Archive of Our Own ^beta

Walking into the Bean Scene every Wednesday was, for Max, not an uncommon occurrence. Descending the few steps down into the basement where a small band was playing jazz on the stage. A few tables scattered around. The whole place being lit by blue ambient lighting. 

“Yo, Max!” He heard his name, and he turned his head to the source of the sound, seeing Bobby and PJ sitting in a round booth. A few moments later, Bea sat down next to PJ and tapped on the paper of her coffee cup.

“Hey, Bobby.” Max said, scooting into the booth next to Bobby. “Final’s week is next week, man!” he groaned, resting his head on his arm that acted like a kickstand. “I’m so screwed.”

He looked over to PJ and Bea who weren’t paying attention to his complaints, instead they were snuggling up on each other and whispering sweet things into their ears. Max rolled his eyes. “Y’all never heard of PDA?”

PJ perked up at that. “Oh Maxie.” -Max internally cringed at that nickname- “Don’t you understand? Your heart is but a poor orphaned boy…drifting out to sea with no food, no water, and not a name to his face.” Bea looked up at him, intrigued. “Sweet thing dangles his bare foot into the frozen water, waiting for the sun that will never rise…” PJ looked out into the distance poetically.

Max raised a brow.

“He’s saying you’re jealous' cause’ you’re single, bro.” Bobby chimed in. Max straightened up defensively. “That is not true!” he whined, “I’m plenty happy being single. And hey, if a chick ever does make a move on me, I will gladly comply.” 

“Whatever, man. Unless you’re going on a date with Professor MacBeth, you can kiss this college goodbye. And the chicks.”

Max rolled his eyes. “I need to pass these finals. Do any of you know the material?” he looked at his friends hopefully, they shrugged. “Great.”

Just then, PJ spotted a figure descend the stairs and go towards the ordering counter. “Check it! It’s Bradley. Haven’t seen him around since the games.” Max turned over his shoulder to look at the counter behind him. Bradley’s black eye was more healed, but still bruised, and it looked like he got his tooth fixed. He saw him order, then he sat at the bar to wait for his drink. Their eyes met from across the room, and Bradley glowered at him for a second, then looked away to pick up whatever he ordered. Max watched him leave.

“See he’s still got a stick up his ass.” Bobby chuckled. Max turned back around looking solemn. “What? He needs to grow up. He lost, fair and square!”

“I still feel bad for the guy. You hear he got kicked out of his frat?” Max said. “They say he moved off campus. He drives to school every morning now.”

“And what, like that's our fault?” Bobby said, leaning back into the cushions of the booth and crossing his arms. “He’s a sore loser. A sore winner too. We just finally put him in his place.” Bobby picked up a slice of a sweaty pepperoni and took a big bite. Bea reached over the table to grab a slice for herself and took a much daintier bite.

“He’s right, y’know.” PJ chimed. “Just leave him be. He’s not our problem anymore. Without him, the Gamma’s aren’t some driving force anymore. And you changed that, Max.”

It was true. Since the incident, he and Tank had gotten a lot closer, and Max was slowly introduced to all of the other Gamma members. They were all stuck up in their own way, Max supposed, but at the end of the day they all had the same interests as Max and his friends, and they learned to bond over that. They weren’t nearly as competitive as Bradley was. Weren’t as rude either.

Still, the nagging feeling in the back of his head told him that he needed to fix things with Bradley. It wouldn't be easy. Bradley hated him, and Max couldn’t blame him too much. In such a short amount of time, Max had completely ruined his reputation, killed his winning streak, and caused a friendship breakup between him and Tank. In the month after the X Games Max had noticed how differently Bradley was acting. He was more quiet now, and didn’t try to disturb Max during their class, and he was silently grateful that they only shared one period.

He hadn’t seen him around campus much either, unless he happened to catch him walking into one of the buildings. He assumed Bradley spent most of his time in his off-campus apartment, alone.

Max never liked being alone. He liked noise most of the time, and would often seek out his friends to join him in errands and study sessions. He wondered if Bradley also liked the noise, and now that he’s alone, he wondered if he felt empty and worthless.

Bobby grabbed his fourth slice of pizza. Max took his first sip of his coffee.

—-------------------------

Max had to run by his classroom to drop off his test corrections. Not his proudest moment, riding in the dark to a building on the other side of campus, but it must be done. If he didn’t do it now, he would forget by morning, and the assignment would be another day late. Luckily he remembered before he got in bed, so he skated down the path in his sleep shirt, an old and torn pair of jeans, and an ugly pair of sneakers. He held his half broken binder under his arm and glided down the paved path. Turning a corner, he ran into something, causing him to lose his balance and fall. His papers scattered all around, and his board rolled into a bush.

“Damn! What the hell!” someone shouted. Max propped himself up on his hands and wiped the dirt and debris from the road off his cheek. “Sorry! Sorry about tha-” 

Bradley sat up and clutched his knee with his hands. “Watch where you’re going!” 

“Sorry.” Max stood up and dusted himself off, bending over to pick up the loose papers. Bradley stood up too, testing out his knee quickly, and spotting an askew paper off to the side. Curious, he picked it up and observed.

“Seriously?” he asked, getting Maxs’ attention. He showed the front of the paper to Max. The paper was completely marked in red ink, with a ‘37%’ marked and circled up at the top. “This is easy work.”

Max rolled his eyes and shoved his papers messily into his binder. He reached out and snatched the paper out of Bradley’s grasp. “It doesn’t come easy to everyone.”

“Finals are next week. You’re gonna’ fail them unless you do something about these grades.” Bradley smacked the open binder Max was shoving his test grade into. “Not that I’d care if you fail or not.” he calmly added, then smirked wildly. “You’re gonna’ get held back another year.”

