"Mi casa," Max said, holding her arms out as the door to her dorm swung open. Chloe ducked inside, the brunette following behind her.
"This sneaking in thing is getting to be pretty easy, eh?" The punk nudged Max, presumably looking quite smarmy.
"It is...but I'm pretty sure David basically gave me a free pass," she replied. "Which is nice of him."
"Stupid David, sucking the fun out of everything." Chloe huffed, crossing her arms.
"Right, because we want him to continue being our enemy." Max tilted her head, shooting Chloe a look that couldn't be seen in the dark. She flicked the lights on.
"Woooah," Chloe said, wide-eyed. "These are some nice digs, baby." She locked their arms together, sliding off her boots without untying them. She stopped suddenly as she caught sight of the Polaroid collage. Her mouth hung open slightly, something Max found adorable. "Did you take all of these?" She leaned over the bed, tracing her hand along the photos. Max 'mhm'd!' "It's beautiful..."
"Thanks!" Max beamed as Chloe wrapped her in a hug. "I think you're beautiful." The punk giggled.
"Seriously, look at that!" Chloe pointed to the wall. "Sometimes I forget how fucking talented you are." She placed a kiss in Max's hair. "I mean, not like forget forget, just that every so often I'm reminded." Max squirmed out of Chloe's grasp, moving over to her desk.
"You're talented too, Chloe! Do you still draw and write and stuff?" She thought for a moment. "There's still weird stuff we need to catch up on, I guess."
"Nah, I kind of stopped a while ago..." Chloe said, taking a seat on Max's bed.
"You should start again!" Max cheered, holding up her journal. "You know I'm not even that good at it, but I've been keeping this journal for a long time. It actually saved me." Max laughed a little. "You totally are still drawing, by the way. Your graffiti is everywhere." The punk blew a raspberry, waving a dismissive hand. Suddenly Max's phone chirped.
Dana: Max! Had so much fun tonight!
Dana: I just checked fb and it says you are single. LIAR!
Dana, you are soooo nosy, in a weirdly good way.
Max giggled, moving back to show Chloe her phone.
"Looks like Dana wants us to make it 'Facebook Official,' Chlo," she said.
"Why not?" Chloe grinned. "Proclaim it from the digital rooftops!"
"Um, we should...but maybe I should tell my parents first. I'm friends with relatives on there and I guess they deserve to hear it from me first?" She blushed.
"Whatever floats your boat, Maxipad. I for one am excited to..." The punk trailed off. "Dude!" She exclaimed, hopping off of the bed and skating over to the guitar leaning against the sofa. "Holy shit! This is awesome!" She held it up, strumming one clumsy chord, smiling deviously. Her face twisted into confusion, glancing down at the guitar and back at Max. "Uh, do you play this thing?"
"Yeah, but I'm not very good..." Max blushed again.
"That is awesome!" Chloe hopped in place, her grin tearing through Max's heart. "Oh man, you just keep getting sexier!" Max snickered, walking over to the punk and taking the guitar from her hands before setting it down.
"I said I'm not very good," she insisted. "And I don't know how to play any of your crazy punk music." Chloe drooped her head to the side, giving the brunette a wry smile.
"Yeah, that crazy Bright Eyes shit, right? Fuckin' thrashing the room," she scoffed.
"Dude, Conor Oberst can fly off the rails when he wants," Max said, flopping on the couch. She patted the seat next to her. "I can play Lua." Chloe squealed in excitement, taking her place next to Max.
"That is hella sick, you've got to play for me sometime." She clutched Max's hand, bringing it to her lips.
"Maybe someday," the hipster said, her cheeks growing red once more. She inched closer to Chloe, slinging one leg across the punk's.
"So, did you want me to leave so you could get some sleep or...?" The blue haired girl posed the question, clearly desiring a specific answer.
"Kinda thought you were stayin' the night," Max muttered, glancing to the side. The punk lit up, throwing her arms around the smaller girl. After a moment of settling into each other, Max spoke. "Man, today was a whirlwind, huh? I cried a lot, then cried some more...then told Kate we were dating. Then met Frank." She used air quotes on the word 'met.'
