Chapter Text
Jägerman was a jerk, the boogeyman of Hatchetfield High.
You knew, as the only other student with any religion and closest friend of Grace Chastity, to take everything she said with a grain of salt. This, however, was something you agreed on completely. Max Jägerman is a lusty, hedonistic bully, those were her words exactly.
And you knew first hand how true they were.
The silver cross around your neck jingled against the metal of the lockers as Max slammed you chest first into the wall to stand closer to Grace, too busy trying to invite her to his “study group of two” to even notice you. His hand was splayed above your shoulder, hip to you backside as he leered at her from a polite foot and a half away.
“I know your sooo smart Grace, I saw your grade on Mr. Kowalski’s test last Thursday- really impressive.” The words didn’t sound condescending when he said them to Grace, like you were sure they would sound if directed at any other poor nerd. Grace, though, according to Jägerman’s decree, was not a nerd. Not like Richie, the Nighthawks mascot who you saw in the locker rooms sometimes; or you, the religious kid who wore ties to public school and did cheer .
“Max,” Grace addressed with as much venom as a girl wearing a frilly pink button up could have —which was apparently a lot because yeesh— “I’m sure if you talked to the biology teacher he would be happy to assign you a private tutor, one who wasn’t busy rallying forces to cancel Homecoming!” She shut down, disdain evident in her voice as she waved her sign around for emphasis.
You righted yourself against the locker as best you could, turning your head just in time to catch Max biting his lip. “UGH, private tutoring sounds soooo hot. You’re always full of such great ideas.” He grinned dopily. With the stilted conversation evidently teetering off, you gathered up the courage to cough out a small “ahem” as you straightened your tie with deft fingers.
Max’s bright blue eyes were on you in an instant, making you feel the true extent of the “apex predator” rumors. You were still stuck between him and the lockers, body at an awkward angle so you didn’t bump into him.
“And what about you, Cheer Squad?” He asked, leaning in close with his teeth bared. You glanced helplessly at Grace for help, but she looked just as puzzled as you.
“Me?” you asked meekly, “Wuh-What about me?” trapped by Jägerman was the last place someone of your kind wanted to be, and his sharp eyes pierced through any facade of confidence you had in spite of his reputation. “You free for a little one-on-one private tutoring? Some man-to-man, huh?” He asked, And you wished God had given you as much of a backbone as Grace Chastity had, because the next thing out of your mouth would make you want to slam your head back into the lockers until your ears rang.
“Uh, yeah?”
You huffed through a mouthful of toothpaste at the memory of yesterday. You had ended up having to give Jägerman your number. At the very least, he hadn’t made a comment on your ancient nokia or texted you as of yet. Thank God for that. Maybe he’d already forgotten he’d asked, and your information will be left to happily rot at the bottom of his contacts list.
Then, a sharp knock hit your bathroom window, making you jump. You eyed the window warily, it was the second story of the house and you didn’t have any tall trees in your front yard that would explain a tap of any noise of the sort. You hesitantly spat out your toothpaste and walked up to the window, seeing a figure standing below winding up for another shot at your window.
“What are you doing?!” you threw up the window to quietly shout at the trespasser, getting ready to thoroughly admonish them for not only their crimes, but also their lack of care for your poor bathroom window! It could have broken!
“Getting your attention, duh! I knew it was you, woulda been awkward if it was your mom or something though, HA!” You… you recognized that voice. “Max Jägerman?!” your jaw dropped, nearly dropping your foamy toothbrush at the fact that Max Jägerman was throwing rocks at your bathroom window past sundown.
“What are you doing at my house!!?” You demanded shrilly, heart thudding in your chest at the idea of your parents finding out that another boy was sneaking around their yard to talk to you, you would be grounded for eons!
Now that your eyes have adjusted to the darkness outside, you see that Max still has his letterman on, and he has his hands on his hips as he shouts back, “Coming over to study,” He said in a tone that implied you were the idiot in this conversation, “I sent you like three texts!” he made a little typing imitation with his hands, eyebrows raising so high that you could see it from the second story of your house.
You glanced back at your phone laying black-screened on the counter, snatching it up quickly before returning to the window to check your messages.
Three unread texts from Jägermonster!
“Oh…” You respond guiltily, unsure if he even heard you.
“Yeah! So like- can I come up or what?” He pointed up to you. You suck your bottom lip between your teeth to nibble on it, glancing between Max waiting impatiently below you and the direction of your blissfully unaware parents and their bedroom. Well, better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? Will you forgive me, God?
You stop worrying your lip and bring your eyes back down to Max, “Yes, uhm- yeah sure. My bedroom is,” you lean slightly out of the bathroom window to point to a larger square one to your left, “that one.” You shiver at the wind against your pajamas, suddenly aware of why Max was wearing his letterman.
“Ohh? Your bedroom huh?” There was an odd lilt to his voice when he called up to you this time, one that made you compulsively defensive and flustered. Strange. “Oh quiet! Just be careful, my parents will have my head if they realize I’m sneaking someone in!” You warn him, jabbing a finger down at him before backing out of the window.
