A/N: Someone on tumblr drew some hella amazeballs fan art (found here:: post/124201552585/loads-of-pricefield-theres-never-enough-of-a) and two drawings caught my eye (first and third). My head tied them together into a fic that was going to be fluffy, I swear. Then.. angst started happening. I don't think it's that bad though, but. You be the judge. So, yep. That happened. Feel free to leave reviews and comment and such (on here, or on my tumblr post). Enjoy!
Chloe first realized that Max was beautiful after she almost died for the second, no, third, time on the train tracks behind her. The tracks that Max had just pulled her away from. "Now we're totally bonded for life!" she had exclaimed as she had wrapped Max in a relieved hug.
But now that some of the heart-racing adrenaline was slowly pumping its way out of her system, a new heartbeat started racing her heart anew. Max's starry eyes staring into hers as she clutched her forearms like they were her only lifeline. "We're totally bonded for life...," she murmured again as her gaze dropped unconsciously to Max's lips.
"Yeah... bonded," Max replied, her volume matching Chloe's. And the low pitch made Chloe burn with want.
God she's so close, she screamed in her head, forcing her eyes back up to Max's. And found that her eyes were still shining. "I don't think any of those chumps at Blackwell could say that they've saved your life, huh?" she tried instead, but her voice was wavering so goddamn much. Shit, does she know how bad I want her right now?
"Actually, I've saved your life three times, dork?" Max corrected her with a giggle as she pushed playfully out of Chloe's hold. And Chloe missed the contact immediately.
"Right, right," she shrugged, trying to play it cool. Trying to pretend that she wasn't just thinking inappropriate thoughts just then. "Still, must mean you're like, my guardian angel or something, right?"
"Absolutely. I'll always protect you Chloe," Max said sincerely as she glanced over her right shoulder at the taller girl. "You have my word."
"Sweet," Chloe grinned, her heart still racing. Damnit! Maybe the reason she hasn't kissed me yet is because she already did and I didn't react right and she rewound! Shit... okay, play it cool still. Everything's fine. "One superpowered Mad Max to the rescue!"
"Such a dork," Max repeated with another light laugh.
Fuck she's just so... fuck! "Two Whales?" Chloe blurted out, then frantically tried to recover. I'm supposed to be cool for shit's sake! "For uh.. to celebrate! That you saved me, like, once again you know."
"I don't see why not," she replied as she casually wound her arm around Chloe's waist. "We could definitely use a break."
"I could use a break," Chloe muttered to herself as she combusted internally before cautiously settling her arm around Max's shoulder, her heart pounding at two levels of confusion; it felt so right on one hand, but on the other... well, this was Max that they were talking about.
"Hm, what was that?"
"I uh.. nah, it wasn't anything. Nope, nothing," she floundered, focusing on putting her feet evenly between the railway slats.
"Chloe Price, you are an awful liar!" Max exclaimed, bumping her hip gently against the other girl's.
"Well, I'm allowed to be, aren't I? I almost died, dude!" she exclaimed, playfully affronted.
"Yeah... almost," Max answered, her voice haunted. "I saved you so... you're here."
Chloe almost stopped in her tracks at Max's tone, her blood running cold. "Max... did you see-?"
"No I- it's nothing Chlo. I don't want to talk about it," she snapped abruptly, her grip tightening at Chloe's side for a moment. "Let's just go to Two Whales okay?"
"Well you two are awfully quite today," Joyce remarked as she placed an order of waffles, piled high with whipped cream and strawberries, in front of each them. "Chloe, you haven't even snapped at me since you walked in. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, so if I don't fight with you, then there's something wrong with me?" Chloe scoffed, "Gee, thanks a lot."
Joyce grinned slightly at that, looking over at the other girl and giving Max a slight eye-roll, which wasn't returned, much less acknowledged. "How 'bout you Max? Everything alright there?"
I saw your daughter die. Over and over and over again until I could figure out how to save her. I almost died myself because I almost didn't have enough power but I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let her die... couldn't go on with my life thinking the whole time that I should have tried harder to-
"Max?" It was Chloe this time, her worried tone causing Max to glance up from the mountain of whipped cream before her, the red strawberries reminding her of Chloe's blood all over- "You okay?"
"I'm not hungry right now, actually," Max muttered abruptly, rising from the bench and stumble-shoving her way past Joyce. "Need some fresh air."
Both Price women watched Max in her rapid retreat from the diner with slightly stunned expressions. Joyce was the first one to recover however. "Well?"
"Huh?" was the blank reply.
"Are you gonna go out there and chase after her, or not?" Joyce suggested sternly, her tone snapping Chloe into action.
"Yeah, oh.. yeah! Right, okay, later mom!" she called back in a rush, tripping over her shoes to catch up to the other girl.
"Max! Hey, wait- Max, would you just-" Chloe huffed after the smaller girl, who had managed to make a fair amount of ground in the few seconds it took Chloe to race after her. "Max!" Chloe exclaimed, finally latching onto her arm and pulling her up short by the bus stop. "Are you gonna tell me what the hell all that was back there?" She yanked on Max's arm and wheeled her around to face her. And found her crying. "Shit..."
"Chloe... you.. you died," Max's muffled sobs sounded from Chloe's shoulder, where she had gently coaxed the other girl into a hug. "A.. a lot. And I couldn't save you..."
"But you did save me. I'm here now. So you saved me," Chloe assured gently into her hair, rubbing a soothing hand up and down the small of her back.
"Only because I... I couldn't imagine..."
A life without you, Chloe finished in her head. Shit... Max... "But you don't have to now. Because I'm here. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere without you."
"Promise?" Max asked in a small, watery voice as she pulled her face from Chloe's shoulder, leaving tear-stains behind.
"Promise," she almost replied. Almost. But she didn't trust her voice to speak. Instead, she lifted one hand to Max's face, brushed away her tears with a gentle thumb before cupping her face and leaning down to softly capture Max's lips.
Joyce looked out the window of the diner as she placed an order in front of a customer and saw her daughter leaning down to kiss Max, who was meeting her halfway. "I guess that's one way to cheer someone up," she chuckled to herself as Max wound her arms around Chloe's neck and Chloe pulled Max up to stand on her tip toes. "It's about damn time you two. About damn time."