“Oh, and because you know how to do this so well.” Max dragged out scoffing.

“I do. Actually.” Bradley grinned menacingly. “Find X and divide by the hypotenuse, then use the A divided by B over B squared formula to get your new number. Then plug in that number into the original equation and solve. Your answer is 108.92 when rounded.” 

Max choked up. He looked between Bradley and his paper and groaned softly. “Easy stuff.” Bradley said, then continued walking by.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Max quickly asked, shoving his papers half-mindedly into the binder, definitely crinkling and folding them awkwardly in his haste. Bradley didn’t stop walking. Max thought this might be one of the only times he would run into him, and would be able to mend their rivalry relationship a bit. Besides, Bradley seemed like some kind of genius compared to himself, and since none of his friends had any sort of clue on this material, Bradley definitely did.

“Home.” Bradley responded, continuing to walk. Max spotted his board tangled up in a bush and quickly pulled it out, holding it under his arm. He ran up to Bradley and put his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to stop him from walking. Bradley exclaimed in annoyance and shook his shoulder off with a ‘ don’t touch me!’

“Hey uh-” Max started, suddenly feeling awkward. “Could you like…teach me this stuff?”

This finally caused Bradley to stop. He turned over his shoulder. “Learn it yourself. I’m not gonna’ tutor you.” and began stepping again. Max persisted, running instead in front of Bradley and walking backwards as Bradley continued forward. Bradley shoved his hand in his pockets and tried to walk around, but Max stayed in front.

“Come on man, you’re smart! You know this stuff! Me and the guys are flunking out of this class hard. Papers began falling out of his binder and swaying slowly onto the pavement.

“I don’t owe you anything.” Bradley said, getting tired of trying to navigate around Max and stopping in his place. 

“Well, I mean…you did bully me and my friends and hurt a lot of people during the X-Games.” He saw Bradley flinch, just a little. If he wasn’t looking for a reaction, he probably wouldn’t have seen it. “Besides,” Max shrugged.  “It would be nice.”

Bradley frowned subtly. Nice. It would be nice, he says. After everything that occurred to Bradley in the past month, he figured doing something nice might be beneficial to him. But it was hard for Bradley to accept being kicked out of Gamma Mu Mu, and it was harder to accept that his friends abandoned him, and he had to find a new apartment all on his own.

His father was not pleased when he heard that Brad got kicked out of the frat. He got a nasty phone call and an ugly earful of hateful words that deep inside, Bradley knew he deserved. He wanted power over the other students, and once…he had it. But now, all he wanted was to not feel like such a social outcast anymore. To not feel unwanted by his family and more importantly his friends. Not that they were friends anymore. He wanted to make up with Tank, but after the stunt he pulled at the X-Games, he knew he shouldn’t try to show his face at the Gamma’s again. 

And now, Max was looking at him. He wasn’t looking at him out of pity or anger like the other students did, he was looking at him as a regular, generic student just like he was. Bradley fidgeted with his pocket lining and sighed. Max was throwing him a bone.

“Fine.”

Max brightened. “Awesome!”

Bradley rolled his eyes. 

“Do you wanna meet up in the library tomorrow after class? I’ll bring snacks and stuff!”

“Sure. Just be there. I’m not gonna’ waste my time on you if you won’t bother to show up.

“I’ll be there!” Max reset his board on the ground and continued to ride to the far building to turn in his paper. “I’ll be there!” he called again, and skated off. Bradley sighed, rummaging around his pocket to find his car key, and turned the corner to the parking lot to drive himself home.

—--------------------------

Max turned around to glance at Bradley in the seat a few rows behind him. He looked so…neutral. Simply copying whatever the professor was writing on the board and at one point, became drowsy. Not drowsy enough to fully fall asleep in class, but drowsy enough to start slurring his notes together in one big sentence. When class ended, the shuffling of bags and papers seemed to snap him back into focus, and he packed his bag to leave class. Max trailed him distantly, taking the long route to his final class. A member of Gamma and what Max assumed was his girlfriend walked past Bradley, but neither of them acknowledged the other. It saddened Max to see someone who was so popular suddenly become the rutt of the school.

When his final class ended, he made his way to the library for tutoring with Bradley. Max half expected him not to show up, and for the next day for Bradley to make fun of him for actually believing that he would spend his time with Max willingly, but to his surprise, upon entrance he saw Bradley with a textbook in one hand while his other pulled a small book off the higher shelf of the bookcase. “Brad!” Max whisper-shouted, getting his attention. Bradley scrowled.

“It’s Brad ley . Why am I still correcting you on that?” He asked rhetorically. The two of them made their way to an empty table where Bradley placed his mathematics II textbook on the table and the smaller book in his bag.

“Didn’t take you for a reader.” Max commented. 

“You don’t know me.”

Bradley turned away from him to his bag to get his glasses. Max frowned a bit, but took his seat across from Bradley anyways. Bradley clicked his pen twice and tested the ink of it on the corner of a notebook, then asked Max to take out his assignments. Bradley copied down the questions in his notebook, then walked through the process of solving with Max. Max, argo walking through the process, still didn’t seem to have it click for him. When he got the process wrong for a third time, he groaned and yanked at his hair.

Bradley rolled his eyes, and pushed the frame of his glasses up his nose. “Look- It’s not difficult. Just substitute your answer for X in the original equation.”

Max punched the final equation into the calculator, and got his number.

“You have to round,” Bradley said before Max could circle his answer. 

“Right.” 