You’re about to close the window for good and wipe the toothpaste from your mouth before you run to your bedroom, but you catch the tail ends of Max’s statement first. “Just because you asked so nicely!!” It was sarcastic, but the same tone from before was hidden in there too.
You frowned, shutting the window and drawing the curtains too just to be safe. Then, the reality of the situation began to set in. Max Jägerman was sneaking into your house. Max Jägerman was going to be hanging out in your bedroom!
You rushed back over to the sink and splashed water onto your face, rubbing roughly on your mouth to get rid of the minty spit stuck on the corners of your mouth. Your reflection stares back at you: uncombed hair, unbuttoned sleep shirt, and an uneven nervous flush on your face. Curse your anxiety disorder- and your blood vessels!
As quickly as you can manage, your hair is sorted and the extra two buttons on your top are done up. Leave it to your family to purchase pajamas that button to the neck. Seriously, who would be able to sleep without the shirt choking you out?
Then, you're sliding out of your bathroom on your jack-o-lantern patterned socks and scampering into your bedroom to make sure nothing embarrassing is out in plain sight. Due to your strict parents, your room decor was pretty sparse. A cross was hung above your bed, along with a rather unsettling print of Jesus on the cross staring down at your bed. Other than that, it’s just a few cheer posters and… oh crap your bookshelf!
Of course that’s where you keep your nerdiest stuff! Manga you trade with Richie, art study books, national geographic —what, were you five?! You were about to rush over to the bookshelf and try to flip over the worst stuff, but three pointed bangs on your bedroom window had you jumping out of your skin.
“SHI-crappp…” you spun around to see Max crouched at your window sill like a ghoul, a fierce grin stretching across his face. He looks like he noticed how much he scared you. You furrow your brow, stomping over to the window and yanking it up for him. “You’re such a jerk, how fast did you even get up here?”
Max slid his lithe body through your window, kicking his legs in first and making you step back so he didn’t knee you in the crotch. “Well, your house is very climb-able, lots of ledges.” His voice didn’t sound teasing, just observational.
“Uh-huh,” you replied distractedly, eyes caught on the small patch of tanned skin that was revealed when he wiggled his torso over the sill. Heat blistered under your skin and you whipped your head away. Oh, please god no. That’s wasn’t- that’s not even... That was nothing. Jesus, if you were watching, that was nothing. Nothing even happened!
“Cute room”
Your eyes jolt back to Max, trying to blink the words he just said into something believable. “Huh???” You reply dumbly. Max’s eyes roamed around your room as if to double check his assessment before nodding, “yeah. I mean- I am more of a beige enjoyer personally. Not really uh-” he waved to your walls- “baby blue. But it’s sweet.”
Are you having a stroke? Is he having a stroke? Is Max Jägerman being nice to you right now, stroke-less? WAIT NO. UH- Mentally, you did a showy exhale to keep any sinful thoughts at bay.
Okay. Okay.
Okay.
Okay!
“Okay.”
Max gave you a sideways glance, eyes squinting. Your skin feels tight, and you scratch at your knuckles. “So!” you say far too loudly, “Studying. Biology.” You walk away from Max and over to your desk, purposely avoiding eye contact with your bookshelf to get out your highschool biology textbook.
Behind you, Max groans, making a show of dragging his feet even though this was the entire reason he broke into your house. He flops down onto your bed, kicking his legs up behind him to pout.
You make a move to shoo him off, but think better of it. Instead, you bite the bullet, apologize to Jesus in advance, and sit down next to him on your watercolor-patterned duvet. “Uhm- so we’re- Uh.”
“I heard from Jake there’s gonna be a pop quiz tomorrow.”
“Oh?” You tilt your head, opening up to where your heron bookmark sat wedged between the pages. The class was about halfway through a unit on cells, so it made sense that Ms. Locke would want to make sure everyone had been paying attention the past few weeks. “Is- is that why you came over so inappropriately late?” You tried to sound more upset than you were.
Even though it was plain wrong, having a friend —if Max Yägerman could be considered that— in your room was a thrill. It made caterpillars burst from cocoons in your stomach- or whatever the phrase was. You didn’t read romance literature where phrases like that were often used, they were lusty.
Max tilted his head up at you, “Uh- Yeah.” He said, suddenly sitting up. A focused look crossed his face, something you usually only saw before a game, “I am so ready to learn.” The amount of conviction he says it with is laughable- but laughing at Yägerman would be a death wish. So you bite your lip and stare down at the page.
“So, what do you remember from last class?”
He rubs his chin, nose wrinkling in his deep thought before the memory comes to him, “Oh! I skipped.” He smiles at you helpfully.
Your returning smile is strained. “Okay, well… What do you remember from Biology last?” You repeatedly flick back the corner of the page under your nail. Max goes back into deep thought, “Uhhh, something about… cells?”
Off to a great start.
You ended up reading him passages, asking him questions on said passages, and then forcing him to try and read them for more than 3 minutes without getting distracted. You also ended up pulling up a lot of breakdown videos on the internet with your 2011 thinkpad laptop, old school, you knew.
