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“Hey nerd.”
Maxie leapt in his seat at the voice in front of him. He adjusted his glasses and frowned, grabbing the book that had been in his hands just a moment prior and setting it nicely on the corner of his desk.
“How did you get past the grunts? Don’t touch that.”
Archie set down the paperweight and splayed his hands out on the desk.
“I have my ways.”
“Your ‘ways’ are not the quietest, nor the most efficient. What do you want here?”
“I told ya earlier.”
Maxie pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“A date is just not wise, Aogiri.”
“Oh come on. Yer not open to tryin’.”
“I am open to trying, I’m just-- Stop it, that was expensive.”
Archie groaned and set the paperweight back down. Maxie reached out and grabbed it, slipping it into a drawer.
“So yer open to it?”
“Well, I mean, I suppose so. We’ve certainly known each other long enough.”
“We’ve been through a lot together.”
“We have indeed.” Maxie gazed down at his desk, mind flooded with memories. Memories of the two of them as children, of their days in the same team, of the moment they decided to be enemies. Memories of the day a random child ended their feud and almost singlehandedly saved the world from a crisis started by their combat.
“Max.”
Maxie hummed in reply, though it was an automatic response.
“Matsubusa.” Archie leaned forward and held the red-head’s chin carefully with his thumb and index finger, angling it up to face him. Maxie was immediately out of his head and back in reality. He looked up, eyes scanning his rival and face tingeing red.
“I know we’ve been through a lot, but maybe, I dunno. Maybe it’s time we put that all behind us?”
“What we did--“
“Doesn’t matter anymore. Hoenn’s safe, the world’s safe. That scamp’s off who-knows-where, our teams aren’t fightin’ --well, fer the most part-- and everythin’s fine.”
“Archie.”
“Yeah?”
Maxie was silent. He closed his eyes for a moment, sighed --though this time it was strained, more nervous than the previous-- and rose from his seat. He circled the desk and stood before his rival, their eyes staring and mouths parting.
“You just say the word, Max. I won’t do anythin’ unless yer comfortable.”
“Are... are you sure about this?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been.”
Maxie nodded slightly to himself, placing a hand carefully on the larger man’s cheek. Archie leaned into it and placed his hand atop the other’s, eyes fighting to stay open.
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“Maxie.”
“I don’t want to make things worse between us. What if we don’t work out? I mean, we dated before becoming rivals, so what if we--“
Archie leaned down, capturing Maxie’s lips in his own. The kiss was chaste, but served its purpose. He pulled back fractionally, their noses still touching.
Maxie opened his mouth to respond, but found that any word he could think to say fell away, as sand does through fingers. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed the gap between them. Their eyes fluttered shut, arms wrapped tightly around the other, hands holding onto hair and waist and arm.
After years of being rivals, of more than a decade of animosity, they were together again at last.