Your Own Personal Hell

by Chibi Zia

Mock high school AU. Takao met Kai during summer school, but little did he know the troubles that would follow him because of it in freshmen year. Kai's not your typical rebel; luckily Takao's not your typical idiot. He'll figure Kai out sooner or later.

14. Take It To The Max

Max decidedly does not cringe as he opens the door to his dad's hobby shop, the cheery bell jingle the ultimate deterrent to any kind of "sneaking in unnoticed" idea he might've entertained on the way back. He also resists calling out "honey, I'm hoooome~" to defuse the situation, because that certainly hadn't worked when he'd been sent to the principal's office for breaking a guy's nose, so he doubts it'd work for breaking and entering inside his mother's laboratory and being taken away by the police. ... You know, when he says it all together like that, it does sound pretty bad. Welp. Max ignores the crushing guilt and foreboding as he steps into the shop, trying to appear as small as possible. His dad is standing behind the counter, and he notices Max immediately, proceeding to look stern and disappointed. (... Admittedly, the effect is a bit ruined by the kids in the shop picking out parts for the newest toy around- what was the name again? Bakugan? B-Daman? Whatever, some silly game with a cult following. Max never understood the appeal of those things.) Max gives him a half-hearted wave and his dad just wordlessly points to the back of the shop, which, well, okay. Stern, disappointed, and mad enough to want to do this right now apparently. Dang. Max had definitely been hoping he'd have a few more hours before closing time to fabricate a story where his life choices made some amount of sense. So much for that.

Max steps into the back of the store– which, for all intents and purposes, serves as their actual living room (next door is the kitchen! Upstairs are the rooms! Wait, why is he listing his home layout, again? It's not like anyone cares...)– and throws his bag on the couch in dejection, only to watch it sadly bounce back unto the floor, spilling its contents in the process. This is why he's not into basketball.

He doesn't have long to wait after his dad's told the kids that the store is closing early today because of Reasons(tm) (and isn't that ominous) for him to join him in the living room. They proceed to stand on opposite ends staring awkwardly at each other for a full minute. Max tries to laugh it off as he rubs the back of his neck, cracking under the pressure.

"Soo, uuh, funny story, dad, did you know the policemen in this town are all pretty weird? Haha... I sure didn't until today!"

The silence that follows is full of judging. Just ripe with it. Max is used to making people uncomfortable or unsure simply be being, well, himself (an optimist! That's terrible.), but ... never his dad. He deflates and looks away, biting at his lip, unable to look his father in the eye.

"Look, I know–I know getting arrested for breaking into Mom's lab was stupid and reckless and dangerous. I don't—I'm not sure why I did it. I'm sorry," Max apologizes, hoping to get at least some form of reaction out of his dad. He does, but the sigh and dejected look that follows (which Max only catches by glancing up for half a second out of the corner of his eye before looking back down because nope nope nope the guilt is eating him alive nope) doesn't actually make him feel any better about himself. Somehow.

"Max... I don't know what's going on with you this year," his dad starts, doing the best disappointed parent voice Max has ever heard outside of television. "First there's this whole business with you breaking this kid's nose when you got into a fight on school grounds..." he trails off as Max awkwardly laughs, giving him a stern look so he stops. "You went into the bad part of town on Halloween night—yes, I know about that, Max, I'm not deaf when you kids come in, you know— and now this business with skipping school to break into your mother's laboratory... I just don't know what to do with you."

Max swallows, trying to dislodge what feels like an entire dodgeball out of his throat. It does little to help, possibly because it's not a dodgeball and is just instead copious and copious amounts of guilt. The worst supper ever. Guilt and shame. His dad, undeterred by Max's silence, goes on:

"I know you miss your mom, Max; ever since we moved here we haven't been able to see her as much as you'd want to, and I'm sorry. I don't know if this is why you're acting out, or if it's your new friends who are pressuring you into these things—"

"What, no!" Max interjects suddenly, his head snapping up and his eyes wide. "Taka and the others have nothing to do with all that, I swear."

His dad responds with a patronizing look, which, ugh, dad. Dad. Please. He isn't twelve anymore, he's not being peer-pressured into anything. He is readily agreeing to dumb things, it's totally different.

"I'm not talking about Takao," his dad says gently. "He's always been a bit of a troublemaker, but you never got into anything this bad last year. That other kid either—what was his name again? You're always calling him Chief... Anyway, I'm talking about your new friends. You met Rei this summer, I remember that much, and the other boy who you said used to be in a gang...?"

That last part definitely sounded a bit too condescending. Max immediately regrets sharing things with his dad. He makes a face in response to prove he is a mature adult and a great judge of character. His dad is being rude, okay!

"Like I said, my friends had nothing to do with this. And the boy—his name's Kai Hiwatari, Dad, I only told you fifty times. And if it wasn't for him, those situations would've been a lot worse! He didn't even want to go with us today, but he came because he was worried anyway!"

That last part was more personal interpretation, of course, but Max does pride himself on being able to read people. ... And admittedly the first thing on his dad's list was sort of Rei's fault, but Kiki did try to maim him first. So there. Surprisingly, Max's defense of his friends seems to have taken his dad for a loop, and he's frowning in... recognition? Huh?

"Did you say Hiwatari? Like Hiwatari Enterprises?"

Max responds to this the best way he knows how: with a blank, vaguely confused face to make Takao proud. Hiwatari what now. His dad shakes his head in despair. (Wow, rude! Times two combo rudeness! Offense taken, father!)

"Teenagers... You've been here for over a year and you don't even know your own city. It's the biggest company in Bey City... Well, it's pretty much the only company. They're weapons manufacturers and they've got factories and business all over the world. There's not a big chance of someone here being named Hiwatari and not being related to them."

Max decides to not interrupt his dad's sudden and unexpected exposition, too grateful that he seems to have forgotten all about lecturing him. (He messed up. He knows. It is now time to move on and learn stuff about Kai that Takao doesn't know and then lord it over him later, muahahaha.) His dad pauses for a second as if remembering something (hopefully not how to be a responsible parent please), then continues:

"Y'know, I actually went to school with the son of the founder..."

"You went to school with Kai's dad?" Max blurts out, ruining his no-interruption vow. Woops. Still, they've never even heard mention of Kai's parents, which has only ever had the consequence of making all of them exceedingly curious. ...Especially since Takao likes to talk about how douchey being that mysterious ought to make Kai.

"Well, maybe," his dad confirms with a laugh, "I don't think I ever heard anything about Souichirou Hiwatari having more than one kid."

"So—were you friends?"

His dad is shaking his head before he can finish that question, however, and Max deflates a bit. So much for inter-generational friendships. "No, no, nothing like that. He was quite a few years younger than me. But he was pretty famous! Smart, charismatic, good at sports, future head of a multi-billion company... Bey City's very own shining star."

Sounds a bit like Kai, only, uh. Ignore the charisma part. Well, then again, Kai is surprisingly good at gathering attention and generating interest... So, maybe like Kai but without the emotional constipation? Yeah, that sounds better.

Max only feels slightly bad calling it like it is. C'mon, everyone's got troubled teen syndrome sometimes, Kai's is just more... intense! Yep. Still, this does beg the question...

"...But, if he was so famous, how come no one I know has heard about him?" Max asks.

His dad smiles sadly, and Max is already sorry he asked. That's never a good look. "He died a while ago, in a plane crash with his wife."

Max winces. Yeah, okay, so much for lording any kind of Kai info over Takao's head. Dead parents are never something to brag over. Youch. Still, this isn't quite enough to deter him from asking for more info! He's curious, dangit. "Did you know his wife?"

"No. Hmm. I don't think anyone knew a lot about her. She was from a Russian company that merged with Hiwatari Enterprises when they got wedded... What was the name again? Ah, never mind. It was a long time ago, and I was back in America around that time, meeting your mother. Speaking of which..." his dad trails off with a darkly amused look on his face.

... darn it. He figured out Max's master plan of making him exposition until he forgot all about Max being in trouble. Foiled again.

