Disclaimer: I haven't had one in a while so um…I do not own Beyblade? …yay!

Chapter 12: Feels Like Forever

Was that sound always there?

I roll over.

What even is it?

I roll over again.

It can't be the refrigerator, that's on the other side. Maybe the shower?

I roll back to the other side.

I don't think anyone is showering at midnight… And it kind of rattles. If the shower is rattling we should probably call a repair person.

I roll onto my back, spread out and stare at the ceiling.

What the hell am I doing?

Maybe some warm milk will help.

I roll off the bed and jump over the pile of clothes I had retrieved from Kai's dresser to open the door. Meeting me on the other side is Max, hand raised in mid knock. He blushes, a little embarrassed, as he lowers his hand before smiling and holding up a bowl of popcorn.

"Wanna watch a movie?" he asks sheepishly.

"How did you..?" He looks away and his free hand instantly moves to tuck his hair behind his ear.

"I just figured you wouldn't be able to sleep… And we don't have classes for awhile… So I thought we could have a sleepover…sorta?" He relaxes and shrugs. "I guess it isn't much of a sleepover since we live here. Heh." I smile and take the bowl from him.

"It sounds like a great idea," I reassure him. He brightens and we take off down the hallway.

"Awesome! I thought I might have been being pretentious." I shake my head and settle into the couch as he goes over to the DVD player and starts pushing buttons.

"I think the word you're looking for is precocious, but to be honest I appreciate the interruption," I respond with a slight frown. He nods and comes over to sit down next to me.

"I picked something scary, I hope you don't mind," he asks as he takes the bowl back to settle it between us.

"Are you kidding me? It would be a much better excuse of why I can't sleep if anyone asks," I joke. He laughs and grabs a big handful of popcorn.

"I'm sure it won't last long. I see the way he looks at you." He sends me a mischievous smirk before shoving the handful into his mouth and I look at him in disbelief. I wanted to be mad at him but it was good to see him back to his old self.

After I had forced him to resolve things with Tyson, everyone seemed a bit more spirited. We had gathered Kenny and Tyson just as we'd planned and had a lovely evening shopping for holiday decorations. Kai had called once but I had ignored it. Tyson, not wanting to show how pleased that made him, had called him back to yell at him for being anti-social and not wanting to join us. I'm not quite sure how Kai had responded but Tyson had looked bristled and annoyed for a good ten minutes before brushing it aside and dragging Kenny off to get lost. I had let Max know I was happy for him and he'd kindly offered me some mistletoe as a consolation prize. After telling him he was immature, I gladly accepted it as a last resort option if I couldn't figure this out on my own. As hard as it was, I was ignoring Kai on purpose because I wanted him to feel the loss. I didn't want to be the one always running back to him. That, and I didn't really want to face him just yet. I felt pathetic in a way. One, for letting myself get so carried away. And two, because even if I had signs that it was working, he still seemed to have all the control in the world. And he never showed signs of wavering even just a little bit.

I was running out of ideas too. So far all I had come up with was to be as attractive as I possibly could but never let myself get within touching distance. It was strange but it was actually proving more difficult for me than it was for him.

After we finished our shopping, we gathered some things at the grocery to cook and had settled in to a nice dinner with the five of us. Kai did his best to ignore all of us but between Max's teasing him (and me), Tyson's smothering, and my subtle but expressive looks, he'd eventually given in and left the table to retire. We hadn't seen him for the rest of the night and Tyson had shown Kenny out before settling in to sleep himself.

Which led us to where we were now.

I spent the next two hours tossing and turning uncomfortably and wondering why it felt different sleeping alone when it was by choice. I had gotten up three times with conviction to just go talk to Kai and get the whole thing over with, but that had turned into pacing and talking to myself until I didn't feel like it anymore. I needed to be sure of what I wanted to say and it couldn't just be an apology. Not if I wanted to come out of this with any pride at all.

"Do you think that when you get exorcized you forget everything you did while you were possessed?" Max asks curiously. I think about it a minute, not looking away from the TV.

"I get the impression that it's more likely you would die from the exorcism if you were really that possessed," I offer as a response. He takes on a quizzical look.

"Hmmm, possibly. But they always seem to live in the end," he concludes, still questioning the whole scenario. "I can't imagine living a normal life after all that." He shrugs it off and takes another big handful of popcorn. I think about it a minute and then turn to him.

"How much different is it than what we've been through?" He tilts his head to the side to consider it.

"I don't think it's the same. WE never broke every bone in our bodies or levitated furniture." He sends me a goofy grin as if the whole thing is just so ridiculous to even think of.