"And you got baked!" Chloe added.
"Aaand I got baked," Max laughed. "That was interesting..."
That really was fun, I wonder if I should do it more often...
"It was adorable is what it was. I wonder what you're like when you're drunk?" Chloe mused, twirling a finger through Max's hair.
"You tryin' to corrupt me?" The brunette asked, her voice low and flirtatious.
"Totally," Chloe said, beginning to lean into Max. "Just a little bit, here and there..." She put more pressure on the girl until Max was lying on her back. The punk hovered over her, a hand pressed into the cushion to keep her separated. Maybe it was the lighting in the room, but in that angle, Chloe looked like a total goddess. Max felt her throat dry up, a warm feeling pinball-ing through her stomach.
"Hey you," Chloe whispered, her breath lightly washing over Max's face. The tone she used made Max glad she wasn't standing, because her knees were positively gelatin.
"Hi..." Max managed, her mind racing.
Chloe, you are...so beautiful.
The blue haired girl descended upon the brunette. Their lips met, their feet tangled. Max's hands rushed through blazing blue hair while Chloe's free hand curled under the girl's back. Twisting together, Chloe's body flat on hers, Max wrapped her legs around the girl's waist. The punk pulled away, flashing a sinister smirk, before attacking Max's neck.
Poor girl, ya didn't even stand a chance. Just look at her...or rather, feel her. Wait...is she biting me?
The slight pinching prompted several low moans as the brunette writhed. She felt her mind go bubbly, the fear and sadness she had felt the past week washed away in the ocean of Chloe's love.
"You bein' a vampire?" Max snickered, Chloe mumbling in the affirmative against her skin. She closed her eyes tight, letting the sensation take her over. Chloe, finally moving the hand that was no longer propping her up, tightly grabbed Max's wrist, pinning it against the arm of the sofa.
A small roar of thunder raced through her head, but it was drowned out by the punk's lips. It appeared again, gliding through the background of bliss. A general sense of unease began growing in Max's chest. It struck a third time, this time the sound of it threatening to blow her head apart. Her breathing hitched as her eyes sprung open. Feeling her heartbeat speed up, she glanced around the room, panicked.
What's going on? I'm freaking out. What...
Max suddenly became very aware of how tightly Chloe was holding her wrist. She began to feel sick, her stomach unwinding.
"Chloe..." She breathed, anxious. The girl either didn't hear her, or took it as a moan of enjoyment. "Chloe..." She said again, feeling the small bites become ever more unpleasant. Finally, with a bit more gusto than she had probably meant, Chloe nipped at Max in such a way that it stung, sending a sharp needle-like pain through her neck.
I hope you don't mind needles and duct tape.
"Chloe!" Max screamed, using every ounce of strength she had to throw the punk off of her and onto the floor. She sat up, sobbing, putting her head in her hands.
"Max, what the fuck was..." Chloe trailed off. "Max? Max!" The brunette felt tears against her hands, before a third hand she wasn't the owner of gripped her chin and yanked her face upward forcefully.
"I'm sorry! I just..." She stared into Chloe's horrified, blue eyes, the punk's hand resting under her chin. The blue haired girl's lip began to quiver, a single tear falling down her cheek. "Chloe? What's wrong?" Max asked, still feeling anxious.
"Your uh..." Her voice caught in her throat. "Your nose..." Her hand moved up from Max's chin to her cheek, where her thumb grazed across the pooling blood. "Did...I do that?" She asked, wincing. Max brought her own hand up to her nose, feeling the warm liquid beneath it. Something in her snapped, and she began sobbing.
"Hey, hey," Chloe whispered as she took her seat back on the couch. "Are you okay? What happened?" She left kisses along the brunette's cheek and in her hair before stopping at her ear. She slowly slipped her arms around Max, hesitant to cause any more discomfort. "You're okay, you're okay," she repeatedly whispered into the crying girl's ear.
"I'm not sure I am, though, Chloe!" Max wailed. "How fucking long is this going to happen!?" She leaned to the side, ripping a tissue from the box on the floor and patting it under her nose.
