A/N: I've made some extremely minor revisions to nothing important, but have smoothed some of the rough edges that niggled every time I re-read the fic.
Huge thanks go out to everyone who's reviewed this fic, but particularly Kitzaku-san and Jin Munku-JGSPTV, who were the only ones to review when Sight was just a one-shot, and I appreciated it muchly!
Akai
28/04/03
SIGHT
Max is my friend. I knew it when I saw him running towards me the day we met, and I was certain of it when he pulled out his beyblade. I didn't know his name, I didn't know how old he was, and if he lived anywhere near me or was in my class at school, I still had to find that out; all I knew was that this laughing blonde kid was my friend.
Max. He's a really happy guy, y'know? I mean, he loves to blade (who wouldn't?) and he's always talking, and he likes pizza… Even if we hadn't hit it off straight away like we did, it wouldn't have taken long. I've only known Max a little while, a few months maybe, but I was pretty sure he couldn't get mad or angry in any way.
Well, I was wrong. "As usual", Kenny would say. He's told me before that I'm a really bad judge of character. I told him that that's because I don't judge people's characters the way he does, I just act like me and see who's still around a half-hour later. He shook his head at that, but I just shrugged. I mean, it's no big deal, right? If people don't like who I am when I'm being completely honest with them, it's best for everyone if we know that straight away. I'm not going to change myself just to act how someone thinks I should! What's the point? You can't change who you are anyway, not deep down.
Max comes over a lot. We slouch in my room playing video games and watching movies with pizza, popcorn, ice cream and Coke until we pass out or, on a school night, I get yelled at to turn it off and go to sleep. The other night, Max came over especially, because my grandpa was "out on the town with his homies" (playing an all-night poker game with some friends.) It doesn't matter what he calls it though; when he's out on the town, he's out all night, and that's good enough for me!
So, Max came over as usual, and we had a great time (as usual) but something weird happened that night. I still have no idea why, but when Max and I were leaning against the wall playing video games, my left knee was touching his right one.
That's not weird, I don't think, but the fact that I left it there and so did he - now that's weird! Most guys would shift their legs straight away, right? And then they'd sort of mumble "Sorry," really quietly and act like nothing had happened. Because you have to, that's what guys do, to prove that they don't actually like having another guy's knee touching theirs, that it was just an accident and that's all.
But we didn't. We pretended it wasn't happening, for the whole game, but we didn't actually stop it happening. And then, when I sat down after switching the video game to a movie, my entire left arm was touching his entire right arm.
I expected him to move away, and say real quickly how sorry he was, and laugh about it because he's Max, but... he didn't.
What was even weirder is that I didn't either. I did what we'd done before, and ignored it totally, concentrating on the movie.
Well, I tried to concentrate on it, but I think I spent most of it not looking at Max. Seriously, every time I realised how close we were, there was this weird tingling below my neck and in the back of my throat - not looking at him was harder than it sounds!
It didn't work, either. Halfway through the film, I twitched, and glanced in his direction. I hoped he wouldn't notice, but I was wrong, again. He noticed, all right. But he still didn't move away. He looked right at me and laughed.
It wasn't a mean laugh, and it wasn't a nervous laugh. It was a Max laugh, that's all, the same Max laugh I've heard a million times and not gotten sick of yet. I ended up laughing with him, and settled back to watch the movie.
Suddenly, I could feel his arm move. I panicked, sure he was about to try and hold my hand.
Arms and knees are one thing (well, two things, or four things, actually) but a hand is another thing, a really off-limits thing. So I jumped up and said loudly, "Hey Max! I challenge you to a battle!"
I tried not to look at his hand, but there it was - grabbing a bunch of popcorn.
I can be such an idiot.
"What for?" he said with his mouth full. "We played before, remember?"
I shrugged and said, "What's wrong with playing again?"
He swallowed and scratched his head, still grinning. "Nothing, I suppose. Okay, let's do it!"
Four minutes later, we were by my beyblade dish, and two minutes after that, we were shouting, "Let it rip!"
Even though I was trash-talking like always, I couldn't get my head around what had happened upstairs. I thought about how I'd spent so much time trying not to look at him, why I hadn't pulled away, whether I was glad Max hadn't held my hand, or-
"And you're out of there!"
I hadn't even noticed as Draciel knocked Dragoon out of the dish. Max grinned at me and said sort of teasingly, "You'd better watch out, Tyson, or I'll be the world champion next year!"
