Chapter Text
Max Hatter was never one to put himself before others; despite who his father was and where he’d grown up, he’d never been like him. He’d let his soul fall into the hands of the Underworld if it meant peace, safety, anything, for his friends.
“Max!” Hazel shoved his shoulder, irritated.
The mentioned boy shook his head. “Sorry, what was that?”
Pink frowned, clearly worried; of course, a bit too afraid of Hazel still to act on it.
The pirate groaned, “You didn’t hear anything I said? Do you even know what we’re doing?”
He mumbled through a response, “Sorry- no, what are we supposed to-?”
“Group assignment for class today.” She sighed, her irritation at her best friend falling away as she motioned at the two across from them.
Luis and Pink sat on the other side of the desk. Pink smiled, offering a small wave at him.
He exhaled almost shakily before he managed to play it off, waving back at her, smiling back when she smiled a bit brighter at his gesture.
Luis was unusually quiet, but the glare Hazel was actively sending his way explained it. Luis looked seemingly through Max, his expression one of questionable pity.
The girls did a good portion of the equations, making the boys do the ones they couldn’t. (Which was barely a handful...)
Eventually the bell rang, the final one of the day. As Max let Hazel drag him by his wrist, everything seemed to blur as he listened to Hazel and Luis bicker about who was stronger, Pink occasionally chiming in until she spotted Red and Chloe, skipping off to join the two princesses.
Despite helping the others stop his own father from destroying Wonderland, he could feel eyes on him in the hall, paired with whispers and murmurs; it made him feel sick to his stomach, as if he was about to vomit at any given moment. Barely noticed when Hazel pulled him into his dorm and made a remark to Luis.
“It’s my dorm too?” Luis shrugged, that stupid grin Max lo- hated on his face.
Hazel spun into Max’s view, her hook falling from his wrist. “Are you good? You’re acting… weird.”
Max looked at her now instead of off at nothing. “Yeah, I’m good.”
A lie he’d gotten good at telling.
“I just- Ah, I’m going to clear my head,” He turned, pausing and glancing at Hazel, who was ready to follow him, “alone…”
“Fine…” Hazel seemed hesitant, but shrugged it off. “I gotta go find the Smees before they get in trouble. See ya, Max.”
They went through the door one after the other, walking off in different directions.
Max walked across uneven stones, past students who glared at him, then turned to their friends or anyone nearby to whisper something to them. Past students who snickered and pointed, not too shy to comment out loud.
He felt eyes on him the whole way to the path that would lead him to the bridge over the falls, the river stream below glistening in the sunlight, the ripples from falling leaves and flowers hitting the water shining up at him, a welcome.
Max Hatter, the Villain Kid everybody hated, that they wouldn’t need to hate any longer soon enough. He knew what would happen once he was over the ropes; for him, it’d be his freedom coming to claim him, his escape. For others, it’d be pure entertainment. Max had thought about doing this countless times, considered everyone.
Hazel had the Smees, and vice versa. Felix had gotten all buddy-buddy with Robby Hood and Pink. Red didn’t mind him too much; she’d probably be indifferent to the whole situation. Pink would be sad, sure, but she had Red, Chloe, Hazel, everyone. Besides, the bubbly princess got emotional over plenty; she’d get distracted with something more interesting to her and forget all about him.
Luis didn’t seem to like him, and Chloe still wasn’t his biggest fan since he’d turned her evil in his anger after what the Oraculum had shown him.
Thing is, everybody had someone to stick to: Hazel with her Smees, Red and Chloe (with, of course, the addition of Pink), Felix with Robby and Luis. He wasn’t anybody's choice, and he was fine with that.
The grass whispered beneath him, the rushing sound of water pulling him out of his head.
He exhaled heavily, pulling his hat off his head, setting it on a nearby root that seemed to jump up from the others, shrugging his coat off and draping it over his hat.
Max approached the hanging bridge steadily, glancing over the edge, taking note of the rockier terrain closer to the start of the bridge, predicting that it’d make this go so much smoother.
He leaned; the rope scratched at his fingertips; his fingerless gloves really did him no favors. Taking a deep breath, he sat down on the bridge with the back of his knees flush with the edges of the boards.
One push and he’d be gone.
Max grabbed the rope, the sleeves of his purple undershirt slowly sliding down his forearm; he exhaled and pulled himself forward. Just as he was about to go over the edge, a hand seemed to appear from nowhere, taking hold of his wrist as an arm wrapped around his middle and pulled him back and over the dirt path; he ended up back near where he’d left his hat and coat.
He scrambled up, leaning one hand against the mystery person who’d dragged him back.
