.

Oh my god, maybe I’d make some popcorn and we could–” Max stops abruptly, being interrupted by Bobby, speaking in a slow and annoyed tone.

“Okay dude, first of all, drop the fucking nickname! Second of all, we’re not in high school, buddy. Teacher would never pair us like that.”

Max quickly jumps to defend himself, “Okay Bobby, It’s called a code name. So that no one knows –”

PJ then takes a small break from eating his cafeteria pasta, and offers a suggestion: “Max, why don’t you just go up to him and give him your number? I mean, it’s kinda obvious that he likes you back, right?”

Max, who had been sipping some lemonade, spit it across the table. “Talk to him?! Are you crazy? That’s Bradley Uppercrust the Freaking Third!” Max half-shouted, drawing a few stares to their table.

Bobby, now mildly pissed, stared at Max and said, “If you did it before, asshole, you can do it again.”

“I mean, sure, but I don’t really know if I want to do this. I don’t want to jump to conclusions about, you know, if … Banana likes me,” Max admits, drawing a suspicious stare from PJ. “What?” Max questioned.

“Okay, well… you’ve just gotta promise to keep this between you and me.”

“Pinky promise, dude,” Max replied as he extended his pinky, waiting for long-awaited non-delusional Max-related info on Bradley.

PJ shook it and started, “So, I was talking to Tank, and…”

“Wait, what the hell?! Why were you talking to Tank? You do know that’s Bradley’s BEST FRIEND, right? Like, the person who knows him the best?” Max panicked.

“Calm down, bud. I was talking to him because of you.” Max’s jaw hung open, incapable of speech, as PJ continued. “So I was asking him about Bradley and, like, if he was dating anyone, and he cut right to the chase, asking me if I was asking for you. So I said that I was, and he said that you’d have a chance if you just pushed a little harder.” Max stared at PJ, not knowing what to say. Bobby glanced at PJ, nodding, when PJ finished, “Look, man, we’ve gotta go to class, but you should talk to him later today.”

Before Max could respond, PJ and Bobby were already in the cafeteria aisle waving goodbye. “We expect updates, buddy,” Bobby said before walking to his next class, leaving Max alone to think.

Max started to overthink everything and spiral downwards. Sure, he wanted to talk to Bradley, but how the hell was he going to do that? After Max started to daydream about him, he stopped talking to Bradley because he was embarrassed. But when he did try to approach him, Bradley would barely talk at all! It’s true that he may have been nervous, but it’s equally as true that he was trying to avoid Max. And would they really work out? One sided love never ends well.

All of this was too complicated for Max. He decided to go back to the library and ask Sylvia for advice. He had gotten very close to her; she’d been dating Goofy for seven months, after all, and they were newlywed. Max found that she was very good at giving clear, unbiased advice.

Just as he had started down the hallway, he felt a timid tap on his shoulder. Expecting Bobby or PJ, he casually turned around, shocked to see his one and only Bradley Uppercrust III.

Chapter Text

Max blankly stared at Bradley’s face. He inspected his rival’s long jaw, his deep blue eyes, his small nose, those pouty lips that he wanted to kiss more than anything. Bradley stared at the ground, face almost matching the shade of his signature burgundy sweater, opening and closing his mouth like a lovesick idiot.

“Hiya, Brad, what’s up?” Max started, hoping to get a few words out of his new-found crush. Bradley only continued to look at the floor. Max, intoxicated by Bradley’s flustered reaction and determined to make a move, took a step forward. Leaving barely a few centimeters between the two, Max had thought that Bradley would spin his heel and run, but Bradley stood his ground, blushing and sweating and hard as a rock. Max placed a finger on Bradley’s chin, coaxing Bradley’s head up so that they would be forced to make eye contact. Lowering his eyelids and wearing a knowing smirk, Max tempted, “Use your words, pretty boy.”

Bradley let out a small whimper, caught himself, then quickly sprung away from Max’s body. The daze on Bradley’s face along with the scowl created by his thick eyebrows made him look a bit silly. Max’s smirk deepened to the cute, arousing display that Bradley was putting on.

Finally opening his mouth to say something, Bradley ordered, “You will go to dinner with me. Tonight. At 7. Pick me up.” He didn’t come off as mean as he had intended to, making Max chuckle.

“Sure, princess. I’ll see you then,” Max laughed.

“Don’t call me that, you hooligan!” Bradley had meant to sound assertive, failing miserably. Max laughed as Bradley quickly turned around and started walking away.

“Bye-bye, princess!” Max yelled after him.