"So, uh, how grounded am I?" Max asks with an awkward smile.

"Oh, very."

Aw, man.

~o~o~o~o~o~

In the end, it takes a lot of groveling for that conversation to end. Max trails off into his bedroom rejecting the diner offer, not because he's punishing himself but because guilt and worry has literally killed his appetite.

He hasn't told his father about his mom blackmailing Kai into doing... "science", or that she only decided to intervene with the police over phone instead of on the spot. His parents are—odd enough already. They don't need added conflict that was his fault in the first place. Still, Max thinks as he lays in his bed, face planted in the pillow, he wishes things could just go back to the way they used to be.

Then again, he considers as he turns his cheek to look out his window, just because they lived together didn't mean they saw any more of each other, did it?

He's going to talk with Principal Daitenji tomorrow, he decides. For Kai's sake, of course, but also so Max stops feeling so damn guilty. It's a bit self-serving, but sue him, he's not used to feeling bad.

... and maybe, while he's at it, he should talk to his mom. "Hey mom, I really miss you and love you always, but way to dick move!" ...Yeah, okay, maybe if he works on that dialogue it'll go better. He needs to stop spending so much time with Taka, geesh.

Tomorrow. He'll fix this tomorrow.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Max is full of hopes and dreams the next day, waking up bright and early to notice that it is raining cats and dogs outside. And possibly horses, too. Excellent. He can't help but grin as he dashes downstairs, greeting his dad with a call about going to school early, toast in mouth and umbrella in hand. He laughs once he's outside, twirling in the rain and splashing in puddles, grateful that he still owns rain boots.

They're bright orange because he can.

The rain is a bit colder than he likes, and he's fully drenched by the time he gets to school, but he still feels rejuvenated. He shakes his head in a good imitation of a wet dog, a bit bummed out that Takao's not around to get splashed. Principal Daitenji's usually at the school at this early an hour (which ... begs the question, admittedly: when does he take care of his other schools?), and his office is where Max heads, skipping a bit. Yesterday was awful, but today is a new day. And a Wednesday, to boot! True, there is nothing exciting about Wednesdays, usually, but anything that is not a Tuesday is now the best day ever in Max's book. So there.

His determined walk to the Principal's office comes to a halt when he hears voices coming out of it, and he stops at the corner, peering around it just in case. There's the principal's voice, of course, but the other one sounds awfully like...

"I don't see why you're objecting so vehemently. After all, you're the one who told me to try to study the boy."

Yeeeep, that condescending tone can only be his mom.

Max resists the urge to burst in, partly because, uh, last time kind of did not end well, but also because—well he's very interested in snooping on his mom. Max never said he was all virtues, okay. He can't quite make out the both of them due to some conveniently placed potted plant and the fact that his mom is facing his principal, so he'll have to make do with listening in without quite seeing their expressions. Bummer, because facial expressions are half the fun of eavesdropping. In Max's not so humble opinion.

"I said to watch him, to compare to see if—if my suspicions were correct. It was meant to be done stealthily, Judy! On top of that, I never wanted it to be done against his will; he's not a test subject, he's a teenage boy."

The Principal sounds angrier than Max has ever heard him sound, but that's not what gets his attention. No, the subject matter sure sounds like they're talking about... But there's no way, right?

"He's not a test subject for us, you mean," Max's mom interrupts snidely. Ugh, mom, no, don't use that tone, it makes people want to choke you. "The entire reason I'm even in this city is because of your suspicions. Unfortunately, suspicions aren't enough, Daitenji. I need to bring actual results. This isn't just a game to me—my research is on the line, not to mention..."

"I know, I know," the Principal cuts her off with a sigh. "But I simply can't abide with you on this. Even ignoring the moral aspects of it—which I know your team leader won't care about—there's simply no way the legality of it is sound."

Oh my god they are totally talking about Kai. There's no other explanation. But what the heck are they talking about? It's like seven in the morning and Max is freezing his butt off and he can't seem to understand what they could possibly be referencing outside of the whole ... escapade/new test subject... thing. Blegh.

"The legality of it is fine. It's not like the local authorities care much, considering your gang problem..."

Again with the snide tone. It's like she never stops!

"We don't only have to contend with the local authorities, Judy, though their faults are—well, there. The boy might not always get along with his grandfather, but..." Daitenji trails off with a sigh.

"Are you telling me he'd actually tell him what transpired yesterday? The way you've described both of them, I find that hard to believe."

Max resists the urge to hide his face in his hands and concentrates on trying to get the conversation in its entirety. Why are parents so embarrassing. If it's not his mom being condescending and snide and full of herself, it's his dad doing dad jokes.

"Don't underestimate the man. He's dangerous and overly invested in his grandson—for reasons you should know about. He's already found out and demanded answers out of me, Judy! He's the sole reason I even know about this subject already!"

That declaration is met with an awkward silence, and Max silently wonders the implication of Kai's grandfather actively stalking him. That can't be what Daitenji's implying, though. ... Then again, he did call him dangerous and what is he even overhearing, this all sounds like some weird creepy conspiracy centered on Kai! That's insane, right? Completely insane!

Someone needs to share this insanity with him right now before he bursts and alerts everyone to his presence!

"...I see," his mom finally relents with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I thought I could use the opportunity presented to me yesterday, but if he's been alerted, then..."

"You may have already compromised our position, yes."

"I'll fix this right away. And please, send my regards to Hiwatari and apologize on my behalf. After all, we can't have him think I meant for anything but simple community service, can we?"

With what looks like a salute, Max's mom turns on her heels and wait no shit shit shit she's coming this way what does he do what does he quick, go by instincts!

"...Hello, Max." His mom greets him with a wry smile once she turns the corner.

Why is his reflex to pretend he is one with the wall, when has that ever worked? Bad instincts. No cookie.

"Ha...ha... hey, Mom," Max answers her with an awkward laugh. "Fancy meeting you ... next to the principal's office at this hour!"

His mom looks at him with that same amused and sad smile, sighing before grabbing him by the lapel of his uniform vest and forcing him into a hug. Max is too shocked to respond for about two seconds before his instincts kick over and he hugs her back with all his might. Good instincts. You can have that cookie now.

"Oh, Maxie... You know I love you, right?" She murmurs into his hair, and he just squeezes tighter, blinking back sudden tears. Ah, geez, what's with him? It's just his mom. It's just—

"I missed you so much, Mom," Max wails, and screw it he'll be a momma boy's for eternity. "And I'm sorry about yesterday, but please don't do weird stuff to Kai he's my friend and what—what were you talking about please don't get involved in dangerous stuff and I swear I'll never get in trouble again and, and, and—!"

She laughs, loud and clear, but when Max peers up at her, her eyes are wet. Or maybe it's because he's crying that everything looks like wet... wetness."Shh, shh, my little Maxie... Calm down. I missed you too, and I'm not angry about yesterday. I was disappointed, but what we do there is very important, so I had to make sure we weren't compromised, do you understand? And I thought—oh, Maxie. It was wrong of me."

Damn it that shouldn't make him cry more, he meant to be angry about this! Or at least mildly disgruntled. He whines in answer and buries his face deeper in the hug. Screw it, he'll be eloquent about his feelings later.

"Maxie. Max, look at me," and Max does, reluctantly. His mom is staring down at him with that serious expression, the one she used when she told Max she wouldn't be moving with him and his father. He swallows by reflex. "...I need you to not talk about what you've heard just now, Maxie."

"But—Mom, I can't just..." Max objects, only to be cut off by his mom's finger on his mouth.

"No buts. It's not just for my sake, Max. It's for your friend Kai's sake, too. So please, just promise me you'll be quiet, okay?"

It takes him a while, but Max nods, a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach. His mom kisses the top of his head with a smile and lets go of him, Max following suit with some more hesitation.

"Good. I'll see you at home tonight, okay?"

And Max can do nothing but nod, eyes wide, as he watches his mom turn back and walk away. She'd called it "home".

