'Rivals' or 'Friends'.
"I think Brooklyn is an amazing rival. He really puts his all into every match and he isn't afraid to lose control."
"Wow, I agree. I think Brooklyn is a really good beyblader too." Max smiled and sipped his orange juice casually. "He always comes back with something new."
Raising an eyebrow to the comment that had left the champions honest tongue, Kai straightened himself up straight and he opened his eyelids to focus his cold gaze amongst Tyson. But since when does he become so fascinated with Brooklyn? Especially since both the Russian and Japanese beybladers defeated Brooklyn in the last tournament.
Sitting at the table with his back to Kai, the Dragoon wielder had no idea that the loner leaning against the wall was beaming his eyes into the back of his head. "He sure does and I love that!" Tyson praised and stuffed another spring roll down his throat – he was starving and the food entering his body felt so satisfying.
"But we are rivals too Tyson." Max suddenly announced and placed his glass cup onto the dojo kitchen table with force. "I like keeping you on your toes too."
Kai then leaned his weight onto his right foot to glance past Tyson and focus on Max. The Phoenix Prince and the Dragoon keeper both bit down onto their lower lip. It's as if their eyes were swelling with amusement as Max kept a firm stance on his statement.
"Max, come on now." Tyson cleared his throat and tapped his fist against his chest to settle the unmunched food cramming up. "I don't look at it that way between us. Me and you don't have that relationship that me and Kai have..."
"What do you mean?" Max question and briefly skimmed his blue eyes over to Kai too. It was irritating him that the pair didn't take him seriously. "I can put up a fight just as good as you guys can."
Remaining silent, Kai for once, let Tyson do all the talking. He was curious to see how the deputy captain was going to handle this awkward situation that Max had placed himself in. Plus, if Kai dealt with this scenario, Max would probably quit the team and end up in tears.
"Why does this matter so much to you anyways?" Tyson was gradually losing his cool, he couldn't understand why the American blond really brought this up. They were best friends who had always worked better together. "I don't want to go there Max, we are friends, not rivals. I know you can put up a good fight."
Sighing at the response, Max was unsatisfied with the reply he'd received. So he turned his full attention back to the only person who was responding to him – Tyson. "It's just that I am tired of hearing about you and Kai all the time. The rest of us deserve a break too." He honestly confessed in a stubborn tone.
"Oh man, I cannot believe I am hearing this." Tyson placed his head into his hands. He really didn't want to do this, "Why do you guys keep going back to this? I thought the last season cleared all this up. You guys went your own way and went for the top spot..."
"Oh, and you've never done anything wrong either Tyson?" Max fired back and looked away from the wounded champion.
"THEN PROVE IT! PROVE YOU DESERVE THE TOP SPOT!" By now, Tyson was on his feet and his palms were flat on the table. He was resisting the urge to throw his empty meal plate at the Draciel wielder. "Put your beyblade where your mouth is tough guy! And try not to run to your mommy for a new beyblade to help you last longer in the competition."
"Actions speak louder then words." Kai finally stepped in and stood beside his rival. "As much as I don't care about your childish argument, I think you need to drop this before you both hurt each other."
"We are a team Max. So why are you going against me? Buddy, if ever there was a tag-team tournament announced, I would come to your first before anyone else. I want you all next to me, not against me all the time. I only praised Brooklyn because he was the last match I had. It was nothing personal." Tyson lowered his head and bit down onto his lower lip with so much disappointment drowning in his chestnut brown eyes. "I'm tired of this rival chat getting too personal, it's boring. If I would have known that becoming the best beyblader in the world would cost me all my friends, I would toss it away without thinking about it."
"What?" Kai growled and sharply turned his head to face Tyson. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard, this soppy fucker would throw away everything just like that. "You better not give up just because he's having a weasel on not being good enough to be declared as a rival."
"HEY!" Tyson barked back and looked back at the new argument he'd developed. "That's how much my friends mean to me..."
"Tyson, people would give their left arm to be in your shoes. If your friends cannot accept that, then tell them to get lost."
"Now that was cold Kai..."
"It's life!" Kai wasn't buying it, he'd worked hard to stand in this position he was in today. Yes being second best was intimidating and it shattered his purpose in life, but never would the Hiwatari see his rival fall so easily to something so meaningless. "The world is not fair Tyson, we all have to find out the hard way."
"Why do I get the feeling that you have accepted the 'hard way' too much?" Tyson gasped and witnessed his rival's eyes softening. Immediately the Granger just wanted to hug the sour-puss, but he had to restrain himself.
Was he being that FRIEND who understood that Tyson had worked his ass off to be where he is? Even though he knew half of the time he relied on the power of his luck and his friends? Perhaps so. They had both been through thick and thin to fight for that title, but never did they under estimate the power of their 'awkward' friendship. Kai was the only person who could talk through sense to the champion without him dozing off.
A cheesy grin appeared on Tyson's dry lips and he winked at his captain, "You're awesome Kai." He stated and held out his fist for the guy to pump back.
Suddenly his dark pupils widened and Kai's heart skipped a beat. This situation was getting more wieder by the second and the Hiwatari couldn't keep up with where everything was going. Instead, he just looked down to the fist pump offer and shrugged arrogantly.
"Whatever." Kai grunted before leaving the scene to save what was left of his barriers. He couldn't show anymore than what he'd already done, it would damage his reputation. "Just don't you quit until I defeat you."
"You got it buddy!" Tyson laughed and lowered his hand without a care in the world.
But after taking a brief moment to remind himself what had started all this chaos was, Tyson sat back down at the table to look his best friend in the eyes. Their stare was intense, yet their hearts were wounded.
It's a mistake that never should have happened, but the proud Draciel wielder didn't want to admit it. He could finally understand why him and Tyson can never have that relationship, it wouldn't work.
He spoke softly with his heart on his sleeve, "Rivals can be friends too Max. But I don't think we'd take it very well. So can we just stay as friends? Please? The team needs you." Tyson made it sound more like a plea rather then a request.
"Still, you never do anything wrong. Do you?"
Wanting to bang his head off the nearest wall, the champion took another deep breath. For the first time in a long time, he thought before he spoke, especially since he would never forgive himself for Max leaving the team again.
"I have never done wrong? Okay." Tyson tilted his neck side to side to stretch out the stress knots that were beginning to irritate his physical state. Then he confessed everything to even out the tension between them, "I say things I don't mean in temper, I do stupid stuff that gets us all into trouble, I have punched a few faces and I don't know where the boundary is until I cross it. Hey, I will throw in that I'm immature sometimes to drive Kai up the wall to entertain myself..."
He slowed down once he realised the creases in Max's lips were pointing upwards. The American was dying to smile at the little jokes Tyson was cracking. But for some reason, it was a relief to Max to see that Tyson too wasn't afraid to admit fault instead of being the 'innocent' guy all the time.
"Hell, I even failed loads of subjects at school because I didn't care. I mean, who our age wants to know the cycle of volcanoes? I don't plan on touching that stuff anytime soon." Tyson giggled and pulled his Dragoon out of his pocket to place the blade onto the table. "Look, let's go have a match and pretend this never happened."
"Would you really come to me as your tagteammate?" Max repeated and smiled back.
"Are you kidding?! Without a doubt."
Tears filled Max's confused eyes and he too pulled out his beyblade to place the item onto the table. "I am ready for that friendly match if you are champ. Afterwards though, it's my treat on icecream..." He was interrupted by Tyson's excited squeal.
"Icecream after!? Dude lets go!"