I laughed a bit too hard and said, "Yeah, maybe in your dreams, blondie!" He just grinned at me some more and held up his launcher.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
"Let it rip!"
This time I pushed everything I didn't want to think about to one side, sort of like when I have to clean up my room. Instead, I actually concentrated on what I was doing, and sure enough, I won.
"Ha, take that you amateur!" I gloated. "You should've known you had no chance against me!"
Max had been laughing as usual, but at that, his smile just… left. It faded away, and I saw Max nettled for the first time.
"Is that what you really think?" he said. He was still trying to smile, you could tell, but he didn't sound like Max anymore.
So I laughed instead. I figured if I did, maybe he would too. "No, don't be stupid, I just-"
"So why did you say it?"
"Why did I say what?" I asked impatiently, a little frustrated by this time.
"That I should've known I had no chance against you!"
Was he for real? "Max, I was just kidding. It was a joke, J-O-K-E, ever heard of one of those?"
Yeah, and at that particular moment he was F-U-R-I-O-U-S.
"Well ha ha then," he said sarcastically, "But we haven't done the third round yet!" He lifted his launcher, and I joined him.
"Fine then," I said, suddenly annoyed. "But it's strange how you and I trash-talked our way through this entire battle, but it only mattered when you lost! Don't you think that-" But I couldn't finish what I was saying; Max had put his launcher down and turned away.
"You're right," he said. If I hadn't been listening really hard though, I wouldn't have heard him, not in a million years, he spoke that quietly. Which is weird, Max isn't exactly the shy, retiring flower type. He looked up at me and grinned, exactly as he did before. "Sorry Tyson! Guess I blew up at you for no reason, huh?"
"Guess you did," I said, frowning. He tucked his blade and launcher in his pockets.
"Hey, let's go get something to eat!" he said, as enthusiastic at the prospect of pizza as he is about everything.
But I wasn't letting him get away with it that easy. He looked right then exactly like he always looks: happy. Did that mean he was always hiding the Max I saw just a second ago?
I had to know.
"Max!" He turned back around, eyes wide open like some stupid kid. But Max isn't a stupid kid, and I was just figuring out that he wasn't a completely happy kid either.
"C'mon Tyson, there's pizza waiting! Or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, how about it? I make the best chocolate milkshakes, my mom used to-"
"Max," I repeated, and he stopped talking. I went up to him and looked in his eyes.
I've always heard that eyes are the windows to the soul, or something like that, and I was sort of hoping there'd be something there to tell me what was going on. Well, that soul stuff is a load of bull; I couldn't see a thing there but blue. Max's eyes are blue. I'd never really noticed before.
"You ranked joint third in the whole country, remember?"
He laughed. "Of course I remember! I was there!"
"And you're part of the number one team in the world, right?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "Right!"
He didn't get my point at all.
"Max!" I yelled. "You're not listening!"
His smile left for the second time. That must be some kind of record or something. I'd known Max for months and never once seen him get mad, then in one night, I'm the one who finally finds out where his nerves are kept and gets on them. Twice.
Great.
"I'm listening, all right!" he said angrily. "You're telling me I'm a third-rate beyblader-"
"Max, you were third place in one tournament, you're notthird-rate!" I said, sort of... I don't know, shocked, I suppose, that he could even think that I thought he wasn't any good.
"But not as good as you, right, Tyson?"
When I have no idea what to say, I end up going with the first thing that comes into my head, no matter how unhelpful.
"Rei was third too!"
A bit like that.
"Rei didn't finish his match!" Max said, raising his voice. "Did you ever think that he might have beaten you if he'd played round three? I bet he has! He knows he's good, no matter where he placed! But I played Kai and-"
Saying the first thing that comes into your head isn't the smartest thing to do, but I'm not the smartest guy either. So, even though I'd already made him even angrier by doing just that, I went right ahead and said:
"But Max, Kai's inhuman!"
Right, because that's the point he was making...
I could've kicked myself, really hard. Seriously, how irrelevant can I get?
And Max knew it. "Tyson, that's so lame!" he said, staring at me. "Who cares if Kai's inhuman or not? He's the captain of the Bladebreakers, and a champion in his own right."
"He also has no friends!"
"Which is probably why he's so good!" Max shouted at me. "If I spent less time around here eating pizza and playing stupid games, I could spend more time practising, and be better!"