... So, why does he still feel so shitty?

Oh, right.

Because he's a bad friend.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Max goes directly to class after that, sitting there waiting for nearly an hour before anyone else deigns show up. By now, he's rationalized away his guilt about not telling anyone that his mom and apparently the school principal are involved in weird shady business that they're afraid of Kai's grandfather finding out, because reasons? See, he can rationalize it all by simply saying the truth: he doesn't know the whole story. He can't just barge in with shitty info and expect things to solve themselves or to make sense. Besides, it's not like they actually said Kai's grandpa was abusive or controlling or extremely creepy or whatever, they just... heavily implied it.

Okay, so he still isn't completely okay with keeping quiet, but still, it's not like Kai'd listen or care anyway. (He would. He so would. Dang it.)

The first to class besides Max is, surprisingly, Kai, who actually stands in the door's opening blinking openly at Max who waves awkwardly back, piping up "Yo!" with a two fingered salute, like that's actually a thing he does. It isn't. It so isn't. Who does that? Though, maybe Kai's presence here isn't that surprising, since he is usually the first one in any class they share with him unless he's just not showing up at all, which he's done less and less over the months. It's just that Max was kind of hoping to not end up one on one with the guy right now.

Kai sits in his usual spot next to the window, deeply pretending to be some kind of daily life anime protagonist, probably. Max swallows his unease and decides to act as if everything is normal. Let's face it—just because he learned some creepy depressing stuff about Kai in the last twenty four hours (...like, a lot of it, even, what is up with that, it's like his life revolves around Kai suddenly) doesn't mean that Kai himself has changed!

"Sooo, Kai..."

"If you're going to apologize about your mother again, I'm leaving," Kai cuts him off with an exasperated look.

Yep. See? Totally the same old guy. Max can't help but grin more easily.

"No, no, I'm good on that front! Um, I just wanted to know if she talked to you about the project... science... stuff she wanted you to do?" All of which seemed to amount to running a series of test to be compared to people who were supposed to be a lot better than him because science. Max loves science, but even he has his limits on how much he can take when it starts sounding like something out of a bad sci-fi novel.

Kai just shakes his head in answer, looking even more gloomier than usual. Yep. Definitely time for a subject change. Too bad for him Max can't do that today.

"Because, see, um, I talked to my mom about it, and she—" Max cuts himself off when Kai turns abruptly towards the door, only to see it opened seconds later by some guy with a baseball cap. And ...a ... baseball... glove? Okay. Apparently he likes baseball. He's followed by two other guys, one decked out in full football gear (...this school has a football team?) and the other casually spinning a basketball on one finger. ... The weirdest part is, Max is about a thousand percent certain these guys are not in their class. "Um. Hi. Can we help you?"

Baseball guy marches over to them with a smug douche grin that Max guesses is supposed to be charming but falls right off the mark, casually leaning on Max's desk. Personal space officially invaded! Now Max knows how Kai feels like all the time.

"Yeah, you can, actually. You're Dr Tate's son, right? What was the name again—Mark?" Douchecap asks, and Max continues to smile politely because he is a nice person who doesn't judge people by their smug douche tone and their smug douche walk and the fact that they're the kids his mom employs even though that should totally be illegal. "And the tough guy over there—you're the guy who got stuck helping us thanks to this kid, am I right?"

He winks conspiratorially to Kai, who looks like the guy just personally offended him. Knowing Kai, he probably did. Max resists the urge to grin smugly, because Kai looks that way at anyone who winks at him. They've tried.

"It's Max, actually," Max chirps. "And his name's Kai. So, how can we help you?"

Max is a nice polite person, okay, even when he has irrational hatred of people he just met. Especially people who parade around with two guys used as what appears to be back-up muscle, what even.

"The name's Michael, and these here are Eddy and Steve." Well, Max didn't ask his name, but hey, at least he won't have to call the guy Douchecap anymore! (Dang.) "See, we're the Doc's main aides here. We transferred all the way from the States to this dingy city to help her finish her research. That's why we're ... personally invested in it going well, y'know."

...Are they his mom's test subjects or her muscle crew meant to intimidate Kai into cooperating, that's what Max wants to know. If it's the latter, well, it's not looking like it's working really well. Also: stiiill not what Max asked! Personal life stories are all well and good, but not when Max has zero personal investment in them!

"As fascinating as your life story is, how about you get to the point so you can leave?"

Max is so glad he has Kai around to be rude when he doesn't want to be. So, so glad. (Actually, Taka serves that role pretty well, too...)

Michael's smile falls off and he sneers. "Look, kid," he starts, and Max is like, one hundred percent sure they're the same age, who does he even think he is? "I'll get straight to the point. The Doc needs you to get the results, meaning that you better step up and take this seriously. You might be a big deal in a small town like this, but in the real world? You're just another teenager with an attitude problem who happens to not be brain dead and can deliver a punch. You're as good a comparison point to us as any. So you're gonna do everyone a favour, keep your attitude in check, and we can all get along great. Alright?"

Oh dear sweet delicious Genbu (...uh, sorry Genbu, he's hungry) he is seriously trying to threaten Kai. That's so embarrassing. And... unnecessary. It looks like Max's mom hasn't gotten word out to her, uh, ...lackeys yet. Look, okay, Max tried to think of another word and could not, that's how embarrassing those guys are. ...Also he's hoping she hasn't gotten word on out and that this isn't her version of fixing it. Please mother please please please—

"So you're one of her lab rats, huh? How about we test out exactly how good you are right here, right now?" Kai drawls back and Max has to try very hard not to facepalm. No, bad Kai, no macho posturing allowed.

For some reason, Michael actually looks offended by that, and ... either Steve or Eddy, Max has no idea which is which, actually tries to step up menacingly while the other one (no, seriously, maybe next time gesture to the people you're introducing so Max doesn't feel so mean not knowing who they are!) just places a cool hand on the guy's shoulder, still twirling that darn basketball.

"Come on, why won't everyone just take a chill pill, yeah?" Basketball guy calms down. Max feels a sudden kinship with basketball guy. "Besides, with Steve, Michael and me against the two of you, it wouldn't be fair."

Never mind, kinship revoked, Eddy. Also, ha he knows which is which now! Max opens his mouth to try to defuse this situation (he is grounded enough for three lifetimes, he really doesn't want to get into another fight on school grounds on top of it), Kai beats him to the punch:

"You're right, it wouldn't be fair," and that accommodating tilt to his voice can mean nothing good in Max's opinion, "I guess Mizuhara'll have to sit this one out."

Aaaaand there we go, macho bristling exacerbated. Darn it, Kai.

"Okaaaay!" Max cuts into the tension, bringing all macho attention to himself by waving wildly. "We got the message, guys, so there's no need to fight, right? Let's just all take a big breath and—"

"How cute, both of you trying to protect your little boyfriends," Steve simpers, cutting him off. Michael and Eddy, to their credit, kind of throw him a "seriously" look, because wow. Wow. That is a thing that came out of his mouth. Incredible.

Max can feel his face getting into that expression he gets when he's starting to get really annoyed, twitching smile and half-lidded eyelids. He tries so hard not to make that face, too. Kai actually loses a bit of his defiant look to stare at the guy with a facial expression he usually reserves for Takao's stupidest stunts.

Please. Max and Kai would be the cutest couple.

"... Okay, I'm gonna be generous and ignore that," Max says, all fake cheer. "Look, whatever you think this is, getting into a fight on behalf of my mom is preeeetty definitely something she wouldn't agree with! So... Let's just make peace with each other and give it up, alright?"

"I'm not leaving until he—" Michael starts, only to be cut off by the sound of the door opening again.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Michael," Emily interrupts, looking for all the world like an exasperated babysitter. "I trust you boys haven't been embarrassing yourselves—and Judy's work, by extension—too much?"

"Shut up, Emily," Michael answers. Max sure does appreciate a man with such wit.

