Chapter Text
max had a strong urge to kill someone.
it all started when hazel found him in the hallway, all exhausted and trying to catch her breath, and for a split second max thought of walking away just to get under her skin.
“max” she breathed out as she raised a finger, implying that she needed a second “where even were you? I genuinely looked for you everywhere”
the boy couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as they walked towards his locker.
“relax, I was talking to pink because she wanted me for something” max explained, opening his locker as hazel leaned against the locker next to his. she raised her eyebrows in surprise because to her it was hilarious; what could possibly pink and max have in common for her to want to talk to him willingly?
“okay, I’m gonna ignore that” she gave him a side eye before remembering the reason why she was looking for him. “I’m embarrassed to admit this but I need your help”
now it was max’s turn to raise her eyebrows. he knew that his best friend was too proud to ever ask for help from anyone so he immediately knew that it was something serious. that didn’t mean he wouldn’t tease her, of course.
“am i hearing this right?” he put his books inside his lockers and then placed his hand on his chest “is the great hazel hook asking for my help?” without missing a beat, hazel punched him on the shoulder (playfully of course) and rolled her eyes.
“oh my god, I knew your dramatic ass would make this a big deal” max burst out laughing and from the corner of his eye, he could see her lips twitching upward.
max always liked making hazel laugh. there were times where he thought that she was the only person in Auredon prep that understood his humor. whenever he tried to be social with the other kids in his classes by making jokes, they looked at him weird like he had committed an unforgivable crime. but with hazel, he didn’t need to explain himself. she was always the first person to laugh at his jokes, along with felix and the smees, and that made him feel better.
it made him feel less alone, like someone could understand what he meant by a mere eye contact.
“I need your help with homework” hazel admitted, pulling max out of his thoughts. homework? since when did hazel took school seriously? the purple haired boy stared at her confused for a few seconds before crossing his arms.
“since when do you care about homework?”
“I always care about homework”
“hazel”
hazel huffed a frustrated sigh and raised her hands in defeat.
“fine!” she said as a faint blush creeped up on her cheeks. “I..want to impress chloe and I know she’s a nerd” she explained as she suddenly took interest on the floor. “I want to get a good grade on this potion assignment so she can admire my work but i keep messing it up”
max nodded as he listened along. it was incredibly obvious that hazel had developed feelings for chloe charming. after their little adventure in wonderland, it was as if hazel was desperately trying to find excuses so she could talk about chloe like how she’s obviously close with red and that she completely misjudged her.
he gave her his best teasing grin “does haze have a crush?” by just this question, hazel had turned fifty different shades of red.
“shut up! you’re the one to talk” max completely froze at that and cleared his throat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about”
“seriously?”
“absolutely sure”
hazel bit the inside of her cheek to not burst out laughing and went on to give the worst max impression ever “hazel, you should have seen the way luis lifted those stacks of books-”
“alright, alright!” the boy quickly covered her mouth with his hand and looked around to make sure no one heard. hazel shoved his hand away while there was obvious disgust on her face.
“do that again and I’ll ripe your eyes out”
max raised his hands in defense as a smile formed on his lips “fine, do you want my help or not?”
hazel rolled her eyes as they walked back to hazel’s dorm to get started on the assignment.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
so it turns out that the potion assignment was actually hard.
max and hazel had spend three hours mixing stuff up with no good results. they read the instructions over and over again but the only thing they accomplished was to make the potion to blow up (they had to throw it out the balcony to not cause any trouble).
“why did they have to do that?” max complained as he was laying down on the floor with the instruction sheet over his face. maybe they both were stupid and weren’t able to do this simple assignment.
“I can’t do this anymore” hazel was laying on her bed with her eyes closed already accepting defeat. they had gotten the right ingredients so she couldn’t understand how they couldn’t make this love potion.
just when they were about to give up, someone knocked on the door and then they opened it, revealing pink smiling from ear to ear. she took a look at what was happening and tilted her head.
“what is happening here?”
“hazel’s too stupid to make a love potion”
“hey, you also couldn’t make it” hazel said in defense as she sat up to stare at pink “it’s an assignment for potions class”
“I think I have some of it left if you want to borrow it” pink suggested and hazel was sure that she could kiss her right now “we also had to make it for potions class”
max shot up from his spot with wide eyes “pink you’re a life saviour but why are you here?”
pink blushed and her smile grew even bigger if that was even possible “I thought it was red’s dorm but I’m glad I was helpful!” she practically shook with excitement as she ran back to her dorm to grab the potion.