Max circled his final answer. He smiled big. He felt a huge sense of accomplishment for himself whilst Bradley felt annoyed. Being that happy for getting simple algebra right made Bradley feel heavy. The simple things, I guess.

After about an hour of, what Bradley would describe, a painful tutoring process, the two of them came to an agreement to end the session. Bradley bookmarked their page in the textbook and put it on the return counter while Max packed up his own things. They left the library together, but went in separate directions because of where Bradley parked his car.

“Same time tomorrow?” Bradley asked.

“Yeah.” 

Bradley waved one hand, and began to walk away.

“Uh- Bradley!” Max called.

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

Bradley felt a sudden rush of heat to his cheeks out of embarrassment. He wasn’t used to helping others after years of his own self interest. He silently admitted that being thanked like that felt nice, and he actually looked forward to tutoring Max again on Saturday if it meant being thanked once more. “Whatever. Just don’t fail.” he turned around and bit his knuckles. Max laughed, it more came out as air out of his nose, but it was still a laugh.

“See ya.” he said.

“Yeah.”

—-------------------------

Bradley was a typically clean person. He always made sure he looked put together before he left and ventured out into the public. His room was always picked up, and all of his clothes were organized by color and season. At the Gamma house, he ironed all of his garments on laundry day, and even went as far to steam his formal wear. He kept his counters clear and made sure he kept himself hygienic.

But recently his cleanliness habits have fallen short. He still always made sure that he looked presentable, but he was getting careless about his living space. He left dishes in the sink and had clothes and other objects spewed about the floor. He didn’t bother wiping down the counters like he used to do. As he stepped into his apartment, he let his bag fall off his shoulder and hit the floor. He hung his jacket on a standing hanger, but when it slid off the hook, he didn’t bother to pick it up.

He flung himself onto his bed face first and groaned. If father saw this, he thought, he would be exceedingly disappointed in me.

Once, when Bradley was in highschool, he was caught trying a cigarette with his friend at the time. They snuck behind the school, and his friend pressured him into taking a hit. Bradley argued, but agreed. A teacher found them not too long after and reported the two of them.

Bradley never saw that friend again. He assumed his father did something extreme like paying for his expulsion. Bradley’s punishment, as it usually was, was being degraded by words and beat for his actions. He never tried a cigarette again. His father always took pride in keeping up their family's reputation, even if it meant hurting his own children. Bradley suddenly thought of his sister. As far as he knew, she still lived with their father. Sheila and Bradley never got along. She was pompous and self centered. Sheila always got a pass whenever she didn’t exceed in her extracurriculars.

If she got anything other than an A, but at least higher than a C, she was excused because, she’s a girl, Bradley. Of course I don’t expect her to meet my exact expectations.

Her punishments were usually a slap on the hand, or getting her car taken away for a few days. Bradley envied her. He never tried going to his father about the biased punishments.

Bradley checked his phone. 11:32pm

He felt gross. An ugly, sticky feeling inside as he let himself rot away. He fell asleep in his clothes.

—-------------------------

“I don’t see you skate anymore.” Max said as he and Bradley walked up the steps into the library. It was Monday night; their fourth day of meeting up every afternoon for tutoring. During their time together, Max unearthed how Bradley seemed to put up a wall when they were around each other. He never seemed to talk about himself or his life. What he said the other day, you don’t know me, was starting to make more sense. I don’t know you because you don’t talk about yourself to me.

“What?” Bradley said.

“You don’t skate anymore.” Max repeated, holding the door open for Bradley as they walked in.

“Oh. I just haven’t had time, I guess.” Bradley said simply. Rehearsed.

Max bit the inside of his cheek. 

Bradley sat down and opened the textbook and flipped to a new unit of math. “Let’s get started.” he said, taking out his pen.

“How was that book you were reading?” Max asked.

“Max, we’re doing math right now.” he said, avoiding his gaze. Max twitched a bit, but complied anyway and took his papers out. As they started doing corrections and an extra credit practice packet that Max picked up that day in class, he noticed how tired Bradley looked.

At first he didn’t want to say anything, but his eyes kept glancing up to him, and his thoughts trailed his way. He’s always put together. Max thought, observing how his hair was more messy that day, and his sweater had wrinkles in it. Bradley pushed up his glasses with his knuckle and continued to talk, pointing to numbers with the dull tip of his pencil. His words were inaudible to Max, who just stared at Bradley’s rare imperfections.

“-and that’s your answer.”

“W-what?”

“Here.” Bradley circled a number. “Your answer. Now you try.”

Max felt like he was reading hieroglyphics. “Um…”

Bradley pinched the bridge of his nose from underneath his glasses. “Were you paying attention at all?” he asked, his annoyance in his voice growing.

“Sorry. I just got a little distracted.”

“By what? We’re the only people here!”

“By you?” Max said innocently. Bradley felt his thoughts stop, and he was suddenly at a loss for words. “You look really tired.”

Bradley frowned.

“Tired of your bullshit maybe.” his voice tense.

“Brad.” Max tried. Bradley frowned but didn’t correct Max this time. He looked like he was going to say something, but his phone vibrated and shook the two of them out of their thoughts. Bradley picked up his phone and turned it over to look at whoever was calling him, and it didn’t escape Max how Bradley’s face flashed with concern and akin to fear.

“I have to take this, uhm…” he mumbled, not looking up from the screen. He stood up from his seat and began walking towards the door that led outside. He clicked the answer button, and very softly said: “Hello?”

Max sat confused and worried. Against his better judgment, knowing this was a private conversation, he followed Bradley outside after a few minutes, abandoning his work on the table.

“Yes father.” he heard when he opened the door. “Yes sir….yes….yes sir.” 