Emily throws him a glare. "I don't care what kind of primitive posturing you've got going on here, boys, I'm here with a message from Kai directly from Doctor Judy. So do me a favour and leave, before your contribution to this research becomes somehow even more meaningless."

"Jealous as always, huh, Emily? Though I guess this scenario's good for you—finding a guy like that means you can finally compare yourself to someone and come out on top."

Oh boy Max sure does care about their interpersonal drama. So much.

"This is why I used to skip school," Kai mutters nearly inaudibly, and Max ruins everything by starting to snicker way too loudly. The rest of them turn to stare at him angrily and he raises his hands innocently with a smile. Who, him? Make fun of them? Never!

"My point was," Emily says, the first to recover, "Judy's retracting her previous... offer. You don't have to work for us. All she wants you to do for community service is... and this goes for your entire five-mand band, this time—she wants you boys to volunteer at the local center for troubled kids until the end of the semester."

Local center for troubled kids... so, like, the local high school? Max does not say this aloud because Emily has her tennis racket with her and she looks like she could be very violent when provoked with bad humour. Kai doesn't look too pleased with the news either, though he hasn't exactly looked pleased since he got here. It has been kind of a shitty morning, to be fair! For everyone involved.

Having said her piece, and apparently satisfied with the dumb nod Max gives her (seriously, Bey City has a center for troubled teens?), Emily casually grabs Michael's baseball cap and walks off, causing the other boy to squawk in the most undignified manner possible and run after her. This causes a chain reaction with the other two and oh good everyone's left. He can still hear them yell in the background, but at least they left. Plus the sound is growing more and more distant. Win!

Max sighs happily, stretching and giving Kai a grin the other boy decidedly does not return. He wasn't expecting one, and his unimpressed look can be cute too. Especially when he's not frowning so it looks more like near fond exasperation! If Max squints, that is. (Haha, yeah, right. He's probably just so done. Max totally gets that.)

"Well, guess we'll have to tell Taka and the rest about the news, huh? We'll all be spending a lot more time together for the next month!" Max quips.

"I'm ecstatic."

Max just laughs.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Lunchtime is spent in the library again, which might not have been Max's greatest idea considering what he had to tell his friends, or, more importantly, who he was telling this to.

"WHAT," Takao yells out, prompting everyone else (...except Kai, of course) at the table to shush him. Not out of any respect for anyone in the library, but rather out of fear that someone will come see what the commotion is all about and notice them eating. No one wants to deal with the librarian or her over enthusiastic (but cute!) aide. Just. No.

"What," Takao repeats, just as urgent but far less loud. "Maxie. Maxie. Why."

As overdramatic as always, that Taka. Max shrugs, but it's Rei who pipes up:

"At least it's better than letting Kai be their test subject."

"Technically they only wanted him as a comparison point," Chief points out, but he quickly adds at Kai's sudden look: "Not that that wasn't terrible in the first place! Just... less... bad..."

Kai goes back to reading (volume two of Takao's manga, and isn't that cute, Taka brought volume two to school in case Kai wanted to keep reading it, d'aw) and the Chief sighs to himself in relief and ... slight exasperation? Max peers curiously at him and gets a shake of his head in return. Well. At least those two are sorta getting along now!

"Nooo you guys don't understand," Takao whines, suddenly, petulant and ... is he pouting? He is actually pouting. For real. "I was seriously looking forward to seeing Kai in soccer shorts."

There is a pause as everyone (...except, again, Kai) stares at Takao in complete and total incomprehension. Then, at once, they all turn to Kai for an explanation. Kai, meanwhile, is looking at Takao in disbelief, so, completely unhelpful there. Max shares a look with Rei and then what can only be assumed to be a look but you're not quite sure because hair with Chief, and decides it's up to him to question ... whatever this is. Takao's usual insanity doesn't seem to apply!

"Um, what?" Max asks.

Takao, doing his usual impression of an angry chipmunk, huffs. (And puffs and blows the whole house down! Or not.)

"Look, it's obvious, isn't it? Your mom wanted Kai to join one of the way too numerous sports club at school, right? And since Kai's got that whole rebel attitude going—don't even look at me like that, grouchface, you know it's true—well, obviously, he'd want to be the least helpful as possible. So, first off, he'd go with a team sport, 'cause then there's a chance he'd be benched a lot thanks to his lousy attitude. Then, obviously he'd go with a sport that's out of season... so he'd pick soccer because it also has the benefit of being what Maxie does, and she'd have no choice but to spend time not only evaluating Kai, buuut also watch her son! It's win win win!" Takao says the last part triumphantly, sitting back on his chair and crossing his arms behind his head, prouder than a peacock. He even starts leaning his chair on two feet!

...

That explanation makes a surprising amount of sense, honestly, and Max isn't sure how he feels about that. From the bewildered looks on Rei and Chief's faces, he's not the only one. He's the first to recover, though, because—well, Taka's unpredictable like that! And it's a cute theory, honestly, since it does assume Kai would want to help Max with his mom. He turns to look at Kai to see how he's reacting to such wild accusations as him potentially caring about Max, and he is ... very much pointedly looking away. If Max squints, there's the slightest flush to his cheeks.

Wait.

Waiiiit.

Wait wait wait.

Wait.

"Really?" Max blurts out, Kai's usual frown only deepening as everyone's attention turns to him. Oops. (In the background, Takao goes HA very loudly and triumphantly.) He's still not looking at any of them and he actually honest to Genbu huffs before kicking at Takao's chair, causing the smug boy to fall in a heap. Welp. That's what he gets for leaning his chair back. They barely spare a glance to make sure Takao's okay (the whining means yes) before continuing to stare at Kai.

"...I guess even a stopped clock's right twice a day," Kai mutters darkly, still deliberately not looking at them. And probably cursing his pallor, because he is really blushing. For reals. FOR REAL REAL.

Max can feel his own face flushing as he tries to resist grinning like an idiot but—nope, there it goes, he's beaming. He will never stop beaming. He's aboard the beam train and it don't make no stop, no sirree. Kai spares a look at him out of the corner of his eyes and promptly looks away again, bringing Takao's manga to his face and pointedly turning a page Max is one million percent sure he hasn't read.

He beams some more. Choo choo, motherfucker.

"... Okay, then," Rei says in a tone way too amused for it to be natural. "Now that that's settled—did your mom say anything else about the volunteer thing? Like, oh, where it is, what we're supposed to do, when are we supposed to go... You know, little details like that."

"Nope! She just sent Emily with the bare bones of it, so I guess I'll get the details tonight at home." Max does not stop beaming at Kai as he responds, this is far too important.

Takao, having gotten over being kicked down, sits on his chair in the noisiest manner possible, squinting at Kai and Max. "If you two are done bonding over something that hasn't actually happened..."

Kai flips him off from behind his book. Max does not acknowledge him and keeps beaming. Forever.

"STOP BONDING."

"Um, ignoring that," Chief interrupts before Takao can get even more rage-y and jealous-y (even though it's entirely his fault that Kai and Max are 'bonding' in the first place), "There's only one youth center in Bey City, so... I'm not sure how everything else will be arranged, but we're definitely going to be in that one."

"What's it called?"

"Where is it?"

Max finally stops beaming at Kai to high five Rei, because that was beautifully synchronized questions. Rei grins back at him.

"It's called Bey City's Youth Center, it's located at the other end of the city and it's actually owned by Principal Daitenji," the Chief answers at once, typing things up on his laptop and seemingly looking it up—wait back up. What.

"Is there anything related to kids in this town our principal doesn't run?" Takao asks in disbelief, and Max nods along because seriously, does he sleep? Ever?

The Chief shrugs in answer, which really says it all.