Max’s flirty facade dropped as soon as the sound of Bradley’s footsteps hushed. He stood in the middle of the hallway, mouth agape. It didn’t take long for a huge smile to bloom onto his face, sending him running to the library, single-mindedly wanting to tell his dad.

Bursting into the doors of the library, Max quickly found Goofy helping Sylvia arrange books on a shelf in the music section. Music was a passion of his, Max had often spent afternoons and weekends in this section quietly strumming his guitar. He always found it so fascinating how music could bring such a strong, passionate feeling to his soul. But today, he was here for a different passion, a person who he had been waiting for a chance for over the course of two painfully long weeks. He was sure as hell that he was going to take all of the precautions he could not to waste it.

As soon as he spotted them, Max ran up to Goofy and Sylvia. “I have a date with Bradley!” he panted.

Goofy immediately beamed from eye to eye, pulling the trio into a tight group hug. “Oh my goodness, my son’s got a date!” Goofy continued to squeeze them and swing them around until Max stopped him.

“Okay, okay, dad. I know, it’s great.”

Sylvia looked at Max and smiled sweetly. “That’s wonderful, Max! Where are the two of you going to go?”

Max stroked his chin with his hand, considering the question. “Huh. I’m not really sure. He just told me to go to dinner with him tonight, he never really specified where.”

“Gawrsh, Maxie, already? My little boy is growing up so fast…” Goofy blurted.

“Well, you could always play that guitar of yours for him. I’m sure your friends would love to play with you,” Sylvia suggested. Max immediately fell in love with the idea. Playing a gig in front of so many people, let alone playing for his crush?! That seemed like an amazing idea! “However, it’s quite late notice. How will you find someplace to play?” Sylvia questioned.

Max thought, racking his mind for anybody who might be willing to do him a solid. His face lit up when he thought of somebody who, if he was lucky, might be willing to book him a spot at a venue. “Don’t worry about that, I think I’ve got it covered.”

Walking into the Bean Scene, Max began to question his decisions. Sure, he and Mocha were well acquainted, but it was an overstatement to say that Max could depend on her to book him a venue 5 hours in advance. These things were usually planned out weeks, even months beforehand. He would be scoring a miracle to be able to convince Mocha to get him a venue. Even with the connections she had, it can never be that easy.

In the midst of overthinking, he was startled by a slim face inspecting him nonchalantly. “It seems something’s happened to Mr. Lover Boy here. Let me guess, a kiss? A date?” Mocha investigated.

“Score! We’re going on a date later,” Max replied, wearing a suspiciously guilty smile.

“Finally, some action between the two lovebirds,” the girl sighed, Max adopting a confused puppy face. “So, what do you need from me?”

“Well, um, so I wanted to play for him at a gig tonight,” Max answered.

“I’ll accept that. Will PJ be there? I haven't heard him talking about any gigs lately.”

“So, about that… we don’t have one booked yet. I was hoping that maybe–” Max began to explain.

“You were hoping that I could snatch you one,” Mocha finished. “My goodness, Goof, what do you think I am, a miracle worker?” Her turtleneck-draped chest rose and fell as she sighed, taking a pen and a stack of post-its out of her pocket. “Well, you’re in luck. I was scheduled to crash a club of drunk-ass bastards with my poetry at eight, but if you two lovebirds will finally get on with your little slow burn then I suppose it might be worth it.” She scribbled down an address on the post-it and handed it to Max. “Expect to see me there for PJ. Just don’t expect me to be doing thi– my god!” she exclaimed as Max threw his arms around her shoulders, thanking her quickly and repeatedly before running up the café stairs to let Bobby and PJ know about their gig.

At 6:45, Max and the gang strutted out of their dorm room, ready for the evening. Wearing a white tank top with baggy jeans, one of his favorite outfits, Max felt confident and ready for the night. He handed his guitar to Bobby to put into his van. They had a predetermined plan for that night to keep everything on track. At 6:45, the three leave, Bobby and PJ in the van and Max in his truck to pick Bradley up. At 7:00, Bobby and PJ start getting ready and Max sneaks off. From then, they warm up, perform, and take Max’s guitar home, leaving Max free to mingle with Bradley with no concern. The two boys were excited for Max, ready to make this the best date of his life.

As Max got into his car and started to drive to the Gamma house. He was surprised to see Bradley already standing on the porch even though it was only 6:50. Upon seeing Max’s car, Bradley half jumped, standing straight up and marching to the passenger side of his car. Bradley was wearing his same blue button up over a burgundy sweater with khakis. Max cringed a little, only then aware of his failure to tell Bradley to dress for a concert. Wanting to keep it a surprise, he decided to fix the brunette up so that he wouldn’t be so overheated in the venue.