Bradley was pacing around, not noticing Max’s presence. Suddenly, Bradley pulled his phone away from his ear from being startled by a loud voice. Max very faintly heard the sound of someone, Bradley’s father, he assumed, yelling through the phone. 

“Yes sir.” Bradley said, and clicked his phone off. He dug his hands in his hair, pulling at the roots. 

“ Fuck!” 

“Brad?” Max quietly asked, slowly descending the stairs. “Are you okay?”

Bradley, startled, whipped his head around. Max was slowly approaching him. “What happened?”

“Nothing, stay out of my business.” He turned away. He saw Bradley’s eyebrows pinched together as he tried to gather himself, but Max stayed persistent, which was nothing but aggravating to Bradley. 

“Bradley, you can tell me.” He tried, resting his hand on Bradley’s shoulder.

“I don’t have to tell you shit!” he yelled, shoving his hand off of his shoulder. “Let me get this straight. I don’t like you.” He continuously jammed his finger into Max’s chest, advancing on him while Max took steps back. “ You ruined my life!” tears pricked the corners of his eyes. “I don’t even know why I'm doing this for you. You can fail this class for all I care.. I couldn’t give a damn!” He gave him one final shove. “ I hate you.”

Max knew that Bradley was speaking out of an outburst of distress, but the words still hurt. To think that even after this, for Bradley to detest Max in such a way…“Bradley…” he approached once more…reaching out. If he can calm him down, and try to comfort him…

“Get away from me!”

“I’m just trying to help!” Max snapped, frustrated.

“I don’t need your fucking pity!”

Max frowned, suddenly feeling dejected.. “We don’t have be enemies,” he said calmly. “You know that right?” 

Bradley stared. The tears were overflowing now. Bradley messily wiped at his eyes. His hands were slightly shaking, and he dropped his phone on the stone, not bothering to even look at it or check if it had cracked. He was too focused on trying to get his crying to stop. “Stop. Just stop.” he whined, voice cracking. Bradley suddenly paled, and his breathing was short and hectic. He grasped for air, and gripped his head and grasped at his sweater. Panic as his eyes burst open. He put his other hand on his chest. He looked like he was trying to calm himself, but he only made his raspy breathing worse. His gaze seemed distant, and his eyes darted between several stones on the ground.

“I-I can’t breathe.” he rasped, barely audible.

Max watched him, unsure how to handle this. He knew that some people having an audience while having a panic attack only made things worse, but when Bradley’s legs gave out and he fell to his knees, he knew he couldn’t just leave him.

He embraced him, trying to calm down his breathing. Bradley clutched the back of Max’s shirt, and sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s okay.” Max cooed, rubbing circles into Bradley’s back and taking deep breaths to help Bradley calm himself. He let his hand run up to the nape of Bradley’s neck, applying slight pressure curling his fingers in his hair. A trick his father taught him to calm people down. Bradley took in a shuddering breath and dug his nose against the crook of Max’s neck, hugging him tight as if he was the last person on Earth who would accept him. Perhaps he was.

His knees started to ache from their awkward position on the ground–his entire body supported Bradley as he shuddered less and less. He was sniveling now, and his grip on Max loosened as he pushed away, looking anywhere but at Max. His eyes looked red and puffy, and his eyelashes were wet and glossy. He rubbed his nose. “Sorry. That was…pathetic.” He reached a few inches for his abandoned phone, a small shatter in the corner where it made contact with the hard Earth. 

Max could only frown in sympathy, reaching out to try to comfort him, or get some sort of information out of him.

“Stop that.” Bradley smacked his hand away. “I don’t want anybody’s condolences.”

“It’s okay to let people care about you.”

Bradley tightened up, and whispered:  “Nobody-” he choked up, swallowing his words. “I’m going home.”

Max sat alone in the foyer.

—----------------------------

Bradley doesn’t remember how he got home last night. He woke up but didn’t try to get out of bed. He checked his phone for the time. He was late for class, but couldn’t find it in himself to get out of his apartment. Couldn’t find it in himself to try to face a society that hated him.

He unfortunately does remember crying like a child into Max’s shoulder last night. He cringed at himself. He shut his phone off and went back to bed.

—---------------------------

Max waited for Bradley to show up to their shared class, but he never came. He waited outside the library for Bradley to begin their tutoring, but he never arrived. In the back of his mind, he assumed that their after school meetups were probably over for good, but he still wished he would show up. Max had Bradley’s messenger bag. After Bradley collected himself and drove himself home, he realized that Bradley left all of his belongings on the table inside. Max brought it back to his dorm with him with the intention to return the items today, but with Bradley being a no-show, he guessed he would have to do it tomorrow.

He caught Bradley stepping out of the library the following morning. He looked like a disaster, Max thought. He ran up to him.

“Brad!”

Bradley, still mortified from when he last saw him, only turned his head slightly to acknowledge that he heard the other.

“You left all your stuff last night. I have it in my dorm. I didn’t want to just leave it here.”

“Oh.” He turned around fully. “Yeah, that was why I came here actually. Can I have it back?” he asked.

“Yeah, man. My roommates are out right now so we can just pop in and get it.”

He unlocked his dorm with his key, and held it open to invite Bradley inside, who went in, but stood by the door awkwardly while Max went to his bedside table to retrieve the bag. “Thanks.” Bradley said.

They stood in silence for a few moments. Technically, Bradley didn’t have to stay here any longer, he needed his stuff and he got it back now, but for some reason he felt compelled to stay. He looped the strap over his shoulder and looked to Max.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Max asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know.” Bradley responded, gripping the strap of his bag. “Sorry you had to see all of that. You can’t even begin to understand how mortified I am.”