~o~o~o~o~o~

They spend the rest of lunch trying to figure out what they'll be doing exactly as volunteers. Max thinks they'll help the kids themselves, Rei thinks they'll do manual labour, Chief thinks they'll set up activities or programs, Takao strongly believes they'll wash the bathrooms and all other gross stuff, and Kai refused to participate because he is Kai. As usual, when the bell rings Kai is perfectly timed with it. Max grabs his stuff in a hurry and waves to the other boys, running after Kai. They technically don't share a class right now, (which might explain the bewilderment on his friends' faces considering he does share his next class with Takao), but Max really wants to talk to him one-on-one.

"Kai, wait up," Max yells after him, and Kai actually does stop in his tracks, though with the wariest expression he's ever used on Max to date. "I just wanted to say thanks—you know, not just for yesterday, but for the whole... joining soccer thing."

"It wouldn't have been for your sake," Kai answers, blunt, and Max disbelieves so hard it must be visible on his face, for he continues: "Like Kinomiya said, that was the best way to get back at your mother for roping me into it in the first place."

"And you could've napped on the bench?" Max teases. Kai's dirty look says it all, mainly: let's never mention this again. "Anyway, I'm still thanking you! No take-backsies from here. You're just gonna have to deal with me being thankful for stuff you considered doing."

Kai doesn't have a verbal answer to that, only waving him off and walking away, briskly, and Max guesses he is probably going to skip class to brood about being a nice person. Aww. Denial.

"Hey, Kai! You're a good person!" Max yells after him, because he can't resist. He just can't.

Kai walks faster.

~o~o~o~o~o~

That evening, Max's mom does end up showing up, and in-between bouts of "reconnecting" with Max's dad (ew) and general bonding time with Max (eee), she tells him exactly what their community service will consist of.

Every morning before class, evening after class and weekend until winter break will be spent at the Youth Center helping out with whatever they need. They'll have nametags and a list of tasks once they get there, and also they are advised not to spend too much time with the troubled kids themselves. That last one is possibly because Kai is enough troubled teenager for anyone to handle on their own, so they really don't need to put him with other teens. Fair enough!

Max relays this information to the gang the next day, along with the fact that they're to start the morning after, much to the horror of everyone involved. Especially Takao, who whines that four in the morning is not an actual legal time to wake people up. Max is inclined to agree! Even Kai looks aggravated, though that might be because he will now spend every waking moment together with the rest of the group. Max figures Kai's probably one of those guys who get up super early but who're still really grumpy when they wake up. (As a comparison point, Takao would rather sleep fifteen hours and so is nearly impossible to wake up on top of being grumpy when he gets up, Rei is a morning person, the Chief barely sleeps, and lastly Max sleeps in when he can and wakes up early when he has to like a regular person, without any excess of happiness or grumpiness. You'd think he'd be the morning person, but no, instead, Max is an everything person. Whatever time of day works for him! Terrible, really.)

So here they are, at five in the morning, all of them looking a varied range of tired or grumpy, standing in front of a ginormous house. Is that what youth centers usually look like? Eeeh. Too early to question things.

"Alright, guys, we ready to go?" Rei asks. He is grinning. Okay, so make that most of them.

Well, say hello to Mr Morning Person. Even Max is kind of grossed out by that much cheerfulness so early. Of course, part of him can also appreciate trying to look on the bright side of the situation, considering that's pretty much his life motive. That's why he lets Taka deal with Rei's cheer, and the other boy doesn't disappoint.

"I'm ready to go, alright," he grumbles. "Ready to go back to bed."

Max grins and pats Takao on the back comfortingly while Rei rolls his eyes, though not without a smile on his own face. This is apparently all the words they need to go in, Rei leading them and Kai taking the rear by a good five feet of distance. No one comments on this, because that's about the accepted distance between Kai and any living thing at any one moment in time.

The lady at the front desk seems nice enough, greeting them with unbridled enthusiasm after they interrupt her enjoyment of Blader DJ's early morning show. Blader DJ also has a regular morning show, an afternoon show, an evening show and a night show. He apparently lives at the radio station. Max loves that guy, so he definitely approves of this lady's taste!

"Here are your badges," she tells them as she hands over personalized name tags with both their first and last names on them. ...For some reason, the Chief's is blank, and he quickly writes in Chief. Well. Okay. That happened. "Antonio, another one of our volunteers, will explain to you your tasks this morning. Just walk down the hallway to the end and turn left, he should be in the room there. When you're done, please just bring back your badges, I'll be the one keeping track of your time for miss Mizuahara and Mr Daitenji. Have a nice day, and thank you so much for volunteering!"

She is beaming more than Max does. So many morning people. So little time.

The walk through the hallway is more like a slow trek, but let's be honest, it's far too early to be enthusiastic. Surprisingly enough, peering into some of the other rooms reveals a few of the kids are already up and awake, and some of the "kids" seem more their age than anything...

"Hey, Kai," Takao pipes up suddenly, "Aren't those guys—"

He's interrupted by Kai viciously grabbing at this collar and tugging him along at a much faster pace. "Shut up and keep walking."

"Imchdoke," Takao objects eloquently, flailing a bit before just giving up and letting Kai drag him.

The bewildered trio they left behind blinks in unison, having stopped walking when Takao spoke up. Max turns to see who Takao was pointing at. It's a bunch of teenagers lounging around in a rec room. They look pretty ridiculous, frankly, but except for some weird fashion sense, there's not much to see...

That one guy standing up sure does look like a Carlos, though.

"The more time I spend watching their antics, the more I start thinking they're normal," Rei says, causing Max's attention to turn back to him.

"They're not?" He jokes back, and Rei grins and shrugs in response.

"I wish I could think any of you were normal," the Chief gripes, sighing.

They all share a laugh and follow Kai and Takao at a more leisurely pace. Kai finally lets go of Takao's shirt when they get to the door, which is, of course, ominously closed. Duuun duuuuuun duuuuun gosh Max is so bored. It is too early for this.

"So, we opening it, or what?" Takao asks with a sigh. Rei is the first to react (morning person, psht) and pushes it open to reveal a...

state... of the art... ginormous... gymnasium?

The lot of them stare in the doorway. Max turns back around, then forward, then around. He squints.

"Uh, guys, we all stepped into a house first, didn't we? I mean, a big house, but—"

"But this still shouldn't fit here, no," Rei finishes for him, wide-eyed and blinking.

"Okay, so everyone else sees the gymnasium, right? It's not just me?" Takao asks, still rubbing at his eyes in disbelief.

Standing at approximately a gajillion feet tall and wide (Max is great at guesstimating), Max can see why Takao is worried about hallucinations. This gym puts the one at school to shame, which is surprising, because their school is all about sports. Though this one is less open field and more ... gymnastics themed, on a more thorough look. There are pommel horses, mattresses, still rings, parallel bars, high bars, a springboard, uneven bars, the entire set up for a gymnastic competition, basically.

Max likes watching gymnastics on TV, so sue him. It's very physically impressive! Plus, the girls are super cute. The point is, this is definitely a gymnastics themed... gymnasium. Gym gym. Ha.

Knowing that doesn't make it any better sense wise, unfortunately. It still reaaaaally shouldn't fit in here. Max turns to the Chief to find the younger boy on his laptop (he brings that thing everywhere, geez), seemingly calculating something. At Max's curious nudge, he turns to look and declares (rather dramatically):

"I looked up the dimensions of the center and calculated the dimensions of this gym... Architecturally speaking, this really makes no sense."

The group shares a stricken look. Except Kai, who has apparently gotten over Bey City's overall weird and impossible architecture and went to lean against a wall somewhere, arms crossed and eyes closed.

He can be such a cliche.

"Is anyone else really done with November?" Takao gripes. "Like, screw the fact that it's barely a week in, I vote we all sleep off this month and wake up when life stops being exceedingly ridiculous. All in favour say aye."

There is barely a second's pause before Max seconds that motion, quickly followed by the Chief and Rei in tandem. What? November sucks.

"Motion passes! We're leaving," their new leader declares to the empty gym. "Too bad, community service, I'd rather do the the jail time than deal with this. Kai, you coming?"

"Don't look now, but I think your motion is about to get filibustered."