"Hmn," I answer in agreement. "Sure but…I almost did." I smile back as if winning the argument and he shakes his head.

"Not like THAT," he stresses, indicating the TV with a giggle before throwing the popcorn at me. "Don't over-dramatize, Ray. These are impressionable CHILDREN who will grow up to be crazy."

"So were we!" I shoot back, returning the popcorn as well.

"Well SOR-ry. But I don't see it. You haven't tried to kill your family or hidden in the corner crying like a baby at the slightest bit of unexpected noise!" This starts a whole popcorn war that doesn't stop until the whole bowl is empty and popcorn is scattered all over the floor and couch. We sit back, tired and laughing, and he shakes his head again. He takes in a deep breath before turning towards me with a serious look. "Hey, can you promise me something?" he asks quietly.

"What is it?" I look at him curiously and he sits up straighter.

"We've all been through a lot together to have it just end up like this." Not hearing a question in there, I wait for him to continue. "I know it's none of my business… And I know it's complicated right now… But… Can you be the one to take initiative?" He sighs and sinks back into the couch in a huff. "One of us has to," he mumbles as what sounds like an afterthought.

"What does…"

"What are you guys doing?" Tyson interrupts my inquiry. Max instantly shoots up to standing and puts on his usual exuberant front. One day I might figure out where he keeps all that extra energy stored.

"We were just watching a movie. Wanna join?" he offers enthusiastically, then second guesses his decision and gives me a worried look asking if I'm okay with that. I turn towards Tyson and nod.

"This one is almost over but we can start another," I offer him a smile to make the gesture easier to accept. He stands a minute as if trying to figure out where he is and scratches his head. I hesitate, unsure if he's still waking up or if he's really thinking about whether a movie is as exciting as what he thought we COULD have been doing instead. His expression remains unreadable so I do what I normally do when I can't decide what the correct action is. I keep talking. "Or we can do something else?" I suggest just to get him to react in some way.

"We could play a game?" Max joins in, looking back at Tyson expectantly and saving me from continuing with a bunch of other random suggestions that were rising on my tongue. Tyson looks from me to Max and takes a tiny shuffling step forward. He scratches his chin.

"Can I ask a question first?" I frown a little unsure and nod. I assume he wants to ask where Kai is or why Max and I are having a sleepover with just the two of us, expecting him to wonder why he wasn't invited too. Not wanting to go into explanations of WHY we were there or what the reasoning had been, I am relieved when he simply asks, "What time is it?" instead. I sigh and the stiffness of the room seems to fade away. Max wades through the mess we made to make his way over to him.

"You raise a very good question my friend and let me just tell you how much it's appreciated…" Max snakes an arm over Tyson's shoulders to hold him in place as he uses the other to twist a thumb under his rib in a playful manner. Tyson protests and pushes him away, fully waking up grabbing a pillow from the couch to hit him back just as playfully.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Let's get this party started!" he throws his hands up, dropping the pillow, and rushes over, flopping down on the couch next to me. "What are we watching?"

"Some old scary movies I had laying around," Max explains as he goes to the DVD player to switch out the disk, before he plops down next to Tyson and hits play again. I watch them a moment as they ignore the movie (and me) and go about their childish banter the way they usually do. I can't help but feel proud again. Just yesterday they were fighting like cats and dogs and now they're back to their old selves. Max has managed to act natural again, not displaying the nervousness he had been earlier and Tyson didn't show one ounce of still being angry. I hadn't expected anything else from them but things always seemed better when they were getting along. Now if I could just get everyone else to get along too.

"So were you guys planning to stay up all night? No school tomorrow?" Tyson directs his question to both of us, bringing me back in to the loop. I groan.

"Can we not talk about school? This is fun time." He obliges and I get no more talk about school or anything else draining or serious but it is anything but quiet. Tyson starts telling us stories. Old stories. The ones about the things we used to do. And then Max starts telling stories. Then, what had started as a quiet, relaxing movie night with a friend to help get through a rough situation I haphazardly started, turned in to a loud messy shouting match about who was better than who at what. Tyson seemed to think he was superior on all counts. Max wouldn't let that settle and protested that he was better at certain things. The only thing I managed to convince them that I was better at was my cooking. However, Max still insisted that adding condiments to everything made it the best.

"It adds flavor!" he declares emphatically. I scoff.

"Are you saying I don't provide enough flavor?" I mock offense. He backtracks immediately.

"Not at all! I just mean, it gives MORE flavor. You can never have too much of that!"

"I disagree!" Tyson jumps in. "I've never needed to add anything to mine."

"I'm surprised you even taste yours at the rate you shove it in your mouth," Max returns, covering up a laugh.