How long will this go on? Stop torturing me!
"Did you have a panic attack?" Chloe asked, whispering. "You're okay, I'm here. I'm here."
"I..." Max began, sobbing right after the words left her mouth. Chloe slightly tightened her embrace. A few minutes passed, Chloe continually whispering comforting things into her ear before she could continue. She sighed, the crying finally lessening. "When Jefferson kidnapped me, he..." She turned to face the punk, seeing now that Chloe had been crying with her. "He tied me up with duct tape...when you grabbed my wrist, I just started thinking about it." She closed her eyes, lightly smacking her head against the wall behind her. "I'm sorry."
"Don't you dare fucking apologize to me, Max." Chloe said, her voice carrying some bite. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry, okay?" She wrapped the brunette in a hug, crying tears into her shoulder. "Not tonight, but when you're ready...you have to tell me what happened to you. If there's a chance this could happen, that I could like...trigger this, I need to know what not to do." She kissed Max's cheek. "I will not be the reason you're hurting. I love you and I need to protect you."
"I'm sorry I pushed you..." Max sighed, blushing a little but clearly frustrated. Seeing the change in mood, Chloe smirked.
"You got some strength in that bony body of yours," she laughed. Max giggled before slipping back into darkness.
"This can't keep happening," she said. "I can't have this like, ghost PTSD that causes nosebleeds. I can't even go to the doctor for it!" She pressed a palm to her temple.
"We'll figure it out, babe," Chloe said, kissing Max's other temple. "No tight wrist holding, I'll jot it down for future reference. We'll work on it."
"I don't want there to be these fucked up guidelines between us, Chloe!" Max said, her voice rising in volume. "I want to do anything and everything with you without having to worry about this shit."
"We'll get there in time," Chloe said. "Time that, thanks to you, we have. We'll get there." Chloe repositioned herself, slinging her arms around Max and dragging her onto her lap.
"I'm taller than you..." The hipster remarked, pouting with a muted laughter behind it.
"Super-sized Super Max," the punk whispered, holding the girl as close to her as she could.
The two girls snuggled, mostly in quiet, for an hour after Max's meltdown. The only times Chloe spoke during this period, she simply reiterated 'I love you' over and over. Max's mind had calm down, the shadows slinking back to their corner in her head. Now she was relishing the comfort Chloe was providing, occasionally humming different songs.
"Would you go to Dana's Halloween thing with me? I know it's not really your style so..." Max finally said. Chloe snickered into her ear, leaving a kiss behind.
"I'd do anything for you, Max. And Dana seems pretty cool. I trust Trevor's judgment in people. Not really...in anything else, ever, but in people." The blue haired girl said seriously.
"I'm happy they got together in this timeline," Max said quietly. "But I also know Justin really had a thing for her...I still feel kind of bad for him."
"He'll be fine," Chloe said. "Justin's kind of like that sad indie boy that's in every hippy movie I'm sure you love." Max rolled her eyes. "Falls for any girl that even glances his direction. He had a thing for Rachel and me, too." She thought for a moment. "Not to be inconsiderate of his feelings. We all know how much it fucking sucks to care for someone and them not feel the same. But he's tough, he'll figure it out." She thought for a moment. "He's perpetually high and when he's not being a goofball, it makes him kind of emotional."
"That's funny coming from you, the literal incarnate of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl," Max chided. Chloe cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't think so, Maxine." Chloe said, resting her head on the back of the sofa. "Isn't the big knock against that trope that they're flawless and bubbly? I've got my fair share of flaws..." She blew air through her lips. "I think I'm doing a good job with it for now right? But what if I just relapse into being a severe brat again? I've been given a second...er, fifth or sixth chance at life."
"Chloe," Max placed a hand on the punk's leg. "You are perfect. You're real world perfect, not Hollywood perfect, and that's better. Perfection is like art or any worthwhile thing in life – it's subjective. And in the opinion of this...artiste," she grinned, emphasizing it in a silly way, "you are perfect."
Chloe stared at her, a warm smile budding in her cheeks. She took Max's hand and kissed it before frowning.