Kai has apparently woken up from being a cliche and turned to look at something in the gym... rather dramatically, so maybe he's not done being cliche yet. Ah, well. He had his cute moment earlier this week, that'll have to be enough for the month. The month that they are now not getting to sleep off, because there is definitely a person over there heading over with the biggest smile Max has seen outside of himself. Dang it.

...Also, what the heck is a filibuster? Max feels like he should probably know this. Eh. Screw it.

The kid (because there's no way around it, the other "experienced volunteer" sure doesn't look any older than they are, in fact, he looks like, twelve, and this is coming from a teenager who still wears overalls because reasons) practically bounces over to them, all over-enthusiasm and Max would appreciate it so much more if it wasn't still like five am. Unfortunately, it is five am, so he just joins in everyone's unimpressed look and forced smiles. Well, except for Taka and Kai, who are respectively cursing their lives/the volunteer being alive, and looking ticked off. The rude duo, ladies and gentlemen! Geez, Taka, Max is pretty sure the kid can hear you.

"You must be the new volunteers!" The kid near shouts when he gets next to them, the smile on his face actually looking painful. "It's great to see some new faces in here! I've heard all about you from Director Daitenji! You'll love it here, it'll be a blast!"

That is a heck of a lot of exclamation points. Max can definitely hear every single one of them. That is a thing people can do. Yep. Also, director Daitenji? That's so weird. He's a principal! He shouldn't also be a director! It just isn't done!

"Right. We'll have the time of our life, for sure," Takao says, completely deadpan. "Anyway, since you seem to know all about us—care to share who you are?"

"Oh, right, sorry! How silly of me! I'm Antonio! I'm a volunteer gymnastics trainer here!"

There's an awkward pause.

"Director Daitenji strongly believes in extracurricular activities being the key to help today's troubled youths," Antonio explains.

Fair enough, though that wasn't their real question. The real question is still: how does this gym even exist. Like. Metaphysically. Is the center just bigger on the inside, like the TARDIS? Is their school principal actually a timelord? (Max really likes TV.)

"Well, that sounds... interesting. Anyway, what are we supposed to do?" Rei asks, breaking Max out of his Doctor Who reverie. It's a good point!

"Mostly help me set up equipment and exercises, if it's helping me... You'd also be doing it for the rest of the activities, of course! But mostly, since you're all such athletes—" Chief coughs out an abrupt "what" that everyone ignores. "—We thought you could help with everyone's training! We really want to enter them in the regional competition, and with me as their trainer it should be a piece of cake, especially with your help!"

...This entire premise is kind of ignoring that they're all different kind of athletes, isn't it? Max likes team sports, Takao and Rei both do different kind of martial arts, Kai is whatever the heck he wants to be that day (a ninja, maybe) and ... yeah the Chief is not even close to being an athlete. But he is great at setting up training and schedules, so, whatever! Good enough! It's an acceptable idea. Helping a bunch of kids from a rougher life to get to the regional competition of ... gymnastics.

Max feels like he's seen a movie like this. Once or twice. Or a gajillion times.

"Well, that sounds fine with me! Right guys?" Max decides for the group with a cheerful tone, because let's be real, they don't actually have much of a choice. "How about you show us the routine you have so far, first off? Then we can talk about the rest of it."

Antonio's grin is unending and blinding, and Max kinda regrets giving this kid something more to be enthusiastic about. Welp.

"Okay, but be prepared to be amazed!"

Takao throws Max a look like this is entirely his fault, which is rude. Just because his mom is the one who planned all this...!

...Maybe he can sort of be blamed.

~o~o~o~o~o~

It takes a while for Antonio to set up everything for his "routine", during which time they all sat down on conveniently placed mattresses, cross legged and looking like eager grade school children before watching a spectacle. Except for Kai, who is obviously trying to perfect his wall leaning technique but quickly assured Antonio he could see just fine from over there, thanks. The guy has no sense of self-preservation, and that is saying something coming from anyone in this group.

Antonio, finally ready and wearing that gymnast ensemble thing now (Max can't quite remember the term for it right now, and since he's still busy trying to remember what filibuster means, he's not that hard pressed to think of it), steps up to the stretch before the pommel horse thing. He takes a bow, readies himself for a run, actually starts running, jumps to the pommel horse and he—uh.

He. Falls flat off before doing a single twirl on the horse.

Max is one hundred percent sure he can hear crickets chirping.

"Aw, man! I was sure I was going to catch it this time!"

... Their life is one gigantic running gag, isn't it. Just one big cosmic joke. Max understands all of Taka's overdramatics forever, now. He laughs nervously as he looks at the others hoping SOMEONE has an explanation for this. Please. Anyone?

"Um... Are you sure you're the trainer?" Rei asks, the most peculiar crossed look on his face.

Takao literally faceplanted to the floor so he's no help. The Chief himself actually looks like he had an aneurysm, which is not that surprising! It is kind of how he is, always. But this time the situation kind of really deserves it.

Antonio laughs as he rubs the back of his head. "Well, to be honest, I've never done any gymnastics in my life, so that's why I needed some help with the routine... and... everything else. But I'm pretty good at coaching and this was my idea, so Director Daitenji spruced the place up for me and said it'd be my project! And I'm sure that now that I've got you guys to help, it'll be a cinch!"

Okay, a few things. First: how much money can a school principal even make? Max doesn't care that he works every job ever, this is ridiculous. Second: no one in this room has any gymnastics experience they're all screwed. The second one is really more important.

"You've got to be kidding me," Takao explodes, finally lifting his face from the floor. "Is everyone in this city insane? No one here knows anything about gymnastics, and I'm pretty sure googling it and pretending we know what we're talking about isn't going to fool anyone if you want to actually get to a real live competition, never mind win it!"

No one said anything about winning it, but Taka is really competitive sometimes, so Max is unsurprised. And the rest of it is legitimate complaints. All of it, even. Can't they just clean toilets instead? It seems less bad movie plot.

"You don't? But Director Daitenji said at least one of you should be an expert!" Antonio protests, and wow, principal Daitenji, way to put the pressure on whoever is supposed to be an expert. Rei, maybe? Has Daitenji fallen victim to Taka's cat jokes and thinks Rei is graceful and his flipping and stuff actually means something?

While Max and Rei share a confused look, Takao's eyes narrow in consideration.

"... He can't mean...," the boy mumbles, and the Chief gasps in realization at the same time as Takao turns to look at Kai.

The world's most put-upon sigh comes from Kai's general direction and he finally gets off the wall. What. No way. You're kidding. Kai?

"I wouldn't call myself an expert," he starts, and Max doesn't even care anymore he just. Kai. Gymnastics?! Of all things? Wasn't it enough that he was a contortionist the other day?! "And I definitely don't care enough about this little project to help, so sorry, but no."

While everyone else is busy boggling at Kai? Gymnastics? Kai in a leotard? (Oh, that's the name. Max remembered! Darn it what is a filibuster.) Antonio is quick to move on and he rushes to Kai and grabs at his arms in a plea that is quite frankly very embarrassing to watch. Also, Kai wrenches him off like two seconds after, because ew people.

"No, please! You have to help! I'm sure even basic knowledge would mean a lot! I promised Daitenji I'd get us to nationals!"

Wasn't it regionals earlier?

"Sorry, kid, but I really don't have time for this, so if you don't mind, could you please go take a hike?" Kai deadpans.

Wow. That is one stone cold and exceedingly polite dismissal. Takao cracks up in the background, because he is kind of a dick sometimes. Max says this with a lot of love, okay. Love makes it better. Antonio, meanwhile, looks extremely offended. Max isn't sure why. Kai at least said please! He doesn't usually ask nicely. They would know. He tells them to go take a hike all the time.

"What does that even mean, you don't have time? You're volunteering for the next month because of your community service!"

Antonio has a point. Also, apparently everyone knows they got arrested. Bummer. Max was hoping.