"You're both ridiculous." I brush them off.

"I suppose that's just because you're so MATURE now huh? We're not immature just because we like to have fun still." Tyson throws a pillow in my direction but I dodge by jumping over the arm of the couch and backing away, laughing. Unfortunately, I back right into a very livid Kai, who just happened to enter the room at that moment. Fancy that, my rotten luck. And so much for avoiding contact. Just the unexpected bump jolted electric shocks right through me. When I jump away I shake them off casually, hoping nobody else noticed the goosebumps.

I turn and his rigid posture and cold glare is enough to make me go stiff and recoil further in the other direction, which lands me right up next to Tyson who has jumped up at Kai's appearance.

"Kai!" he greets him eagerly. Suddenly I feel trapped, being wedged between them, and all that's left is feeling awkward as they exchange words like I'm not there.

"It's 2am. What are you guys doing?" Kai replies icily. "Some of us have to work in a few hours." His glare remains on Tyson and Tyson takes a small step back, lessening the tension between me and him but not enough to make me any more comfortable.

"Stop talking like my dad. I just came out here myself. I WAS sleeping," Tyson shifts an annoyed look from me to Max before sitting back down in a huff and crossing his arms. "But this is more fun." His mood changes and he smiles happily. Kai glare moves to me and I feel like a deer caught in headlights. I want to move but my body doesn't want to react at my pleading.

"That doesn't explain what you are doing," he says, almost demanding the answer out of me. I swallow, my mouth feeling dry and crack a guilty smile.

"We were watching a movie," Max chimes in, saving me the pressure of bumbling my way through an explanation. He really is the best at knowing when I need the support. Just the gesture gives me a bit of my confidence back and I smile for real.

"Sorry we disturbed his highness." I bow slightly. "We will try to keep it down." Kai sighs visibly and looks away. For a moment I think about taking back the jibe. After hearing it out loud, it hadn't been the best response to the situation if I really wanted to amend things. I had half hoped he would respond the way he usually does when I say similar things but he clearly wasn't in the mood to joke with me right now. It is possible it was the presence of our friends that deterred him, but I had a feeling it was the situation in general. Maybe he was disappointed that his usual tactics to gain my compliance were ineffective. Maybe he thought I wasn't taking him seriously enough. I didn't want him to think that, but I didn't want to take it back either.

"You do that." He leaves, clearly not wanting to fight about it. Tyson jumps up again and rushes to the doorway.

"Why don't you just join us?" he calls down the hall. Kai's door closes. "Or not." Tyson lets out a defeated growl. "Ingrate."

"Maybe it's better that way," Max muses, exchanging a sad look with me. I frown. This wasn't what I wanted. None of it was. And Max was right about one thing, if I didn't take a step forward, nobody would. But it had to BE a step forward and NOT a step back.

I sit down on the arm of the couch.

"He's so moody. How do you put up with that?" Tyson grumbles, clearly still annoyed. I'm almost surprised that he is addressing our relationship openly and not his usual way of pretending it wasn't really happening.

"He isn't really. You just don't pay attention enough to notice," I defend him. Tyson scoffs.

"As if he would let anyone." The grumbles continue. I start to feel a twinge of anger rising inside me. I know Max had said that Tyson's feelings weren't real but a part of me couldn't believe that he was cruel enough to mess with somebody like that. He wasn't just hurting me by making me jealous, he was hurting Kai by leading him on. When he was with Kai he acted like his best friend but when he wasn't around, Kai was an ungrateful jerk. He couldn't have it both ways so which was it? Were they even really friends?

"It's like hot and cold with you. One minute you're gushing like a mother hen and the next you're shoving him out the door like an orphan. Do you even know how you feel?" I demand, getting a little too carried away. Max tenses and Tyson starts to look panicked so I stand up and turn my back to them, deciding that it's better to leave before I say something I won't mean. "Sorry…" I pause for a second before looking back with a half-smile. "I'm going to bed. We can finish our sleepover on the weekend when Tyson doesn't have work. Good-night guys." I don't wait for a response before I leave.

In my walk down the hall I started to think that I probably seemed no different to Kai. Hot and cold. In order to save our friendships, something had to change and it might have to be me.

I glance at Kai's door when I pass it, half hoping he'd left it open for me but it's closed and my heart sinks a bit. Then, I stop myself and shake my head with a conviction that had come somewhere between Max's concerned face and my rally to defend Kai's anti-social behaviors without thought. I march my way back to his door and give it a hearty, but somewhat soft (give me a break it is still 2am after all), knock. It doesn't take him long to answer.