Bradley opened and closed the car door, adjusting the seat to his liking. Max’s familiar smirk lit up Bradley’s face. “Liking my car, sweetheart?”

“I must admit, it’s not bad,” Bradley mumbled. He seemed to have regained a sliver of his composure around Max.

“Look, princess, I’ve got a surprise for you, but you’re not well dressed for it. Take your sweater off,” Max cooed, giving Bradley an embarrassed look on his face.

“Right now?! We’re right in front of my frat house, you idiot!” Bradley blushed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna have sex with you.” Max said, Bradley frowning. “Not yet, at least.” Bradley’s jaw dropped. “Just trust me. You don’t have to take off your shirt, just the sweater.”

Complying, Bradley wiggled his sweater off. “I hope this will be worth it, freshman.”

“Oh, it will, don’t worry,” Max assured him, reaching his hand over to Bradley’s chest. “Don’t take this the wrong way. Or do, I don’t really care,” ribbed Max, starting to unbutton Bradley’s shirt, pretending to be unphased by Bradley’s flushed, newly sweaty face. “We’re going for more of a casual vibe here, not your usual nerd look.”

“Hey!” Bradley whined.

“Don’t worry princess, you’re still cute.” Max stopped after about three buttons were undone, moving to the waistband of his khakis. “I’m just gonna untuck this a bit here.” Finishing his final touches on Bradley’s look, Bradley looked a bit like a divorced dad, which Max was ashamed to admit was kind of hot.

“I doubt this will be interesting at all,” Bradley pouted, his excited mannerisms saying otherwise.

“Want me to prove it?” Max taunted, cupping Bradley’s face in his hands before he could think about it.

“Please do, Max.”

And with that, they leaned into a kiss.

Chapter Text

The rest of the car ride followed suit, with little flirty words and gestures here and there. Max was pleasantly surprised by how talkative he felt in Bradley’s presence; it usually took him months to build that kind of bond with people. Max and PJ had always been around each other because of their dad’s friendships, but it took years for them to actually become close. Bobby had it worse; it took repeated harassment towards Max to be able to convince him that he wanted to be friends. Max had always been extroverted, but his missing mother took a toll on his ability to trust people.

Stopping at a light, Max stared at Bradley’s face. It was always tensed up, always anticipating the worst. Max wondered what Bradley would look like while he was sleeping. Would he still be stiff, or would he let down his guard? Max made himself a secret promise to himself that he was going to find out someday.

Max surveyed the club as he and Bradley walked in. It had been more packed than he had hoped. Taking Bradley’s hand, he started over to the bar, which was where Mocha was usually most prominent when bands weren’t actively playing. Despite the overhead hot, blaring lights, Bradley’s hands felt cold and clammy. Sensing his anxiety, Max halted his search for Mocha and led him to a fairly empty wall, dropping his hand and looking him in the eye.

“Are you okay, Bradley?” Max genuinely questioned.

Bradley avoided eye contact, again staring at the floor. “Me? Oh, I’m- I’m great, freshman. What makes you think I’d ever feel that way? Silly for you to assume that I don’t like parties or whatever, that’s just stupid. Why would you ever think that?” Bradley said in a surprisingly non-sarcastic manner.

Max felt a pang of guilt and brushed it off by chuckling softly. He reflected for a hot second, knowing that he should have given Bradley a heads-up instead of being so hasty. “I’m sorry, princess, there really is something that I think you’d like. I’ll take you right home after, we’ll only be here for another hour. Bradley looked up at him, his eyebrows furrowed, looking like he wanted an escape. “I promise you, darling. And I want you to remember that I will never, ever break my promises to you.”

Bradley, reassured enough for comfort, nodded and took Max’s hand. Max quickly found Mocha. “Hey, Mocha, could you look after Bradley until I get back?” he asked her.

“Oh, I see, free babysitting for you,” Mocha snarkily replied. Max shot her a look and she dropped it. “Fine. Stay by me, pretty boy. I don’t mind some homo-homo interactions.”

Max turned his attention to Bradley, now visibly anxious in the company of Mocha, who he’d had some minor issues with in the past. “Mocha helped me get us here. Just stay by her and I’ll be back soon,” Max promised. “Hey,” he said, cupping Bradley’s face. “I lov-” he caught himself, not wanting to say it too soon. “You’re gonna love this, just trust me.”

Max then ran off to set up for the show.