"I had to go to the doctor for a while after you left. Didn't last too long because my mom caved when I threw a tantrum about it, but there was a lot of discussion about me maybe having some sort of...thing." She waved her hand, simulating a Jedi Mind Trick. "They never diagnosed me with anything. They try to avoid it for people under a certain age. But I know several possibilities arose – bipolar and borderline personality were the two big ones they always mentioned." She stopped to read Max's face, who was listening intently, keeping one of Chloe's hands pressed between hers. "Anyway, that's always been sort of like this boogeyman in the back of my head. Believe it or not, I'm usually aware of when I'm being a shithead. But I still do it because there's a part of my brain that just acts." She sighed slowly. Max surprised her with several quick kisses to her cheeks.
Oh, Chloe. My poor Chloe.
"Go on," the brunette insisted, adding several more after she spoke.
"I dunno, there's not much more to go on about... It's just a thought I have sometimes. I spend so much time psyching myself up or rationalizing my shit by saying shit like 'oh well Dad's gone, Max's gone, this is appropriate behavior.' But deep down I always wonder if there's more to it, if there's something wrong with me on a chemical level." She shrugged, adding a lopsided smile. Max could tell it was forced.
"Chloe, even if you have some sort of illness, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. You can't help it!" Max wrapped her arms around the punk.
"I know. Or, I mean I know that in a logical sense. But it's always there in the back of my mind. I've never really discussed this with anyone..." She smiled. "But I thought you should know. Transparency and all that." Max kissed her, stifling her last syllable.
"We can be fucked up together," Max nodded, squishing her cheek against Chloe's. "Um...do you think you might go to back to the doctor eventually? Like I said, I love you the way you are, but if you think you need it..."
"Not sure," Chloe said. "That's kind of a scary thought... To get like, confirmation? But if it gets bad, like affects us? Yeah, I'll do anything I can." Max thought for a moment.
"Together forever," she said. "Nothing you do is going to drive you away from me. I'm only worried about you're comfort. I want you to be happy." Then she laughed. "God, 'together forever' is the type of bullshit all couples say to each other regardless of circumstance. It's so weird that we kind of have proof." The punk grinned, nipping at Max's nose.
"More like together whenever." She sighed. "Anyway, I see you struggling with this trauma and everything that's happened with Kate and all...I just wanted you to know that some small portion of me gets it. Even if the situation isn't entirely similar, it's still the idea of mental demons." She rocked her head back and forth. "And transparency. No secrets between us."
"No secrets," Max agreed, tightening her grasp on her girlfriend.
"Well, that's weird to talk about theoretical madness," Chloe said, her tone shifting to familiar sarcasm. "Now I'm fucking tired. It really has been a long day." She glanced at Max's bed, a small smile creeping upon her face. "That's a tiny ass bed, kid. We're going to have to cuddle reeeeeally close."
"Oh no," Max groaned, resting the back of her hand on her forehead. "However will I deal with it?" Chloe laughed before biting her lip, her eyes sending out 'oops!' signals. "What?" Max asked.
"Uh, is it going to be cold tomorrow?" The punk asked hesitantly.
"I'm not sure, why?" Max watched the girl suspiciously.
"I dunno, just wondering. Like, maybe it's good turtleneck weather! Yeah, totally, I bet it'll be great for a turtleneck." She bared her teeth in an awkward smile.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Max furrowed her brow before seeing Chloe's eyes glance toward her neck. "Oh dude, did you give me hickies?" She stood up and walked to the mirror.
"Yeah, a lot," Chloe blushed, beginning to laugh hard. "Sorry!" Max stood in front of the mirror, placing her fists at her waist in a superhero pose.
"I kinda like 'em!" She beamed, turning her head left and right to get a good look.
They are like badges of awesome! And I have quite a few! … Oh, fuck, there ARE a lot.
"Be prepared for vacuum comments," Chloe teased. Max laughed as she headed toward the bed. "Uh, hey," Chloe sputtered as Max pulled the covers down. "I...er..." Max turned to face the punk, who was growing a lovely shade of red. "I wanted to give you something."