"Ah, forget it, kid," Takao pipes up, having finished laughing and repeating "could you please go take a hike" incessantly. He has his arms crossed behind his head cockily and oooh boy here it comes. "Principal Daitenji probably vastly overestimated Kai's skills and he's too afraid to show us how much he sucks at twirling."

Aaaand he went there. The dreaded chicken insult. Rei mutters an "oh boy, here they go again" in the background while Chief facepalms. Kai is glaring, because apparently being called chicken and having his skills insulted works. Kai's ego, ladies and gents. Kai's ego.

"Alright, fine," he grinds out, taking his shoes off. Max blinks at Kai's boring white socks (darn, he was hoping for something more interesting), and then the guy takes off running so fast Max barely has time to appreciate said white socks.

Unlike Antonio, Kai does not start off with tripping on his own feet. Not that anyone actually expected that. Instead, he starts off with a couple of extremely intense flips from the ground—handstands turning into cartwheels and backflips and frontflips and just kind of magically twirling through the air, and instead of stopping with just a floor routine like in Max's Olympic videos, he jumps straight onto the pommel horse. From there, it's all legwork and his upper body keeping him straight, and Max can barely keep up with all this twirling. He jumps off after a while with a perfect landing (10/10 would watch again) and just when Max thinks he's done, he keeps going, like the macho show-off gymnastic version of the energizer bunny. He goes for the parallel bars next, and Max is starting to get dizzy from that much twirling and holding himself up straight and letting go and catching himself and wow, this is getting kind of hot. Terrible. He thinks he hears Takao's faint "oh come the fuck on" when Kai's last flip on the parallel bars actually lands him grasping the rings (shouldn't those be further apart), still lifting himself up and oh okay now he is upside down. That is a long time to hold yourself up on moving metal rings perfectly straight up. His shirt actually starts riding up because, yeah, school uniforms are not meant for this, and Kai finally finishes it all off with a slightly less perfect than last time landing (...Max can be critical if he wants to, okay), sweat on his brow and a cocky self-satisfied expression in place.

Max reads comic books, okay, and he is pretty sure the scientific term for what he just witnessed is 'flips and shit'. Just. Wow. Wow.

Kai can be a gymnast any day of the week. No questions asked.

"Well?" Kai asks into the silence, slightly winded. "Is that enough for you, Kinomiya?"

"Actually, no, I think I missed that, you mind doing it again?" Takao answers in a remarkable display of repartee. Kai throws an annoyed look at him but lets it go, because let's be real, after that? There is no way he hasn't won this round.

"That. Was. AMAZING." Antonio gushes from where he stands. Wow, Max totally forgot about that guy. He exists.

From the sudden stricken look on Kai's face, he'd also forgotten the guy existed. Or wished he could. Takao, meanwhile, has his smug douche face on again, meaning—oh, right, he'd planned for Kai to show off. For some reason.

"You have to help out now! Someone like you, who can do something that perfect on the fly—!"

"It wasn't anywhere near perfect," Kai objects, but Antonio keeps talking.

"With you around, we could take on the OLYMPICS!" He finishes dramatically.

"Um, Antonio, buddy, you might want to aim a little lower..." Max tries, trailing off when he notices the guy doesn't seem to be listening. He turns to shrug helplessly at Rei, whose narrowed eyes are looking calculatingly at Kai. Oh boy not another one.

"Hey, Kai? Not that it wasn't impressive to watch or anything, but don't you usually need chalk to do the stuff on the bars?" Rei asks, and oh phew Max thought he was going to pull an Antonio and—wait a second that is a good point.

"It's usually used for safety reasons, actually," the Chief pipes up, forever the fountain of knowledge. "To stop your hands from sweating so you don't fall off the equipment. Not that I'm surprised Kai went without it to show off..."

Everyone stares at him. He laughs suddenly and nervously.

"Woops. Was that out loud?"

Ignoring Kai's sudden glaring in the poor guy's general direction, Takao sighs and advances to Kai, patting his shoulder and looking very unconcerned about the show of dramatic physical prowess that just happened.

"Come on, buddy. Take it easy, we all know you never try to be a complete and total show off so people think you're cool..." Kai's angry stare turns to Takao, who abruptly retracts his hand. Max can't help but laugh in the background because he is the worst friend. "Anyway, now that you've proven you're at least a little familiar with this whole set up, how about it? Let's teach a bunch of kids how to do gymnastics. You can show how to do stuff and we can explain it so normal people understand, and bam! We'll have fun while we're stuck doing volunteer work. The month'll pass by in a breeze. Whaddaya say, big guy?"

"Big guy" says screw you and your little dog too, according to his face. Takao, undeterred, continues:

"You get to not have to interact with people beyond the demonstration bit, and I can't guarantee that with anything else this place'll make us do."

It's when Kai closes his eyes and sighs that Max knows Takao has actually won this round. Incredible. That's like, twice this week he's played Kai like a fiddle. Usually it's pretty much the other way around!

"Fine," Kai declares. "I'll show you the moves, but that's it. I'm not doing anything else."

Antonio cheers and everyone ignores him. Why is he still here? Oh right they're doing this to help him out now or whatever. Max can barely keep up with all these weird twists. They also ignore him repeatedly thanking them, because they are jerks and it is still morning.

"Alright, so, I guess we should head to school for now? I think that's enough volunteering for today," Rei decides for them all, and they all ignore that no one did anything except for Kai, who just kind of showed off how cool he was some more. Luckily for them, Antonio is pleased by even having them agree to help (like they actually had an option not to... but they sure liked pretending they did), and he readily accepts this. He also spends like ten minutes waving them off when they leave. Max actually walks backwards to watch him get smaller and smaller, still waving.

Incredible.

"I'm surprised you were that eager to help out Antonio, Takao," Rei mentions once Antonio is but a speck in the distance.

"Like I said, it'll at least be interesting," Takao answers, shrugging it off. "Besides, I get the feeling he would've busted out some kind of sob story to get us to agree anyway, and I get to watch Kai get increasingly frustrated when people can't do what he's doing right. It's a win all around!"

"I'm increasingly frustrated by your continuing existence," Kai mutters darkly, and Takao gives a nervous laugh.

"Okay, no more poking the bear, got it. It's a joke! I'm joking."

"So, Kai," Max interrupts before things can get bloody, "I can't be the only one wondering just how come you're apparently an expert gymnast, am I?"

"I'm not an expert," Kai sighs, and Takao coughs "false modesty". It is the last thing he says, because Kai trips him and he contacts the pavement straight on. They all stop to wait out his pain filled moans but make no move to help him, because he deserved it. He did.

"Okay, but you're still pretty good at it, and I don't think this is one that can be explained by the whole street gang leader thing," Max points out.

Kai looks away, and just when the silence (punctuated, of course, by Takao going WHY ALWAYS WITH THE VIOLENCE in the background) starts being long enough that Max is about to give up on getting an answer, he speaks up:

"Does it matter? Daitenji knew because I joined the team back in seventh grade, that's all."

That totally doesn't answer Max's question, but he shrugs it off. Honestly, he's surprised Kai answered this much at all! Plus, now Max can research the middle school's competition from a few years ago and see cute tiny Kai in gym gear. Hehehe.

"Okay, if you say so!" Max answers with a beam. This seems to be the last straw, however.

"Okay, that's it, why are you always so nice to Max?!" Takao explodes as he finally lifts himself off the ground. "If I'd asked that question, you'd have went 'hmph, whatever, Kinomiya'!"

Max has to admit, that was a pretty good Kai impression voice. "It's because I'm cuter than you, obviously," he declares smugly. "And nicer, and more patient, and smarter..."

"Don't forget more modest," Rei jokes. Max ignores him. Haters gonna hate, he is great.

"Whatever you guys seem to think," Kai interjects. "I don't favour Mizuhara. If you want to fight over who daddy loves best, leave me out of it."

"At this point, I think it's more of a big brother type admiration," the Chief pipes up. "Every one of them wants you to like them best, but since Takao has massive attention issues..."

"Hey, who said I was even competing for Kai's attention?" Rei objects.