“you’re actually gonna impress your girl” max couldn’t help but tease hazel who in return stuck her tongue out.
when they had a hold of the potion, they couldn’t help but wonder if it actually worked. pink had also given them an antidote just to prevent the worst. max thanked her and had to agree on having a tea party with her and the others.
max definitely didn’t want to be in the same room as luis madrigal after he realised his pathetic crush on him but it would have been rude not to agree. he just hoped that he could ignore him for the entirety of the tea party. he knew that he absolutely had no chance with luis, the brunette was straight and on top of that, he was clearly interested in red. it would be foolish to hope that luis would also have his heart skipping a beat and forget how to talk every time he talked to max just like him.
but max still hoped despite how pathetic he felt.
his body was on auto pilot while hazel approached a random student and gave them the potion to drink as if it was cranberry juice (pink had put the love potion in a glass that was decorated with pink hearts and flowers). the love potion obviously worked, the student immediately stood up to hug hazel and she hug to take a step back and quickly gave them the antidote.
“wow, pink is actually good at this” hazel commented as she stood beside max and stared down at the glass. there was still enough potion which made hazel relax. she seemed calmer and turned to look at max. “I think we might be stupid”
“well, at least we’re funny” max shrugged his shoulders, earning a chuckle from hazel and they both decided to hung out in the courtyard. they had found a really cozy spot near some bushes ever since hazel tripped and fell near that spot and it had become their designated hung out spot.
a few minutes later, felix found them coincidentally and decided to join them. they started talking about the most random stuff they could think about until max filled him in on what they had been doing the past three and a half hours.
“so pink gave you her assignment so hazel could impress chloe?” felix scratched the top of his head trying to understand why they would do such a thing.
“pretty much yeah”
“I leave you alone for a couple of hours and that’s what you do?” he asked and they all burst out laughing. it felt good that they were still able to hung out throughout the day and fill each other in on things that happened while the other wasn’t there.
felix went on and talked about his day. he had math first thing in the morning along with robbie and luis. max couldn’t help but feel a little jealous since he only had one class with luis and that was art. his friend had somehow ended up having three classes with luis and max had done a good job restraining himself not to beg felix to switch classes.
for some reason hazel listened to him intensely while holding the love potion and checked on it every two seconds to make sure it was okay. then suddenly, the girl looked past them and her eyes widened.
“that’s my cue” she said, a smile growing on her lips as she stood up and handed the potion to max “make sure nothing happens to it until I come back”
“why do I have to keep it?” max asked offended but hazel had already left and as expected, she was heading towards chloe who was talking to red. max rolled his eyes and felix let out a chuckle at the scene.
after a while, max was walking back to his dorm after felix had to catch something up with robbie who suspiciously let his hand rest on felix’s waist.
he had the love potion with him and he figured that if hazel needed it, she would come to his dorm and take it. in all honesty, he was too tired to think about it. max was a few feet away from his dorm before he heard a familiar voice.
“max!!”
oh, you have got to be kidding me.
luis was walking towards him with a huge smile on his face which made max believe there was no way it was directed for him. his brown curls rested perfectly on his forehead and he looked good. too good.
“hey” max greeted him but was a little confused as to why luis was talking to him. he wasn’t entirely sure if the two of them were friends. sure, they had saved wonderland with the others and his father had been capture but that didn’t necessarily make them friends.
max wasn’t even sure if luis liked him (platonically and romantically)
“I haven’t seen you in a while” luis said casually like he was actually looking for max. like he noticed his absence in every room. max looked away, heat immediately rising to his cheeks and tried to act normal.
“I’ve been busy” he responded as he suddenly felt the need to say more. “with hazel and felix”
“you three are awfully close” luis teased which was true. it was impossible for max not to spend time with them along with the smees. they were all together in the isle and when max was dealing with his father’s nonsense they were there for him in their own ways.
before max could respond, luis noticed the glass in his hand.
max could feel his heart beat a thousand miles per hour and had to think of something fast or else he would make a fool out of himself.
“I..uhh stole it from the cafeteria” he wanted to mentally slap himself because really? is that the best he could come up with?