"What?" he asks crossly, not bothering to hide his irritation or his unchanging want to be left in peace. I ignore him, throwing tact to the wind and pushing my way past him into the room. I walk over to the bed and jump, flopping down gracefully and curling myself around a pillow in comfort. "What are you doing?" Kai asks, confused and stopping in a place halfway between the door and the bed with the door still open.

"Taking initiative," I reply with a sleepy sigh before rolling over and falling right to sleep.

I don't know whether Kai stayed or left, or how long he stood there questioning what was happening without his consent or approval. Feeling the warmth and familiarity of being there was enough to knock me right out without so much as a glance back. When I wake up in the morning Kai is already in the shower. Briefly I consider intruding but having tested my luck already by regaining my place in bed, I decide it's not worth the risk.

So, I venture my way out to the kitchen instead. I make breakfast but instead of eating at the table, I decide to make my way to the living room. I stop in the doorway briefly to take in the state of the room, which is now empty and in shambles from the mess Max and I had made. Not wanting to deal with it right away, I ignore it and take my breakfast right to the couch, where I sit down, turn on the TV and start eating. A few minutes later, Kai joins me, carrying his own breakfast and sitting down next to me without a word.

"Good morning," I greet him.

"It'd be better if my floor wasn't covered in food," he retorts dryly, not bothering to look at me. I narrow my eyes slightly and set my breakfast plate aside on the table.

"Is this how it is going to be now?" I ask.

"How is what?" He looks at me from the corner or his eye but otherwise doesn't deviate from his position or the task of eating undisturbed. So I slide forward, placing a hand down next to his leg so I can lean over him, reaching with the other hand to go to brush his hair back. He doesn't object, even closing his eyes a little and tilting his head as if inviting the touch. But before I make contact with his skin, he turns towards me with a hard look which makes me withdraw.

"Spiteful…" I whisper with a frown. His eyes fall a moment before his meets mine again with a softer gaze.

"I'm not…"

"Morning!" Tyson rushes by like a hurricane with barely a wave and a nod of acknowledgement. The door slams shortly afterwards. Kai smirks and goes back to his breakfast as I move away from him.

"I don't want to say 'I told you so' but he's already an hour late…" He says in reprimand, causing me to roll my eyes.

"We both know that Tyson would do that even if he'd slept for 2 days."

"Hn." I fight a yawn at the thought of sleep.

"You don't have work too?" I ask, realizing that if Tyson was late, Kai should already be gone and he was being strangely slow at following Tyson's lead.

"Nope. He's working on a different project at the moment. I took some time off just to torture you," he replies casually as he gets up and heads back towards the kitchen with his empty plate. What was that supposed to mean? Before I have time to get carried away pondering over it he turns back with another smirk. "Maybe if you're good and clean up this mess, I won't be so hard on you."

If Kai was the winking type, I could totally see him sending me one before he departs. But he isn't and he doesn't; that was Max's job. Its absence doesn't make the sinking of my stomach any less painful as an uncomfortable feeling washes over me. He leaves and I shiver, getting a sudden chill. Why did it feel like I was in some kind of trouble now?

"Are you okay?" Max enters, his concern seeming more amplified than usual. I scowl and throw a pillow in his direction.

"Why didn't you guys clean up the mess?!" I ask crossly, practically pouting. He takes on a sympathetic yet guilty demeanor and slinks a few paces closer.

"Well we…" He blushes, cutting off his own words. All of his body language tells me that my leaving last night was probably the best thing I had ever done for him. I smirk.

"Did something…happen?" I push mischievously. For once I was getting to enjoy his discomfort at MY teasing instead of my own at HIS. He shuffles back again, the blush deepening as he becomes completely defensive.

"Not exactly…" He withdrawals. "I'll go grab a broom!" He slithers away, taking any excuse to not be there right now. I wasn't going to let him get away with it though. If he wanted the right to tease me all the time, it was only fair that I get to return the favor. Not only that, but his body was telling one story while his words were telling another. I wanted to know what he FELT was something but didn't quite MEAN something.

I shoot up, forgetting my breakfast plate and chasing after him. When I turn around the corner however, I freeze.

"Grab your coat," Kai orders. "We're going out."

"To where?" I blurt cautiously. No response other than him passing me to grab his own coat. "Do I at least get to get dressed?" I turn around to watch him and wait for an answer.

"I'll be outside. I don't recommend making me wait." He exits.

This feels like a trap more than a sign indicating that there was a trap ahead. The sinking feeling from before grows deeper and hits my stomach much harder, the knot making me feel like I probably should have skipped breakfast today. Just how dumb would I be if I followed him?

I take a moment to consider everything.

I guess I'm about to find out.