“Don’t worry about it, I'm glad you felt like you could be vulnerable around me.”

Bradley gave a half smile.

“Are you sure you’re okay, though?”

Bradley looked down. “I’ve not been doing so hot recently.”

“I…noticed that.”

Bradley frowned. “I’m just in a bad place right now…and that call with my father last night really just…topped it off.”

Max gestured for Bradley to come and sit down. “What was it about?” Max asked innocently.

“Um… My father is cutting my college funds as a punishment for skipping classes.”

“...oh.”

“...yeah.”

“Bad reaction?”

“The worst.”

Bradley inhaled slowly, then said, “I want to apologize for what I said the other night. I… don’t hate you, Max. I think I was just…upset at myself and needed someone to blame.”

“You’re good, man. I understood.”

“Anyways. I should get out of here. I’ll see you later.” Bradley said, standing and making his way out the door.

“Hey- um!” Max started. Bradley turned to look at him. “My friends and I are meeting tonight at the Bean Scene. You should join us.”

“You’re friends…” Bradley pictured them. “I don’t think they like me very much.”

“Well, maybe tonight we can change that!” Max smiled. “Just…consider it?” 

Bradley blushed a little bit at how somebody was actually being considerate towards him. “I will.” he said, smiling slightly at how Max became visibly excited. “Bye.” he chuckled, and left the building.

—-------------------------

Seeing Bradley walk down the steps into the underground cafe was a surprise. “Bradley!” Max called, and Bradley’s attention was suddenly on their table. He smiled sheepishly and walked over to their table. “Sit, sit.”

Max scooted over so Bradley could slide into the booth. PJ and Bobby both stopped their actions to stare at the guest of their table.

“Max?” Bobby asked, dragging out his name. “What is he doing here?”

Bradley felt a bit embarrassed by his unwelcomeness, but at the same time, he understood why he wouldn’t be wanted here.

“Yeah. He’s a big asshole.” PJ commented, lowering his voice a bit so only Max could hear. But Bradley heard anyway.

“Okay. I’m leaving.” Bradley shuffled out of his seat and stood, but a force reached out and grabbed his wrist. “Wait-wait. Sit back down.”

Bradley looked at Max skeptically, but allowed himself to be pulled back down into the booth. Bradley wished Max would hold his arm a little longer.

“Me and Bradley have been…spending some time together.” Max started, but the faces PJ and Bobby both made caused Max to turn pink. “He’s been helping me study for tomorrow's math final.” he corrected.

“Look– Max. He left you in a burning structure and abandoned his friend to burn all so he could win the X-Games. He’s not a good person.” Bobby said. Bradley looked down at his fingers fiddling with each other in his lap. Bobby continued to talk about Bradley like he wasn’t there. “He’s right.” PJ chimed in. “I mean you can’t trust this guy.”

Max glanced to Bradley who unfortunately caught his eye contact. “Look- guys. Can I talk to you for a second?”

A glance, and a nod, and suddenly they all shuffled out of the booth to talk in private.

Bradley groaned and rested his hand on his elbow, his fingers naturally digging into his scalp and twisting around his fingers. Great.

Coming here was a bad idea. He berraded. I should just leave while they’re gone.

It was awkward. They were gone for too long, and Bradley was getting anxious and worried. Maybe being friends with Max wasn’t a good idea. But then again…he had nobody else. When Max and his friends returned, they sat down and looked at him as if they were about to make some sort of shady deal. Bradley ran his fingers through his hair, and held his breath.

“We want you to come skating with us tonight. At the skate park at 11.” Bobby said.

“Just- a hangout. We aren’t trying to interrogate you or anything.” Max jumped in. “It'll be fun.” he smiled a toothy grin. Max looked the most excited out of the four of them. Bradley wanted to groan.

“Sure. See you there.” Bradley started to get up. Max stood up with him. “Did you want a coffee? Just- while you’re here.”

Bradley cocked a brow.

“On me.” Max said.

Bradley blinked. “If you’re sure,” and the two of them walked towards the counter together, Max flipping through his wallet to find a 10 to give to the barista.

Bobby and PJ looked between each other, a skeptical look in their eyes. “What’s going on here?” Bobby asked. PJ sniffed, thinking, then said. “I think our Max is having a change of heart towards him.” PJ smiled. “Let’s see where this goes.”

____________________

Max loved the sound of his wheels on the concrete. The sound of the rubber grinding against the ground as he made a quick stop. “Hell yeah!” He jumped off his board, pumping his fist in the air and running over to PJ who was tic-tacing around, trying to get a feel of his board. “Finally nailed the stop!”

Bobby was swinging his legs over the edge of the ramp, watching Max and PJ. A car pulled up in a parking lot in the park and turned its lights off. Bobby slid down the ramp.

Max pushed his foot hard, launching himself up the ramp. He landed well, and balanced on the edge of his board, performing the trick he used in the qualifiers. PJ clapped and cheered, and Bobby sauntered up next to them, observing the trick. “He’s gettin’ better at that one.” 

Bradley walked up silently. Max got all the way up in the handstand, but lost balance and fell over the ramp. He slid down the ramp rather ungracefully, and rolled over his shoulder, landing on his stomach while his board went astray in Bradley’s direction.

Bradley picked it up and smirked, amused. “Nice trick.”

Max picked up his face and turned to the source of the sarcasm. “Oh, hey.” he mumbled. Bradley leaned down and offered his hand to Max.

“Hey.” Bradley smiled. Max took his hand and was hauled up. Bradley pushed Max’s board into his chest. “You’re covered in gravel.” 