I frowned. "Max, you're the friendliest guy I know. How can you stand there and say you don't want all these people to like you? Kai's a machine, do you really want to be like that?"
"Sometimes, yes, I do, okay?"
I'd had enough of this. It's always been my policy to say exactly what I think, so that's exactly what I did.
"Well then maybe you should go home, get some more practise!" I yelled. "I mean, if it bothers you so much to hang out with me, we probably shouldn't do that anymore! I know I don't want to stand in the way of Max, the Friendless Juggernaut Machine on his quest to be a world champion beyblader!" I turned away, and began to walk inside. "You should hook up with Kai, you two could get along real nice!"
"Well fine!" I heard him say furiously, and he just walked away, right there and then.
I was just thinking about how weird this whole night had been, when it suddenly hit me that he was leaving.
After a moment of shock, I thought it through. I figured it was Max's problem if I'd been myself, and he couldn't deal with that. And that was fine, I have other friends who don't start stupid fights. I'd probably be better off without him, if he was that unpredictable.
Do you really want Max to be predictable and happy all the time?
Okay, I still don't know where that came from, but I'm telling you now, it whacked me in the face as if Max himself had slapped me.
Do you really believe the world should change to fit in around you?
Put like that, it sounded almost... I don't know, selfish or something. Obnoxious at least. But people called me obnoxious all the time, and it had never bothered me before...
Max showed you something different tonight, for the first time, and you couldn't handle it.
"But he started it!" I muttered, trying to stop these thoughts. What a weird night...
And why did he start it? You don't know even know why he was being so touchy! You didn't even bother to find out! Besides, does it even matter? If he leaves now, he won't come back.
Shows how much you know, I thought resentfully. Max doesn't hold grudges, I'm sure of it.
No, but you do. Max won't come back because you won't let him. Your stupid, pig-headed pride won't let him.
Why were my own thoughts rebelling in my head? It didn't seem fair, I was a captive audience.
If Max would really never come back, I would only ever see him at matches, only ever with a beyblade in his hand. I didn't want that, not at all! I like it when Max comes over and we watch movies and eat pizza. I know it's weird, but I also kind of liked that we could have our knees touching and not care at all.
But I didn't want him around because we'd had one little fight? Because he wasn't as predictable as I thought? That made no sense, even to me.
I heard the door click. He came outside with his bag, completely ignored me and walked to the end of my front yard.
Maybe I should-
I was running after him before I'd even finished thinking about it.
"Max!"
He carried on walking.
"Hey, Max! Stop!"
I ran round in front of him, blocking his way out. He glared at me and I glared right back.
"What do you want?" he said, and hearing his voice so hostile made me wish I hadn't bothered. But I had started it, so I had to finish it.
"Why did you just blow up like that?"
He looked away, but his voice sounded softer when he spoke again.
"It doesn't matter, really, I shouldn't have and I'm sorry." He began to walk away again, past me. "See you at practice."
"Max."
He didn't stop.
"Max!"
He carried on walking.
"Please don't go."
I never, never, neverask people to stick around if they want to leave. Never. I mean, if they can't deal with me being who I am, that's their problem, not mine. But... I don't know, suddenly it felt like I'd be the one missing out on something if Max left.
He stopped, and turned around. When he did, I knew that he got just how weird it was for me to beg him to stay like that. But I didn't regret it this time, because he wasn't looking angry any more. "Look, Tyson, you don't want me around, and that's okay. It's better that you tell me now and I-"
My previous thoughts exactly, but we were both wrong.
"No! That's not what I..." I trailed off, because - well, I had no idea what to say. I tried again. "Look, Max, I do want you around, but I don't want to not know where you're coming from when you pick a fight with me!"
We carried on looking at each other, but it wasn't glaring anymore. Actually, I don't know what we were doing. Max's head was tilted to one side, like he was thinking hard. It was weird though, it was like he was trying to figure out something about me.
He spoke first, sounding really tired, even though it wasn't that late.
"Tyson, when we have to do interviews and stuff, what do they ask you?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"What do they ask you?"
I thought for a second. "Mostly about what it's like to be a complete rookie suddenly in the spotlight. Why?"
"Do you have any idea what they ask me?"
"You've never really talked about it before."
"That's because they ask me what it's like to be the weakest link on a team like the Bladebreakers."