“What the fuck–” Max looked up at the frantic expression of Luis Madrigal, “Madrigal?”
Luis shook his head, worry in his voice as he yelled. “What the hell was that, Max?”
Max glared. “Why’d you grab me? I was–”
“Going to throw yourself off the bridge, yeah, I saw!” Luis motioned at the swaying bridge.
Max could feel dread crawling up his throat; he’d never wanted someone to know he’d done this until after he succeeded with it and was long gone.
He shook off Luis, backing up against the tree; the awful feeling in his throat didn’t seem to be just dread anymore.
Luis hesitated to reach his hand to Max’s shoulder, knowing there would be the chance Max would smack him if he set his hand on the other. “Max?”
“I–” Max leaned his arm against the tree, turning the opposite direction from Luis; the feeling of throwing up seemed to replace the former feeling of dread as his mouth went dry.
Luis set his hand on Max’s shoulder now, “Max.” He sounded more firm this time, urging Max to finish his sentence.
“I’m gonna be sick–” Before he knew it, his arm that Luis had a hold of the shoulder of was reaching up, his hand gripping Luis’ elbow as he leaned over, his head feeling fuzzy as the world seemed dizzying. He relied on Luis for support as the bile taste hit the back of his throat, stomach lurching as the vomit retched out onto the grass.
Luis winced, his other hand reaching up to gently rub small circles on Max’s back.
Max could feel himself shaking, the dread pulling itself back into focus.
“Max,” Luis repeated, the name starting to seem too natural coming from Luis’ mouth. “C’mon, let’s go back, yeah?”
The dizzied boy shook his head; no way was he walking past people like this.
“What’s wrong?” Luis shifted closer to Max now, “Do you feel like throwing–”
“No!” Max snapped, afraid the mention would make it happen. “Sorry, no, I’m just not gonna walk past people like this.” He hated his mouth; why was it still moving?
The stronger nodded, “Right, completely understandable… C’mon, let’s go down to the lake for a bit then? Fresh air and all should help…”
Luis had to force himself to stop talking, knowing he would go on forever if he didn’t.
Max stared as Luis took hold of his wrist in one hand, using his other to pick up Max’s hat and coat. Max let Luis guide him away, holding his wrist tighter as they walked over the bridge towards the lake. He winced at the feeling, but opted not to say a word; hell, Luis had good reason to throw him over his shoulder the whole way there.
They approached the stone ruins, Luis loosening his grip slightly on Max’s wrist as he motioned the boy to sit next to him by the water. Max didn’t say a word, hesitating before kneeling, letting his feet dangle off the side of the stone platform, his shoes just inches above the water.
“Look–” Luis started, cutting himself off, unsure if he should speak his thought or keep it to himself.
Max glanced at him momentarily before returning his gaze to the water of the Enchanted Lake. “Don’t give me a whole lecture on it.” He bit out, sounding somehow angrier than he really was.
The other boy looked over at him, his whole focus on him. “I won’t, pretty sure that’s Hazel’s job.”
Max nodded with a dry chuckle, “Yeah, you’re right on that one.”
“Look, I won’t tell Hazel.” Luis seemed to have decided to speak his thoughts. “That’s your choice on this, but if I need to, I’m gonna.”
Max sighed, opening his mouth to speak but losing the words.
“And you don’t have to tell me anything; I know you sort of well,” Luis shrugged, “really don’t like me.”
“I never said that…”
Luis held out Max’s hat to him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Max took it, holding it upside down in his lap. “I don't ‘dislike’ you,” he murmured as he put up air quotes around the word ‘dislike’.
The other boy gave him a questioning look. Max settled his hat back on his head, fingers brushing the metal rings along the edge to double-check he’d put it on right.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luis pressed, his eyes drifting to Max’s arm where his sleeve had ridden up.
Max followed his gaze, quickly pulling the sleeve down, fixing the buttons to fasten it in place.
“Nothing.”
“Max.” Luis’ hand fell on Max’s other arm.
The dread choked him once more. “Don’t. Not a word, Madrigal.”
“I won’t say a word to Hazel,” Luis paused, his thumb subconsciously moving in circles on Max’s wrist, “if more doesn’t appear at least, then obviously—“
“—Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Max cut him off, hating the snap in his tone, looking down at Luis’ hand on his arm.
They fell into silence, a suffocating feeling that seemed to squeeze at Max’s lungs until he felt they were going to explode.
Max glanced between Luis and the hand on his arm before standing abruptly once he realised the contact had lasted this long, starting his way back towards campus.
Luis scrambled up after him, picking up the other's coat from its new abandoned spot beside a crumbled pillar on his way to follow him.