“I gathered that.” Max looked at the scrapes up his arms. “Dang.”

“Yo Max.” Bobby said. “You ate the dirt, man!”

“I wasn’t expecting to perfect it on the first try.”

“You did it at the qualifiers.” Bradley chimed in. “And it looked pretty good, there.”

Max suddenly felt sheepish at the compliment. “W-well, I guess I did, but I lost it these past couple weeks cause I haven’t been practicing. I’m just trying to relearn it, I guess.”

“Anyways, Brad, ” said Bobby.

“Brad ley ” he bit back.

It wasn’t much a secret that Bradley didn’t get along very well with Max’s friends. But Max appreciated that Bradley was at least trying by showing up here tonight. The park had closed ages ago, and they were technically trespassing, but the park rangers weren’t usually on duty this late at night, approaching 11:15.

“You’re late,” he pressed.

“Got held up.” He didn’t, he was feeling nervous about meeting with Max and his friends.

Bobby gave him a skeptical look. “Bobby, back off.” Max said lightheartedly. “Wanna get a drink?” Max asked, jamming his thumb towards a brightly lit vending machine a little bit away from the skate park.

“Sure.”

“Be right back, guys.”

PJ frowned. “Can we get a dri-ouch!” Bobby slammed his foot on top of PJ’s. “Observing. Remember?”

Max rolled his eyes when his face was turned away from his friends. Bradley seemed to have caught that, because he snickered quietly, but soon corrected himself. “They’re good friends. Loyal” Bradley said, something like solemn in his tone. 

“Yeah. They’re a bit much, but they’re good friends.” Max repeated, bumping shoulders playfully with Bradley. “Bobby doesn’t mean to be rude. He’s just skeptical about everything that happened.”

Bradley frowned a little bit. “Yeah.”

They reached the vending machine in an awkward silence. Max opened his mouth a few times to say something, but bit back his tongue. Max got a coke from the vending machine, and Bradley was deciding between a few drinks, but ended up getting a coke as well. 

Finding the courage, Max broke the silence. “Can I ask you something?” 

“More small talk?” Bradley asked playfully, reaching into the vending machine to retrieve his drink. Max chuckled.

“It’s uh- a bit more serious than that.”

Bradley’s demeanor turned serious, “Okay…” he said nervously, popping open his drink slowly with a pshhhick! 

“Do you…uh…regret…the-the X-Games?” Max said slowly and cautiously, deciding not to look towards Bradley. “Y’know the- the-” he stammered. “The injuries and the rude remarks and everything that you did to me and my friends and your friends and-”

“Of course I do!” Bradley spat. Max stopped ranting and snapped his attention to Bradley, who was growing flushed. “Of course I do.” he turned away.

Bradley seemed almost embarrassed to admit that, Max observed. “I mean, how could you think I don’t…” he said quietly, clutching his can a bit tighter. “A day doesn’t go by where I don’t think about everything that happened.” He finally looked to the other. “Max, I'm sorry.”

Max’s eyes widened. Something changed. Bradley changed. Max noticed it before, but he was especially noticing it now. Bradley looked tired. He looked so, so tired. 

“I forgive you.” Max said simply. Bradley looked genuinely surprised.

“But-” he continued. “I don’t think your friends appreciate my company.” he said with a sad laugh.

“They’re unconvinced, I guess.”

“Unconvinced?”

“Well,” Max paused to look at Bradley. “I think you’re a good person.”

Bradley smiled. “Thank you.”

In the distance, he heard Bobby yell for Max. “You wanna head back?” Max asked.

“Nah. I uh, I think I’m gonna get goin’, actually. Thanks for inviting me.”

“Thanks for showin’ up!”

Bradley grinned. “Don’t eat shit next time I see you skate!” he called. Max felt flustered and his cheeks turned pink. As Bradley walked away, he felt himself get hot.

_____________________

The day of the test. Max shot out of bed, ready and weirdly energized to start the day. He woke up Bobby and PJ, who were not as excited for the morning as Max.

“Maximillian,” Bobby mumbled. “Why you’se so energized at seven in the mornan’?”

Max pulled on his socks up to his calves, then let them scrunch down closer to his ankles. “I’m so hyped for this test!”

“Dude…”PJ said, rousing from his comforter. “I think Max broke .” Max rolled his eyes.

“Come on, guys. I’ve been working hard to study. And since Bradley had helped me last week, I think I can ace this exam!” He said, pumping his fist in the air. He shoved a granola bar in his bag and hooked the strap over his shoulder, rushing out the door, leaving Bobby and PJ still in their underwear standing by themselves. 

“What a weird dude.”

In the lecture hall, he skipped down the stairs and slid into his desk, anxiously tapping his foot against the leg of his chair. Bobby joined him a few minutes later, sliding into his seat next to Max. Someone’s hands rested on the edge of his desk blocking out the light, and he looked up.

“Don’t fail this.” Bradley warned. “I hope my tutoring wasn’t for nothing.”

“Relax, dude.” Max smiled. “I got this.” Bradley smiled.

Bradley shot him a thumbs up and retreated to his desk. The professor tapped loudly on his desk to silence the class. 

“You two have gotten… close .” Bobby cooed.

“Shut up Bobby, I'm trying to listen.” Max warned.

“Real close. What’s goin’ on with you’se?” Bobby slid himself towards Max’s face, whispering teasing things. “You got somethin’ you wanna tell me?”

“Stop it!” Max whisper-shouted, actively turning red.

“Okay, okay.”