My eyes boggled, I swear. I couldn't stop blinking.
"And they ask me how I felt being the only Bladebreaker to lose a match against the White Tigers, and what it's like being friends with Tyson, the rising star of beyblading, and if I've heard the rumours that I'm going to be replaced-"
"Max!" I shouted, not caring what I said as long as it stopped him saying things like that. However, this time, the first thing that came into my head wasn't so bad after all. "Mr Dickinson would never replace you, never!"
"But Tyson, it's true!" The way he said it, I knew he must have been thinking about this for a long time. "I am the weakest link on the team! They should replace me, you should replace me, and I don't know why you haven't already!"
"Because we couldn't replace you even if we wanted to!" I said in a "don't be silly" voice, more than a little irritated that he'd even think we would, let alone expect us to. "You're too good Max, you've just come up against some good competitors, that's all!"
"So have you! So has Rei! Neither of you lose as many matches as I do!"
I wanted to scream, to shout at him, to try and get it into his thick, blonde head how good he was, how I'd never met anyone like him. Instead, I said quietly, "Max, you're one of the best bladers I've ever met. You deserve to be on the team."
He nodded dismissively, and I felt like shaking him. Instead, I did something weird. It was a really weird night.
I hugged the guy, actually put my arms round him and pulled him close. I don't know why I did it, I just couldn't stand to see him that miserable for another second. Something had to be done, and apparently, this was it.
"No, Max, you're not listening!" I whispered. "You're one of the best bladers I've ever met. You deserve to be on the team."
Max slumped slightly. I know what people look like when they're defeated, and Max was well and truly beaten. But he needed to get those things out of his head and in front of me, so I could deal with them with him. It was a good kind of defeat, and that's what counts.
Suddenly, I realised I was hugging another guy.
I let go again quickly, of course, and mumbled, "Sorry," straight away, but it was too late.
I probably could have come up with something to say at that point, to laugh it off, but Max was giving me this weird, sort of... intense look. Really serious. It knocked me off balance.
"I… I…" I stuttered, feeling trapped. And let me tell you, it sucked! The one time I actually had something real to say, and not a single thing in my brain was working. How is that fair?
I wanted to tell him I'm not like that really, that it was just a one-off, but at the same time let him know that I didn't regret it, I just didn't want him to get the wrong idea. I wanted to tell him I'm an idiot, and I don't say things like they're supposed to be said, but that we need him on the team, and I couldn't imagine beyblading without him anymore. I wanted to tell him so many things - but as it turned out, I didn't need to.
Max knew. I don't know how, but he did. He just knew, straight away, exactly what I wanted to say, and saved me the trouble of actually saying it by slipping his arms around my neck and hugging me back.
The second weirdest thing of this whole weird night, beaten only by me hugging him first.
I wasn't sure what to do. I mean, girls hug each other all the time, but I'm a guy, it's not something I've ever really thought about! I didn't know if I should like, hug him back, or push him away, or act like it was a big joke, or what.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Max whisper, "Thank you, Tyson," and suddenly it didn't matter. I'd been the one allowed to see Max get angry for the first time, and I'd been the one allowed to cheer him up again. If that was the way it was going to be from now on, I figured I could deal with that.
While I was standing there, reality kicked in, and I realised how cold Max was. Then I realised how cold I was.
"Hey, we should go inside, finish that movie?" I suggested.
I'd known that he'd laugh, but I didn't realise how good it would sound after everything he'd said that night. "Sounds good to me, Tyson!" he said cheerfully. Then he jumped up and ran away. "Race you to your room!" he called over his shoulder.
And that was it. In most ways, it was as if nothing had ever happened.
The girls I know hang around with their "best friends", and do a lot of whispering and hugging and stuff like that. Well, that's kind of what me and Max ended up like, sharing secrets and holding hands. Actually, we never told each other a single secret or held each other's hands once, but it was like… you know, like we could if we wanted to, and it wouldn't matter at all.
I guess Max is like, my best friend or something, and that's fine by me. I mean, as long as it's not in public or anything, it's actually really cool to have someone who doesn't mind putting their arms around me sometimes, or saying things like, "Life would be really boring if you weren't around, Tyson." Which he does. Sometimes I even answer, tell him that it'd suck around here without him. Then we shut up and watch whatever movie's on, or carry on with the video game.