Behind the curtain, Max began to have second thoughts about the performance. After all, did Bradley even listen to music?! What if he hated rock, or thought this whole thing was cringe or–

His thoughts were interrupted by Bobby's hand on his shoulder. “Let’s do this thing,” Bobby assured him. “Brad-boy’s gonna love it…” Max took a deep breath, nodded, and walked up to the mic, holding his guitar while the curtains opened, exposing the opening band.

“Are you all ready to get crazy?” Max taunted the crowd, reacting in an overwhelming roar. PJ counted them off, diving right into the action. When Max wasn’t shredding on his guitar, he was staring at Bradley in the audience. As soon as he found him, he made sure to lock eyes with him whenever he could. Whenever Bradley got flustered, took a sip of the beer that Mocha had offered him. Max found that adorable.

Finally, after about 20 minutes of playing their original songs, Max nodded at PJ and Bobby, ready to play his surprise song just for Bradley. “Okay, yall… tonight has been all about you, but our closing song is going to be for my special someone in the audience tonight…” Max pointed in Bradley’s direction and winked. “You know who you are.” Bradley turned red and looked anxious with anticipation as Max changed the settings on his amp.

Bobby, PJ, and Max started to play the opening tune to the song, and when the time came, Max’s sweet, tenor voice filled the hall.

“I want you to stay, ‘til I’m in the grave,” Max serenaded, looking at Bradley the whole time. On stage, practically professing his love to Bradley, he started to realize how much he actually loved that man. From when they had their first non-aggressive conversation in that locker room to when Bradley asked him out on a date, so many feelings had sparked between the two of them.

“Til’ I’m in the ground, dead and buried, til’ I’m in the casket you carry.” He wasn’t lying when he said those words. He had never fallen so deeply in love with somebody this quickly. At the beginning, he had thought that these feelings were temporary, lustful even. Slowly but surely, he began to realize what it actually was…

“Birds of a feather, we should stick together, I know I said I’d never… think I wasn’t better alone.” It was so perplexing, how he could feel this connected to Bradley. It had taken so long for everybody else. Was this more than just a little crush?

“Can’t change the weather, might not be forever, but if it’s forever, it’s even better.” That was the moment that he truly admitted it. Standing onstage in front of hundreds of people, looking right at the brown haired junior. He was madly in love with Bradley Uppercrust III. He would do anything to make him happy. He would do absolutely everything in his power not to lose him, no matter the hardships or consequences. His usual fear of being abandoned was barely present when he was looking at Bradley. All Max wanted was him and him only. There wasn’t anything else to it.

Finishing the song, Max and his bandmates waved off the audience and headed offstage. Max passed his guitar to PJ and ran down the stairs, looking for Bradley. He was bombarded with compliments and questions from the people in the audience, asking who this special guy was. Max brushed them all off, accepting compliments and saying that he had somewhere to be. When he finally got to the bar, he saw an annoyed-looking Mocha and a drunk Bradley.

“Oh, thank goodness, I don’t need to babysit this freak anymore. He would not stop talking about you once he got that booze in his system.” Mocha complained, Max giggling. “OH, hi Max! You did so great… was that song for me?!” Bradley slurred.

“Oh my goodness, Brad, let’s get you home,” Max chucked after thanking Mocha for making sure Bradley didn’t get into any trouble.

“NO!” Bradley said quickly, to Max’s surprise.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” They left the venue, heading to Max’s truck.

“I wanna see your room…”

Max laughed as he helped Bradley into the passenger seat. “Okay, but I’m not doing anything. You’re drunk.”

“UGH FINE. Hmph,” Bradley said, acting like a toddler, much to Max’s amusement.

The ride back to the dorms was full of Bradley yapping about the performance and how pretty Max looked onstage. Max was laughing hysterically as Bradley talked on and on and on, saying how much he loved it. Max never could have imagined Bradley this straightforward, it was absolutely hilarious.

Max was practically carrying Bradley back to his dorm once they got out of the car. “You seem pretty tired, are you sure you don’t want to go home?”

“NO. Home is where the HEART is, you silly billy,” Bradley said, poking at Max’s chest. “YOUR room. YOURS.” Max continued laughing as he hoisted the boy onto his back and piggybacked him up the stairs and to his dorm. As expected, once Max lowered Bradley onto his bed, he flopped down and closed his eyes. Max closed the door and pulled the covers over Bradley and then texted PJ and Bobby to find somewhere else to crash tonight.

“Good night, Brad,” Max said to Bradley before putting a pillow and blanket on the carpeted floor and sleeping at the foot of his bed. “I love you.”