The classmate in front of him took a paper and passed it back down the row. Max followed suit, and almost gagged at the thickness of the packet. “Jesus.” He looked to Bradley one last time, who was also fondling his paper. He made a face, one that looked almost disgusted, and Max chuckled. 

Bobby glared.

Okay. First question. Max thought, flipping the first page.

2x(x3)(x1)(x2) 

2. x2 7x2.
3. x2 5x2.
4. 3x2 7x2.
5. 3x2 5x2. 
6. 3x2 5x2.

“Shit.”

“Silence in the back, Mr. Goof!” the professor called. 

Okay, okay. Remember what Bradley showed you. Don’t get intimidated by that. It’s easy.

He glanced at Bradley again, who had already began moving his pencil against the page.

Max glanced back down at the first question, gained his courage, and solved it.

____________________

Bradley waited outside the door until Max walked out. Arms crossed and leaning against the door. His eyes drifted shut. He was waiting there for a long time. When Max finally emerged out the door, he poked at Bradley’s shoulder to wake him.

“Brad? You waited?”

“Of course I did.”

“Man, even Bobby and PJ left.” Suddenly Max’s face got smug. “Didn’t know you liked me that much.” he said snarkily, his grin growing when Bradley suddenly got red. 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Bradley backed away from Max’s face. “I just wanted to ask how you think you did. I did tutor you, after all.”

Max scratched the back of his head. “I think I did okay. But we won’t know until the scores get posted tomorrow, I guess.”

“Right.”

“What about you?”

“W-what?”

“How did you do?”

Bradley felt a bit caught off guard. “Oh, uh- well I'm expecting great results from myself.”

Max frowned. “And if you don’t get those…great results?”

Bradley stayed silent. Then I'm a failure.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Max said as if he heard his thoughts when they started walking out of the building together. “It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get a perfect score.” Bradley said nothing.

“You don’t…actually think that, do you?” Max stopped walking, and naturally Bradley did too.

As a kid, when Bradley wasn’t perfect in every aspect of his life, he was reprimanded. That carried to high school too. Bradley wasn’t allowed to have a fun and rebellious phase because everything he did was monitored. His entire schedule; his life , was controlled by his father. Bradley clutched the strap of his bag a little bit tighter. He thought about the sleepless nights that were either occupied by studying or crying. He was hit a lot as a child. He had always assumed it was his father taking out his anger of his late mother on him. Because she, in his eyes, was always perfect. 

He doesn’t remember his mother much. She got very sick when he was still in primary school. She suffered a lot, and deep inside, Bradley thought that it was his responsibility to carry on her legacy. By being perfect, just like her.

“Of course not.” Bradley finally said, but the silence was too long, and Max felt like that answer was a lie.

The night when Bradley broke down, which he was still mortified about, his father told him that he expected Bradley’s return home that weekend, and it was already Wednesday. He clenched his teeth.

“I’ve gotta get to my next class. I’ll see you later.” Bradley said, smiling.

“Okay. later.” Max replied, kicking up his board and setting it so he could ride in the opposite direction. He looked over his shoulder briefly. Bradley just walked.

_____________________

Thursday and Friday came and went all too fast, and Bradley spent most of it with Max. They didn’t do much, bingo night at the Bean Scene with Bobby, PJ, and Bea, video games at Max’s dorm, followed by making cheap popcorn they got from the communal store in Max’s crappy microwave. They finally exchanged numbers, and Bobby bought soft drinks for the four of them to share, and when the night was over and Bradley had to leave, he seemed to feel more lonely than he ever had before.

He had to prepare for his trip tomorrow. His phone buzzed in his pocket.

Max

Hi

Bradley smiled.

You

Hey

Max

Goin 2 skatepark tmrw. Wanna come?

You

Can’t, going on a trip

Max

Oh fun

Where??

You

My fathers house. Won’t be fun :/

Max

Ah man :( 

Good luck. See u monday

You

Cu monday

Bradley chucked his phone on his bed when he entered the apartment. He opened his closet and grabbed his favorite sweater, a simple burgundy one, and packed it in his bag.

_________________________

Pulling into the driveway of his fathers mansion left a growing pit in his stomach. He turned the wheel to pull up to the valet to allow him to park his car. He only had his satchel with him, not full of anything important except for a few clothes and the book he was so close to finishing.

He stepped inside the cold room. High rise ceilings making the room feel daunting and almost gave him vertigo. He ascended the stairs, and his father made his appearance. “Son.”

Bradley startled. “Father,”

“Welcome home.”

“Thank you…”

“We have much to discuss.” His father descended the stairs, looked at his son, then slapped him across the face.

“You disappoint me,” he said sternly. 

“F-father, I’m sorry!” Bradley suddenly turned desperate. “I didn’t mean to lose, I tried everything in my power to win but-”

“-And you fail miserably on live television. ” be bit, his voice growing. “ Disgracing the Uppercrust name, being kicked from your frat and living off campus like some sort of mongrel!”

He approached Bradley once again, and Bradley backed away until his back hit the wall, his satchel falling off his shoulder. His father hit the side of the bookcase in anger, and Bradley noticed a vase sitting on the shelf.

His father grabbed his wrist firmly, saying how he was a failure in the family, forever embarrassing everyone in the family, and disgracing his mother. Bradley felt cowardice. He felt powerless against his father. “You fool! You utter disgrace! Your mother didn’t die for this!”

CRASH

His father straggled backwards, holding his face that was dripping with blood, “you brat!”