So… That's what's going on, and I like it a lot, even if it is weird. It's a good kind of weird, and that's what really counts, right?
Huge thanks go out to everyone who's reviewed this fic, but particularly Kitzaku-san and Jin Munku-JGSPTV, who were the only ones to review when Sight was just a one-shot, and I appreciated it muchly!
Akai
28/04/03
Max is my friend. I knew it when I saw him running towards me the day we met, and I was certain of it when he pulled out his beyblade. I didn't know his name, I didn't know how old he was, and if he lived anywhere near me or was in my class at school, I still had to find that out; all I knew was that this laughing blonde kid was my friend.
Max. He's a really happy guy, y'know? I mean, he loves to blade (who wouldn't?) and he's always talking, and he likes pizza… Even if we hadn't hit it off straight away like we did, it wouldn't have taken long. I've only known Max a little while, a few months maybe, but I was pretty sure he couldn't get mad or angry in any way.
Well, I was wrong. "As usual", Kenny would say. He's told me before that I'm a really bad judge of character. I told him that that's because I don't judge people's characters the way he does, I just act like me and see who's still around a half-hour later. He shook his head at that, but I just shrugged. I mean, it's no big deal, right? If people don't like who I am when I'm being completely honest with them, it's best for everyone if we know that straight away. I'm not going to change myself just to act how someone thinks I should! What's the point? You can't change who you are anyway, not deep down.
Max comes over a lot. We slouch in my room playing video games and watching movies with pizza, popcorn, ice cream and Coke until we pass out or, on a school night, I get yelled at to turn it off and go to sleep. The other night, Max came over especially, because my grandpa was "out on the town with his homies" (playing an all-night poker game with some friends.) It doesn't matter what he calls it though; when he's out on the town, he's out all night, and that's good enough for me!
So, Max came over as usual, and we had a great time (as usual) but something weird happened that night. I still have no idea why, but when Max and I were leaning against the wall playing video games, my left knee was touching his right one.
That's not weird, I don't think, but the fact that I left it there and so did he - now that's weird! Most guys would shift their legs straight away, right? And then they'd sort of mumble "Sorry," really quietly and act like nothing had happened. Because you have to, that's what guys do, to prove that they don't actually like having another guy's knee touching theirs, that it was just an accident and that's all.
But we didn't. We pretended it wasn't happening, for the whole game, but we didn't actually stop it happening. And then, when I sat down after switching the video game to a movie, my entire left arm was touching his entire right arm.
I expected him to move away, and say real quickly how sorry he was, and laugh about it because he's Max, but... he didn't.
What was even weirder is that I didn't either. I did what we'd done before, and ignored it totally, concentrating on the movie.
Well, I tried to concentrate on it, but I think I spent most of it not looking at Max. Seriously, every time I realised how close we were, there was this weird tingling below my neck and in the back of my throat - not looking at him was harder than it sounds!
It didn't work, either. Halfway through the film, I twitched, and glanced in his direction. I hoped he wouldn't notice, but I was wrong, again. He noticed, all right. But he still didn't move away. He looked right at me and laughed.
It wasn't a mean laugh, and it wasn't a nervous laugh. It was a Max laugh, that's all, the same Max laugh I've heard a million times and not gotten sick of yet. I ended up laughing with him, and settled back to watch the movie.
Suddenly, I could feel his arm move. I panicked, sure he was about to try and hold my hand.
Arms and knees are one thing (well, two things, or four things, actually) but a hand is another thing, a really off-limits thing. So I jumped up and said loudly, "Hey Max! I challenge you to a battle!"
I tried not to look at his hand, but there it was - grabbing a bunch of popcorn.
I can be such an idiot.
"What for?" he said with his mouth full. "We played before, remember?"
I shrugged and said, "What's wrong with playing again?"
He swallowed and scratched his head, still grinning. "Nothing, I suppose. Okay, let's do it!"
Four minutes later, we were by my beyblade dish, and two minutes after that, we were shouting, "Let it rip!"
Even though I was trash-talking like always, I couldn't get my head around what had happened upstairs. I thought about how I'd spent so much time trying not to look at him, why I hadn't pulled away, whether I was glad Max hadn't held my hand, or-
"And you're out of there!"
I hadn't even noticed as Draciel knocked Dragoon out of the dish. Max grinned at me and said sort of teasingly, "You'd better watch out, Tyson, or I'll be the world champion next year!"