"Oh?" Max remarked inquisitively as Chloe searched through her pocket. Shyly, she brought out a shiny object and held it out to Max.
"I don't know if this is stupid or weird or...I don't know." She scowled when she noticed Max snickering behind her hand. "Shut up! You shut your sexy lips!" She huffed exasperatedly, letting the shining object slip from her hand, jerking upward when the string it was attached to grew taut.
"What is it? I can't really...oh my god..." Max said, breathless. Dangling from a thin black rope was a single bullet, swaying in the air gently. Chloe used her free hand to fish beneath her tank top, pulling her necklace out as another, identical bullet fell between her breasts. Max took it from her slowly, a mixture of confusion and happiness on her face. "Chloe, I don't...this is one of your bullets?" She asked, holding it up in front of her face.
"Yeah," the punk rubbed the back of her neck. "It might be stupid, sorry..." Max gave her a stern look, prompting a chuckle. "I just thought, today was the official end of this craziness, right? And even though a lot of bad shit happened, we'll always remember it, because it brought us back together. And...I thought this was like, a symbol of that."
"It's so, so sweet, Chloe. But where's..." Max's eyes grew wide, a silver box flashing across her mind.
Rachel.
"I put the third bullet in Rachel's box," Chloe said, stepping toward Max. "In a way, she brought us together again. And I know that if she were here, the three of us would be thick as thieves. I know I keep saying it, but she would have fucking loved you. So in a way..." She grabbed Max's hand. "The three of us will be together, forever. And, and..." Chloe began talking faster. "I know there's this weird thing, because I used to have feelings for her, but I don't want that to mess with you, so if that freaks you out, you don't need to take it, I won't be mad. It's just the gesture, I'm going for, you-"
Chloe's words were silenced as Max passionately kissed her, gripping Chloe by the waist tightly. The blue haired girl succumbed to the moment, returning the kiss until they both ended up on the bed. After a while, Max finally spoke, sweaty and nervous – a feeling she was growing quite fond of.
"This is the coolest thing ever," she said, holding the bullet between her fingers. "Such a small object says so, so much." She grinned stupidly, eying the punk. "You're quite the romantic."
"I do my best, I guess," Chloe shrugged indifferently before smiling. Max wriggled out from underneath Chloe, slowly wandering over to her desk. "Where'd you go!?" Chloe cried. "It's cold without skinny hipster skin next to me!"
"Just doing something long overdue," Max said, returning to Chloe with her camera in her hands. She set it down, putting the necklace around her neck. She sat on the bed, pulling on Chloe's arm so the punk would sit up. "First picture since we've been back..." Max said, holding the camera away from them. "Smile...or something," she said sarcastically.
"Or something?" Chloe asked, straightening her posture. Max nodded. "D'okay." She pulled her beanie off, running her hand through her hair.
"Picture in 3...2...1!" She grinned as wide as she could as she clicked the button. The camera stuttered, spitting out a Polaroid. Max turned to smile at the punk as she gently whipped the photo around, making the image clearer. Chloe simply returned the smile. Eagerly, she brought the photo to her face.
In the picture, Max's smile was bigger than she had ever imagined possible. Chloe's smile was nonexistent, however, because the devilish girl had used her countdown to plant a small, wonderful kiss on the photographer's cheek. Max hadn't even felt it! Both bullets were visible, Max's against her chest while Chloe's dangled in the air. Her photo collage appeared behind them, almost perfectly mimicking her Everyday Hero's submission, just at a closer angle. She smiled brightly.
"This one's a keeper," she said.
A/N: I thought a little bit about changing the chapter title, on the off chance it spooked anyone, but with Max's PTSD and the whole bullet thing, it was just meant to be!
So the bullet necklace thing is something I had in my mind since before I even considered writing a fanfic for this game. It just seemed so...nice. Considering that the necklace may not so subtly reference the amount of times Chloe is shot, I think putting a positive spin on it is a good idea!
As for Chloe's mental state - I don't know how big of a role it will play in the rest of the story, but this felt like a great scene to discuss it just a bit.
Once again, thanks so much for reading!