Bradley seemed shocked with himself. “I-Im sorry!” he gasped, instinctually reaching out to try to help his father. The shattered vase in Bradley’s hand cut his palm, blood dripping down his wrist and onto the polished floor. Bradley’s eyes were blown wide, legs feeling weak, and while his father began to get up, Bradley pulled away and made his escape out the door. He ran to his car, not bothering to ask for the valet, and sobbed in his car on the way out the gate. His hand was still bleeding, getting all over his steering wheel, and sped down the road. With a shaky hand he dialed up the only person he thought he could trust.

________________________

“Max? It’s Bradley.”

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“I just…need some help? Can you meet me at the apartment complex near the school?”

“Yeah. Yeah of course.”

“Um…bring a medkit...please…”

Max furrowed his brows. “Okay. I’m on my way.”

Max rode his board quickly towards the direction of the apartments. He wasn’t sure if it was correct, but when he saw Bradley’s car pull in wearily, he could only ride faster. He stopped his board harshly when he got to his car, helping Bradley out of the driver's seat, distantly noticing the blood on his steering wheel. 

“Brad, come on, breathe, you’re okay.”

“Shit- get me up to my room.” He staggered out, his adrenaline running off and the pain setting in. He had a black eye, and several bruises along his shaking frame. Max flung Bradley’s arm over his shoulder and helped him inside and into the elevator.

“Keys- keys in my pocket.” Bradley breathed. Max dug through his pocket and unlocked the door, walking inside, Max ignored the mess and sat Bradley down on the couch. Bradley clutched his wrist, and his face contorted in pain, Max quickly took a wet cloth to begin to clean up the blood as best as he could. Bradley seethed through his teeth. Max turned his attention to Bradley’s cut, although it was more like a gaping wound.

“This looks like it needs stitches..” Max said firmly. 

“No! No doctors.”

“But it’ll scar-“

“No doctors, Max. Please.” 

Max frowned, but complied with his request and dug through the medical kit for surgical tape and rubbing alcohol. Carefully, he dropped the liquid onto the wound, letting it drip and run through the gash. Bradley reacted, bending over in pain and biting his lip trying to stifle his scream.

“Mmm- Fuck me!” he grit.

“I’m sorry, I know, I have to clean the wound.” Max cooed, taking the surgical tape and clasping the skin together. The pain had worn off after a couple of minutes due to the numbing paste Max had put on, which Bradley was silently grateful that he had.

Max leaned back, rubbing the blood on his hands on his shirt. “Christ.”

He contorted to reach the medical kit, and then began wrapping Bradley’s hand in a bandage that was soaking up a bit of blood. Bradley stared silently as Max got up and returned with an ice pack and held it up to Bradley’s face to deal with the bruise that was dark and ugly and swelling 

“Thank you.” Bradley said quietly, bringing his hand up to land on top of Max’s that was pressing against his face. 

“You wanna tell me what happened?”

Bradley chuckled, but Max knew that it wasn’t out of joy.

“Uh…my uh…” Stammering . “My father um…” He’s distressed. Do something, Max! “Uh- Y-you know, haha” His eyes are watering. Do something!

Max hugged him. He embraced his neck and felt comforted when Bradley chose to hug back. He’s crying, he noticed, but didn’t dare break the hug first.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t have anyone else to call, I-“

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’m glad you trusted me.”

Bradley only hugged him tighter. “He hit me”

Max held his breath. The idea of a father doing something like that to his only son… he quickly pictured his father doing that to him, and it made his stomach churn. He swiftly pushed those thoughts away. 

“I panicked- there was- there was a vase, and I just-“

Bradley pulled away from Max to wipe his tears. “I hurt him.”

Bradley was sobbing now. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, but he was h-hurting me, I-“ A breath. “Damnit!” He turned his head away. “I’m sorry, Max. You shouldn’t have to put up with me, I’ve done enough to you..”

Max didn’t dare break the hug first. In his shoulder, Bradley just mumbled apologies, and breathed heavily against his skin. Bradley suddenly became very heavy, and he realized just how exhausted he really was. The stress of the past two weeks, the insomnia, sleeping through class, dragging himself through the day, Max recognized it all. It wasn’t a huge surprise when Bradley fell asleep on him.

It was then that Max actually observed the state of the other’s room. It was a wreck .

He looked down to Bradley’s sleeping form, and as carefully as he could, repositioned them so that they were laying back on the pillows of the couch. Bradley’s hand was firmly attached to Max’s shirt, so he figured there was no moving until Bradley woke.

He fell asleep like that–feeling Bradley breathe against him, so cautious not to rouse him. 

I should clean up this place, Max thought. And although Max is a relatively messy person, he knew this wasn’t the type of natural mess that came with living on your own. The type where you forget to do your laundry because you don't have a father to tell you to do it, or to load the dishes in the dishwasher instead of piling them in the sink. For him.

This type of mess was pure depression. It wasn’t like Bradley wanted to live like this, he just didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. Finally, Max began to understand.

After about an hour, Max woke up naturally, and slowly removed himself from underneath the other, shifting his weight awkwardly until he slipped off the couch and could freely walk around the room.

He rummaged through some closets until he found a blanket he could cover Bradley with, and got to work. Later, when Bradley woke, confused by the felt blanket and his position on the couch, he blinked his eyes and sat up, immediately remembering Max was supposed to still be here, and looked for him.

He swung his legs over the side of the couch when he spotted Max sitting on a barstool, leaning against the counter with one cheek propped up on his hand. Sleeping. With some papers scattered around him. Homework, Bradley discovered upon observation. With great joy, he realized it was math. Math that Max was doing correctly, he prided himself on his tutoring.

Bradley looked down at his hand, looking at the wrapped bandage, and then the clean apartment around him. Shamefully, he thought that he didn’t deserve someone like Max. Someone who genuinely cared for him.

But a selfish part of him was grateful that he did.