I laughed a bit too hard and said, "Yeah, maybe in your dreams, blondie!" He just grinned at me some more and held up his launcher.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
"Let it rip!"
This time I pushed everything I didn't want to think about to one side, sort of like when I have to clean up my room. Instead, I actually concentrated on what I was doing, and sure enough, I won.
"Ha, take that you amateur!" I gloated. "You should've known you had no chance against me!"
Max had been laughing as usual, but at that, his smile just… left. It faded away, and I saw Max nettled for the first time.
"Is that what you really think?" he said. He was still trying to smile, you could tell, but he didn't sound like Max anymore.
So I laughed instead. I figured if I did, maybe he would too. "No, don't be stupid, I just-"
"So why did you say it?"
"Why did I say what?" I asked impatiently, a little frustrated by this time.
"That I should've known I had no chance against you!"
Was he for real? "Max, I was just kidding. It was a joke, J-O-K-E, ever heard of one of those?"
Yeah, and at that particular moment he was F-U-R-I-O-U-S.
"Well ha ha then," he said sarcastically, "But we haven't done the third round yet!" He lifted his launcher, and I joined him.
"Fine then," I said, suddenly annoyed. "But it's strange how you and I trash-talked our way through this entire battle, but it only mattered when you lost! Don't you think that-" But I couldn't finish what I was saying; Max had put his launcher down and turned away.
"You're right," he said. If I hadn't been listening really hard though, I wouldn't have heard him, not in a million years, he spoke that quietly. Which is weird, Max isn't exactly the shy, retiring flower type. He looked up at me and grinned, exactly as he did before. "Sorry Tyson! Guess I blew up at you for no reason, huh?"
"Guess you did," I said, frowning. He tucked his blade and launcher in his pockets.
"Hey, let's go get something to eat!" he said, as enthusiastic at the prospect of pizza as he is about everything.
But I wasn't letting him get away with it that easy. He looked right then exactly like he always looks: happy. Did that mean he was always hiding the Max I saw just a second ago?
I had to know.
"Max!" He turned back around, eyes wide open like some stupid kid. But Max isn't a stupid kid, and I was just figuring out that he wasn't a completely happy kid either.
"C'mon Tyson, there's pizza waiting! Or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, how about it? I make the best chocolate milkshakes, my mom used to-"
"Max," I repeated, and he stopped talking. I went up to him and looked in his eyes.
I've always heard that eyes are the windows to the soul, or something like that, and I was sort of hoping there'd be something there to tell me what was going on. Well, that soul stuff is a load of bull; I couldn't see a thing there but blue. Max's eyes are blue. I'd never really noticed before.
"You ranked joint third in the whole country, remember?"
He laughed. "Of course I remember! I was there!"
"And you're part of the number one team in the world, right?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "Right!"
He didn't get my point at all.
"Max!" I yelled. "You're not listening!"
His smile left for the second time. That must be some kind of record or something. I'd known Max for months and never once seen him get mad, then in one night, I'm the one who finally finds out where his nerves are kept and gets on them. Twice.
Great.
"I'm listening, all right!" he said angrily. "You're telling me I'm a third-rate beyblader-"
"Max, you were third place in one tournament, you're notthird-rate!" I said, sort of... I don't know, shocked, I suppose, that he could even think that I thought he wasn't any good.
"But not as good as you, right, Tyson?"
When I have no idea what to say, I end up going with the first thing that comes into my head, no matter how unhelpful.
"Rei was third too!"
A bit like that.
"Rei didn't finish his match!" Max said, raising his voice. "Did you ever think that he might have beaten you if he'd played round three? I bet he has! He knows he's good, no matter where he placed! But I played Kai and-"
Saying the first thing that comes into your head isn't the smartest thing to do, but I'm not the smartest guy either. So, even though I'd already made him even angrier by doing just that, I went right ahead and said:
"But Max, Kai's inhuman!"
Right, because that's the point he was making...
I could've kicked myself, really hard. Seriously, how irrelevant can I get?
And Max knew it. "Tyson, that's so lame!" he said, staring at me. "Who cares if Kai's inhuman or not? He's the captain of the Bladebreakers, and a champion in his own right."
"He also has no friends!"
"Which is probably why he's so good!" Max shouted at me. "If I spent less time around here eating pizza and playing stupid games, I could spend more time practising, and be better!"