“Ugghhhhh” Max yowled, writhing on your bed like the 3d render of the inside of a cell was physically paining him. “This is boringgg, why do I even need to know thisss,” he complained, and you paused the video to let him air his grievances. You were learning a lot about how Max Yägerman’s brain worked tonight. You were learning a lot about Max Yägerman in general.
When you didn’t respond he stopped squirming, trading his pouted lip for a crasser, more agitated look. “It’s not like I’m gonna need to know how a fuckin’ glucose turns into energy to get a damn job,” He grumbled. At that, you chuckled, becoming more bold around Jägerman, for better or for worse.
“Yeah, but you do need to know it to get a highschool diploma,” you shot back, clicking mindlessly on your laptop to distract yourself from how comfortable Max was getting himself on your duvet. “And anyway, isn’t it kind of cool to get to know about your body?” you queried, a small genuine smiling twitching at your lips.
“I’d rather get to know your body,” Max said without missing a beat.
You flushed hot red, “What.”
“What.” Max stared at you, eyes widened as if the pickup line had left your mouth instead of his.
Suddenly, you were starkly aware of how your knee was touching his forearm, and the space between you two felt agonizingly small. But, you couldn’t bring yourself to jump up from your bed and put some distance like you know you should. This was so wrong.
The silence stretched, and your eyes stayed steady on his blue ones. Distantly, sinfully, you thought they matched your walls. Fuck, confessional was going to be a grocery list next Sunday.
“Uh-” Max suddenly spoke, breaking the line of tension between you two and flicking his eyes about, “Nice poster.”
“Shut up.”
He looked back to you, bewildered. You swallowed thickly, just trying to buy time to clear your foggy mind. Max Yägerman complimenting your stupid cheer poster certainly wasn’t helping that’s for sure. You casted your eyes downward to your hands, scratching at your knuckles as you felt your shoulders raise to your ears. What the fuck was happening???
When you gambled a glance up to Max, he was still looking out of his depth. It occurs to you that “shut up” were probably the dirtiest words he’s ever heard leave your mouth. To add to your already muddied cocktail of emotions, you suddenly feel bad for swearing at him.
“Sorry, uh- is it hot in here or is it just me?” You forced a laugh, peeling yourself away from Max’s forearm and the bed to retrace your steps back to the window to crack it open. Max, to his credit, followed your lead dutifully, coughing awkwardly before agreeing.
Your topic change is instantly derailed when he sheds his letterman jacket. You watched, his back to you, as he tugged the piece of clothing down his arms and shucked it off, hanging it on the post at the end of your bed. He wore a grey t-shirt below the jacket, and you felt like a voyeur watching his back muscles flex underneath it.
If God was testing you, you were failing. Hard. WAIT NO-
Max raised his head and eyed you from over his shoulder, looking coy. You jolted in place, stopping yourself manually from spinning back around and slamming your head down onto the window sill. Without a single doubt in your head, you conceded to liking boys in that very moment. This was your personal Hell.
Your eye must have twitched because Max looked away, grabbing your biology book and placing it in his lap. You clutched the cross around your neck and stiltedly walked back over to the bed, mimicking Max’s pose and sitting down with your legs crossed under you.
“Sooo…” Max stared hard down at the page, “...Nucleuses?” He tried, but his eyes flicked back and forth between you and the book far too often for him to be actually reading anything.
“Do you like me?” You blurted, iron grip on the cross around your neck and knuckled white with the effort. The blood vessels under your skin bloomed, spreading in patches across your cheeks and onto your ears.
Max Yägerman looked like a deer caught in headlights, not very predatory at all.
He shuffled slightly closer to you on the bed, fidgeting with your textbook, “Is that a trick question or if I say yes will you kiss me?” Max asked with suspicious eyes. ”Or”, not “and”. Or.
You released your cross and raised your eyes to meet his own, “I’ve never kissed anybody bef-” You were interrupted by Max Jägerman’s insistent lips on yours. They were warm and soft and kind of tasted like beer as they moved gently against your own. You did your best to reciprocate, pursing your lips and matching his rhythm to the best of your ability.
His hands came to rest on your neck, one holding your nape and the other cradling your jaw. They were gentle, not holding. Just… touching.
He pulled back from the kiss with a wolfish grin. “Pretty good for a rookie,” he joked, thumb trailing up and down through the baby hairs on the back of your neck. Your blushed red, self conscious and suddenly aware of how your hands had come up to grip Max’s forearms, holding him close to you.
“Well if you’d rather study-” You began, but were quickly stopped short as he pressed his lips to your again. It was quicker, and you were less inclined to reciprocate. “Noo, I was just teasing, babe.” This time he traced your jaw with his index finger.
“Besides, uhm-” he coughed, an awkward tick you noticed- “I like your chapstick.” Your heart stuttered in your chest. A hot feeling of wanting to hide yourself bubbled up again, but this one didn’t feel humiliated. Flattery will get you many places, Max Jägerman.
“...Thanks.”
He smirked, looking proud of himself. “Now,” he leaned forward back into your space, “Let me help you study the art of physical intimacy.”
Cheesy. Horrible Line. Barely even made sense.
You let him tip you back onto the bed anyway, kissing him senseless until you could stick your tongue down his throat confidently and bite hard on his bottom lip.