“please tell me it’s cranberry juice”
“it is?” max didn’t know why luis wanted to know that or why the brunette seemed so incredibly happy by that information as if someone had told him that he had passed all of his exams.
“sweet” the boy said and before max could say anything, luis grabbed the glass from him and brought it to his lips. time seemed to slow down as luis madrigal had managed to drink the love potion that was very clearly not for him.
hazel will absolutely kill him.
max didn’t know what to do. he stared at luis for a few seconds, trying to see if the potion had taken effect yet and he found himself hoping that it didn’t.
luis just stared at him, his gaze was starting to get a little hazy and then, if it wasn’t any possible, his smile widened while his body seemed to relax. cold sweat run through max’s body as the realisation settled into his brain.
luis had drunk a love potion which makes you fall in love with the first person you see. and max had been with him.
he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.
“why are you looking at me like that?” max asked him, suddenly feeling nervous at the sight of luis staring at him so intensely. it was as if he was looking at something worth admiring like a painting in the Louvre.
luis’ breath hitched and he took a step closer to the other boy. the glass was long forgotten, luis had let it drop on the floor and a loud crash was heard among the corridor but the brunette didn’t care. he raised his hand and ever so gently pushed a few strands of hair away from max’s face without saying a single word. his eyes were darting all over the boy’s face like he was trying to memorize it. like his face was worth being memorized.
“I never realised how handsome you are up close” luis whispered, so quiet that if anyone else was in the room they wouldn’t have heard him. but max did. He had heard him and had to ignore the way his stomach flipped.
he had fantasised this moment way too many times. him and luis sitting somewhere with an amazing view and luis would tell him everything he loved about the hatter boy. and max would tell him too. like how he always rushes to help others no matter how big or small their problems are, how he managed to inherit the most beautiful shade of brown max ever seen which sparkled when the sun hit his face, how he managed to lift everyone's spirits when everything went south. those things were at the tip of his tongue but he forced himself to swallow them down.
because this wasn’t real. luis would recover from this and not remember a single thing. he would tilt his head in confusion and ask him why were they standing so close to each other. it scared him how vividly he could imagine luis’ expression at the mere thought of having romantic feelings for max. luis’ face would scrunch up in disgust and he would tilt his head high like he always did when he didn’t like something.
max’s stomach tightened as he imagined what luis would say ‘‘how could you let this happen?’’, ‘’I would never have feelings for a villain kid”, “what are you-”
“max?” luis asked with a gentle tone and max hated how good his name sounded when luis said it. somehow while max was being swallowed by his thoughts, the madrigal boy had rested both of his hands on max’s shoulder. Not quite trapping him but more keeping him close.
“you..you’re not yourself” max forced the words out without looking at him because if he did he wouldn’t survive. as expected, luis’ brows furrowed in confusion and he had the nerve to look at max with the most beautiful puppy dog eyes.
was max paying for his sinns? was this some kind of punishment for making fun of pink and her over the top bows two days ago? or for stealing hazel’s hook when she wasn’t looking?
“I’m being like myself” luis said protest as he gently cupped max’s cheek with his hand. it was a surprise for max to have someone hold him so gently and protective like he was something sacred. “I mean every word”
max ended up looking at him dumbfounded. what was he supposed to do now? he surely needed to find an antidote before things escalated and before luis does something he would definitely regret. luis had now dropped his gaze to max’s lips and max could feel heat creeping up to his cheeks. he could feel luis’ breath on him which made everything feel intoxicating. he had to pull away though no, he needed to pull away before he did something dumb. he gently placed his hand on top of luis’ lips and bit the inside of his cheek.
“we need to go see hazel” he explained and his eyes widened when luis kissed his hand. “s..she probably still has the antidote" he explained while his whole face was on fire. luis just nodded at him and stared at him with the most lovesick expression. he kept kissing max’s hand to the point where the hatter boy had to pull away before he died from embarrassment.
“come one, big guy” max started walking out of the corridor and was confused when he looked back and saw that luis wasn’t following him. the boy was frowning and if he didn’t look so cute max would have been pissed.
luis extended his hand and max realised exactly what he wanted. he rolled his eyes and moved towards him to grab his hand and the two of them left the corridors to find hazel.
and if max’s heart quicked the moment luis interlocked their fingers together, he ignored it.