I frowned. "Max, you're the friendliest guy I know. How can you stand there and say you don't want all these people to like you? Kai's a machine, do you really want to be like that?"
"Sometimes, yes, I do, okay?"
I'd had enough of this. It's always been my policy to say exactly what I think, so that's exactly what I did.
"Well then maybe you should go home, get some more practise!" I yelled. "I mean, if it bothers you so much to hang out with me, we probably shouldn't do that anymore! I know I don't want to stand in the way of Max, the Friendless Juggernaut Machine on his quest to be a world champion beyblader!" I turned away, and began to walk inside. "You should hook up with Kai, you two could get along real nice!"
"Well fine!" I heard him say furiously, and he just walked away, right there and then.
I was just thinking about how weird this whole night had been, when it suddenly hit me that he was leaving.
After a moment of shock, I thought it through. I figured it was Max's problem if I'd been myself, and he couldn't deal with that. And that was fine, I have other friends who don't start stupid fights. I'd probably be better off without him, if he was that unpredictable.
Do you really want Max to be predictable and happy all the time?
Okay, I still don't know where that came from, but I'm telling you now, it whacked me in the face as if Max himself had slapped me.
Do you really believe the world should change to fit in around you?
Put like that, it sounded almost... I don't know, selfish or something. Obnoxious at least. But people called me obnoxious all the time, and it had never bothered me before...
Max showed you something different tonight, for the first time, and you couldn't handle it.
"But he started it!" I muttered, trying to stop these thoughts. What a weird night...
And why did he start it? You don't know even know why he was being so touchy! You didn't even bother to find out! Besides, does it even matter? If he leaves now, he won't come back.
Shows how much you know, I thought resentfully. Max doesn't hold grudges, I'm sure of it.
No, but you do. Max won't come back because you won't let him. Your stupid, pig-headed pride won't let him.
Why were my own thoughts rebelling in my head? It didn't seem fair, I was a captive audience.
If Max would really never come back, I would only ever see him at matches, only ever with a beyblade in his hand. I didn't want that, not at all! I like it when Max comes over and we watch movies and eat pizza. I know it's weird, but I also kind of liked that we could have our knees touching and not care at all.
But I didn't want him around because we'd had one little fight? Because he wasn't as predictable as I thought? That made no sense, even to me.
I heard the door click. He came outside with his bag, completely ignored me and walked to the end of my front yard.
Maybe I should-
I was running after him before I'd even finished thinking about it.
"Max!"
He carried on walking.
"Hey, Max! Stop!"
I ran round in front of him, blocking his way out. He glared at me and I glared right back.
"What do you want?" he said, and hearing his voice so hostile made me wish I hadn't bothered. But I had started it, so I had to finish it.
"Why did you just blow up like that?"
He looked away, but his voice sounded softer when he spoke again.
"It doesn't matter, really, I shouldn't have and I'm sorry." He began to walk away again, past me. "See you at practice."
"Max."
He didn't stop.
"Max!"
He carried on walking.
"Please don't go."
I never, never, neverask people to stick around if they want to leave. Never. I mean, if they can't deal with me being who I am, that's their problem, not mine. But... I don't know, suddenly it felt like I'd be the one missing out on something if Max left.
He stopped, and turned around. When he did, I knew that he got just how weird it was for me to beg him to stay like that. But I didn't regret it this time, because he wasn't looking angry any more. "Look, Tyson, you don't want me around, and that's okay. It's better that you tell me now and I-"
My previous thoughts exactly, but we were both wrong.
"No! That's not what I..." I trailed off, because - well, I had no idea what to say. I tried again. "Look, Max, I do want you around, but I don't want to not know where you're coming from when you pick a fight with me!"
We carried on looking at each other, but it wasn't glaring anymore. Actually, I don't know what we were doing. Max's head was tilted to one side, like he was thinking hard. It was weird though, it was like he was trying to figure out something about me.
He spoke first, sounding really tired, even though it wasn't that late.
"Tyson, when we have to do interviews and stuff, what do they ask you?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"What do they ask you?"
I thought for a second. "Mostly about what it's like to be a complete rookie suddenly in the spotlight. Why?"
"Do you have any idea what they ask me?"
"You've never really talked about it before."
"That's because they ask me what it's like to be the weakest link on a team like the Bladebreakers."
My eyes boggled, I swear. I couldn't stop blinking.
