"What are you talking about?" Neil narrowed his eyes on his friend.
"Nothing..." Max sighed and let himself fall back for a second time. He wasn't entirely sure what to call Nikki yet, but he didn't care. He took one hand out from behind his head and covered his mouth a bit, her kiss still lingering on his lips for what felt like forever, until he fell asleep.
-
The next day,
Max walked into the cafeteria with a smile on his face, immediately noticing Nikki and Neil at their usual spot, just talking. David approached him almost as soon as he walked in, but even someone as annoying as him couldn't ruin Max's mood today. He felt like a fucking champ.
"Good morning, Max, how are you today?" David asked cheerfully, expecting Max to blow him off like he did every single day.
"Good morning, David!" Max chirped. "I'm doing well, and yourself?"
David froze. So did almost everybody in the cafeteria. After a moment of his mind processing was Max had just said, David's eyes turned to stars. "I'm great! Thanks for asking!"
Max smiled brightly upon hearing David's well state. He then excused himself from the conversation and quickly got in the breakfast line. Once he reached the quarter master, he held out his tray and smiled to the man. "Hey, quarter master, I want to apologize for all of the times I rebelled and tied you up and hung you from the ceiling."
The old man didn't reply, just kind of looked at Max strangely as he put breakfast on the boy's plate. Max spun around on his heels and quickly made his way over to Nikki and Neil, sitting in between the two. David skipped over to the three and beamed. "I don't know what happened to you, Max. But I'm loving this new personality!"
"What do you mean?" Max tilted his head to the side a bit, his smile never leaving. "I'm acting like I always do."
Neil snickered. "That's so far from the truth, and you know it. You asked how David was doing, and apologized to the quarter master."
"It's not my fault I find them less annoying today than I usually do." Max grinned.
"No, but I think it might be Nikki's." Neil hummed.
Nikki perked up upon hearing her name. "Mine? What did I do?"
"Oops," Gwen said as she walked behind Max, spilling a bit of juice onto his lap. In all honesty, she was just testing to see how far until he snapped back to his usual self. "So sorry, Max!" She gasped.
David immediately jumped up and grabbed some paper towels. He quickly came back with them, and Max took them from him and began to wipe up the mess on his lap. Max stood up after a minute. Everybody was staring at him, at this point. Max stepped out of the seat and smiled at Gwen. "That's okay, it was my fault for getting in your way."
Gwen's eye twitched upon hearing this. What was this kid up to?
"Did any splash on you?" Max asked, concerned. Gwen shook her head, and Max let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I'll be right back, David. I have to go change, if that's alright."
"That's more than alright!" David smiled excitedly, and Max quickly walked out, heading for his tent.
Neil looked over at Nikki and took a bite of his pancakes, eyeing her suspiciously. Nikki caught his gaze and blinked. "What?" But he didn't answer. He just flickered his gaze back to his food as he swallowed the bite. "...what?" She asked again.
He shrugged, looking back to her. "Max sure seems to be in a good mood today, huh?"
"I guess..." Nikki mumbled, a flashback of the night prior reeling back into her mind. Her face erupted into a bright pink, and she quickly shook off the thought. Neil smirked. "W-What?" She pouted.
"Nothing," he paused, pursing his lips. "But his new attitude towards life makes me wonder if anything happened between you two last night."
"Why... why would you think that?"
"Oh, no reason in particular." He lied, taking another bite of his pancakes.
Nikki stood up from her spot and laughed nervously. "I think I'm going to go check on him. I'll... I'll be back." She mumbled the last part as she climbed off the bench, speed walking towards the exit. She reached his tent within seconds, clearing her throat to make her presence known before she even attempted to unzip the tent.
"Yeah?" A call came from the other side.
"It's Nikki, are you decent?"
"Nikki? Yeah, come in."
She quickly unzipped the tent and peered her head inside to see him in a white tank top and baggy blue jeans. She's never seen him without his hoodie before. Ever. This sight was entirely new to her. She put a smiled on her face as she stepped inside. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just juice." He laughed it off. "Besides, it was my fault for getting in the way, yeah?"
"Do you really believe that, though? I mean, she deliberately poured it on you from behind. That wasn't your fault in the slightest."
"Really? Well, it's always polite to apologize anyway."
"Yeah, but when did you start caring about being polite?"
"Nikki, is something wrong?" He looked at her, concerned.
She averted her gaze away from him, crossing her arms. "Not really. It's just... you weren't like this yesterday. Where did Max go? My Max, from last night. I don't really care about your new personality, but Neil's pretty freaked out, and Gwen seems to think you're up to something. Everybody else... they're rattling their brains about it, too. It's just so unlike you. David's probably the only one not questioning this."
"If I can make one person happy, it's worth it."
"At the expense of making everybody else miserable? Are you sure?"
"You're...miserable?" His gaze softened on her.
She allowed her arms to drop by her sides at this. "Not necessarily. But, if I had known this is how you'd react, I probably wouldn't have..."
"You wouldn't have kissed me?" He blurted plainly, feeling somewhat hurt by her statement.
Nodding, she clenched her fists. "You're not yourself."
"I'm a douche, Nik." He stated, grabbing his hoodie and holding it in his hands in front of him. Confused, she tilted her head a bit, about to disagree, when he cut her off. "Real me is a fucking douchebag. I make everybody miserable on a daily basis. I'm a troublemaker, I'm a rebel, I pull pranks, and I love to see others cry. I thought you'd prefer if I..."
"If you changed... you?" She sighed, now approaching him. She stood beside him and put a hand on her shoulder. He looked down and nodded. She frowned. "I meant what I said last night. And I said that before you went all 'nice guy' on us. You don't have to change for me, Max. You'll never have to change for me. I thought I made that clear."
Max paused, then let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "David's a fucking moron, Gwen's a bitch, and Neil's a boring-ass cunt."
"There he is!" Nikki screamed happily, throwing her arms around Max excitedly.
"Get off of me, bitch." Max huffed, feeling severely uncomfortable with having his personal space bubble breached like this.
She quickly pulled away from the hug and poked his forehead. Hard. "Would it kill you to be nice every once in a while?"
He scoffed at her question, but a smile on his face nevertheless. He shook his head, pulling his hoodie over his head before he spoke again. "You just came in here to tell me I shouldn't be nice."
"That wasn't the point!" She cried out, ready to fucking pull her hair out if need be.
He laughed at her agony, leaning down slightly to the shorter girl and pressing his lips against hers in a quick peck, smiling cheekily afterwards. She froze, but he didn't care. He just laughed it off and looked down at her mildly surprised features. "What? Don't tell me the kissing is just a one-way street." He laughed.
She raised her middle finger at him and pursed her lips, eyes narrowing on him. "You little bitch."
-
Quick note:
Thanks for reading! Like I said in the last chapter, I did not proof-read. So there may be many, many typos. Forgive me. I also apologize for the intense swearing, if you you're too innocent to be exposed to stuff like this.
I am aware Max may be incredibly out of character, but I made him like that purposefully, as a lot can change in six years, since he's ten in the show, and sixteen here.
Judge it however you please. And you should be expecting a new Camp Camp,Max x Nikki soon, too. Feel free to request shows and ships, I may or may not do crossovers as well. Thank you, again, for reading. And I'll see you later.
-Sbc