"And they ask me how I felt being the only Bladebreaker to lose a match against the White Tigers, and what it's like being friends with Tyson, the rising star of beyblading, and if I've heard the rumours that I'm going to be replaced-"
"Max!" I shouted, not caring what I said as long as it stopped him saying things like that. However, this time, the first thing that came into my head wasn't so bad after all. "Mr Dickinson would never replace you, never!"
"But Tyson, it's true!" The way he said it, I knew he must have been thinking about this for a long time. "I am the weakest link on the team! They should replace me, you should replace me, and I don't know why you haven't already!"
"Because we couldn't replace you even if we wanted to!" I said in a "don't be silly" voice, more than a little irritated that he'd even think we would, let alone expect us to. "You're too good Max, you've just come up against some good competitors, that's all!"
"So have you! So has Rei! Neither of you lose as many matches as I do!"
I wanted to scream, to shout at him, to try and get it into his thick, blonde head how good he was, how I'd never met anyone like him. Instead, I said quietly, "Max, you're one of the best bladers I've ever met. You deserve to be on the team."
He nodded dismissively, and I felt like shaking him. Instead, I did something weird. It was a really weird night.
I hugged the guy, actually put my arms round him and pulled him close. I don't know why I did it, I just couldn't stand to see him that miserable for another second. Something had to be done, and apparently, this was it.
"No, Max, you're not listening!" I whispered. "You're one of the best bladers I've ever met. You deserve to be on the team."
Max slumped slightly. I know what people look like when they're defeated, and Max was well and truly beaten. But he needed to get those things out of his head and in front of me, so I could deal with them with him. It was a good kind of defeat, and that's what counts.
Suddenly, I realised I was hugging another guy.
I let go again quickly, of course, and mumbled, "Sorry," straight away, but it was too late.
I probably could have come up with something to say at that point, to laugh it off, but Max was giving me this weird, sort of... intense look. Really serious. It knocked me off balance.
"I… I…" I stuttered, feeling trapped. And let me tell you, it sucked! The one time I actually had something real to say, and not a single thing in my brain was working. How is that fair?
I wanted to tell him I'm not like that really, that it was just a one-off, but at the same time let him know that I didn't regret it, I just didn't want him to get the wrong idea. I wanted to tell him I'm an idiot, and I don't say things like they're supposed to be said, but that we need him on the team, and I couldn't imagine beyblading without him anymore. I wanted to tell him so many things - but as it turned out, I didn't need to.
Max knew. I don't know how, but he did. He just knew, straight away, exactly what I wanted to say, and saved me the trouble of actually saying it by slipping his arms around my neck and hugging me back.
The second weirdest thing of this whole weird night, beaten only by me hugging him first.
I wasn't sure what to do. I mean, girls hug each other all the time, but I'm a guy, it's not something I've ever really thought about! I didn't know if I should like, hug him back, or push him away, or act like it was a big joke, or what.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Max whisper, "Thank you, Tyson," and suddenly it didn't matter. I'd been the one allowed to see Max get angry for the first time, and I'd been the one allowed to cheer him up again. If that was the way it was going to be from now on, I figured I could deal with that.
While I was standing there, reality kicked in, and I realised how cold Max was. Then I realised how cold I was.
"Hey, we should go inside, finish that movie?" I suggested.
I'd known that he'd laugh, but I didn't realise how good it would sound after everything he'd said that night. "Sounds good to me, Tyson!" he said cheerfully. Then he jumped up and ran away. "Race you to your room!" he called over his shoulder.
And that was it. In most ways, it was as if nothing had ever happened.
The girls I know hang around with their "best friends", and do a lot of whispering and hugging and stuff like that. Well, that's kind of what me and Max ended up like, sharing secrets and holding hands. Actually, we never told each other a single secret or held each other's hands once, but it was like… you know, like we could if we wanted to, and it wouldn't matter at all.
I guess Max is like, my best friend or something, and that's fine by me. I mean, as long as it's not in public or anything, it's actually really cool to have someone who doesn't mind putting their arms around me sometimes, or saying things like, "Life would be really boring if you weren't around, Tyson." Which he does. Sometimes I even answer, tell him that it'd suck around here without him. Then we shut up and watch whatever movie's on, or carry on with the video game.
So… That's what's going on, and I like it a lot, even if it is weird. It's a good kind of weird, and that's what really counts, right?