"I DON'T HAVE ATTENTION ISSUES," Takao objects louder than Rei so people pay more attention to him, validating the Chief's point entirely.

"If it was a competition, I'd be winning," Max declares because he is kind of being a troll right now, let's be real.

"I'm not anyone's brother."

Everyone ignores Kai, because he is the cool, attractive and aloof big brother they all never wanted but love to have. (Actually, Takao already has one of those, so what does he even get out of hanging out with Kai?)

"Maybe I should skip out on psychoanalyzing you guys if I want us to last the month," the Chief mutters to himself. Max laughs.

"You think?"

"Kaiiiiiiii seriously why do you like Max beeeeeest," Takao whines, griping at Kai's shirt. Kai tries to tug him off, but since Takao is being an octopus and Kai doesn't want to rip out his uniform shirt, it's a futile effort.

"Case in point," the Chief points to them.

"You have three seconds to let go, Kinomiya."

"Seriously, who said I wanted Kai's attention?!"

Yeah he might definitely have a point there.

~o~o~o~o~o~

After a long day of classes where Kai pointedly ignored them and a long evening of Kai still pointedly ignoring them as they introduced themselves to the wildly varied youths interested in gymnastics and tried to see what they could all do before starting a routine, Max is really glad to head home. He's even more glad when he enters and sees his mom, which he shows by tacklehugging her to submission! She catches him with a laugh.

"You're starting to get a little too tall for that, Max," she admonishes him with a smile, proving that she is totally kidding. Besides, Max will never be too old or tall for tacklehugs. Never.

"What, I don't get a hug too?" Max's dad jokes, and Max responds to that by tacklehugging him, too, for good measure.

"So how was your day, Max?" Judy asks once he's done getting the life hugged out of him by his father and having his hair ruffled for good measure. Ruuuuude, he's totally ruining his carefully chosen "adorable and fluffy" style! Parents.

"It was fun! We started volunteering and we're doing this weird gymnastics thing and Taka got suuuuper jealous because I've been bonding with Kai recently!"

His parents share a look Max prefers not to interpret (parents), and it's his mom who speaks up:

"Bonding...?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, it's nothing that big, just him being less offended at my existence because I've got more tact than Taka! Not that that's hard or anything..." Max trails off when he sees his mom raising an eyebrow and he tilts his head inquisitively.

"Your friends sound great, Max," Tarou interrupts the moment, ruffling Max's hair. Noooo not agaaaain! "And I'm sure whatever your volunteering work is, it'll end up great. Right, Judy?"

"Of course," she says with a smile. "I'm just not sure..."

Max waits for her to finish her sentence but she just shrugs it off after sharing a look with his dad once more.

"Well, do try not to get involved in any more problems, won't you, Max? And I'd love to meet your friends some time—properly, that is."

"Right, sure," Max agrees after a pause. There's something off here, but what? He can't pinpoint it. Well, except for his dad's change of tune since the last time he talked about Max's friends, but Max likes to pretend he convinced him by saying how awesome they all were.

"Anyway, I'm making my famous noodles for dinner, so everyone ready their mayo!" Max's dad says and HELL YEAH NOODLES AND MAYO WOOHOO!

The family that eats weird together sticks together, except for the part that mayo on noodles is awesome. Everyone else is just weird for not liking it. Judy laughs delightfully when Max actually cheers out loud and leads her to the dining room so they can set up the table.

They don't bring Kai up again that night, but the conversation he'd overheard his mom have with Daitenji stays in the back of his mind as he rethinks her reactions to Max "bonding" with him.

There's so many mysteries surrounding Kai, but why does it seem like the one who holds all the answers isn't Kai himself?

Ah, well. Max probably watches too much TV.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The days turn into weeks, and the gymnastics project (Max has decided it sounds a lot better than "forced volunteering for community service because we broke so many laws") is going as smoothly as it can, considering the circumstances. Antonio is actually getting better from their overall coaching, the kids (aged between eight to like, seventeen, so maybe Max shouldn't call them kids...) all seem to at least appreciate getting to watch Kai if not so much failing to do the same things he does, and Kai only storms off like, thrice over the course of November. ... Not counting the times he left while they were in school, of course, but to be fair, it is a lot less than he used to! He basically hangs out with them of his own accord now. So much progress in only three months! ...Five months for Takao.

Okay maybe this isn't that impressive.

December rolls around and with it, tests. They thankfully managed to spend a lot of their time "volunteering" studying while Kai showed off, since he knows everything. (Seriously, they've asked him random stuff to check, and he's answered them all perfectly while doing a handstand. If he wasn't socially inept, Kai would probably be the worst human being to be around because of how stupidly perfect he is.) Their volunteering is close to an end, as once test results are announced, the semester will officially be over. Max honestly cannot wait. He really misses having free time.

It's lunch time in the library again (winter in Bey City is surprisingly cold this year, and Max lived in New York, so he knows cold temperatures), and everyone is simply enjoying a calm, non-studying lunch for once. Kai is nearly finishing up that one manga series he keeps stealing from Takao, and Max still thinks that is the cutest gosh darned thing ever. Look at them. Refusing to admit they're friends. Adorable.

Of course, since everything is calm for once, something has to go wrong.

"So this is where your little group is hiding," Michael says, strutting over to their table.

Max gives up on being polite and literally just groans and lets his head bang softly on the table. Oh. That guy. What a tool. Eddy and Steve are close to follow, the trio apparently never having heard of not being a dumb posse for once.

"Oh great," Kai mutters without looking up from his book. "Here's another jock."

"No, Kai, that's the old one," Max corrects, looking up from the table. Kai stares blankly.

"The old one," Michael seethes, "If you remember, is named Michael Summers. The name ring a bell to you?"

Max does not remember that last name being part of the old conversation. Kai seems to mockingly think it over before deadpanning:

"No."

Michael looks exceedingly aggravated. That's good, because he is also exceedingly aggravating. Max is sure the guy has qualities somewhere. Deep down. Very deep down. Max sure doesn't feel like finding them, though.

Rei, Takao and the Chief are looking at Max and Kai like they've grown two heads, and, to be fair, it's not often they see Max being this rude to anyone, or Kai seemingly caring enough to answer. He waves them off as a "what can ya do", but of course Takao decides now is the time to care.

"Okay, since it seems you guys are all acquainted, care to share with the class? Like, why are you here, why we should care, who you are, and why is that guy wearing full football gear indoors?"

He points to Steve at the last part, and Steve looks extremely offended.

"Don't you know anything? All three of us are internationally ranked champions! This dump of a school is lucky to even see us in these uniforms," Steve counters with a sneer. Takao remains unimpressed.

"Don't you know how much you look like tools? Seriously. Don't you?"

Max doesn't even bother hiding his chuckle, and judging from the Chief's surprised snort and Rei's barely muffled laughter, he's not the only one getting some sick pleasure in this. Even Kai's got a smirk on his face. Steve is basically about to blow a gasket, seething out a "why you" and making as if to raise a hand against Takao. Eddy stops him before he can actually touch him, which is good, because Max is so not above calling the librarian on their asses if they touch Taka, or anyone else for that matter.

"Alright, why doesn't everyone just take a chill pill, yeah? We didn't come here for a fight. We're actually here for a reason, right, Michael?"

Michael sighs and waves him off. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, look—Max, Kai and... the rest of you geeks—"

"If you didn't come for a fight, you might want to stop with the insults," Rei breaks in with a low warning tone Michael rolls his eyes at.

"Whatever your names are, Doc Judy wanted us to apologize for going against her will the other day by 'threatening' you to behave yourselves."

"... That was nearly a month ago," Max objects. Because, seriously. Way to belatedly apologize.

"Yeah, well, we do have a life," Michael answers with a smirk. Max really wants someone to punch his smug face in. Like. Really. "Anyway, that's not all. Judy also wanted us to give you guys this."

He proceeds to take out what looks like a set of earpieces and communicative radios from seemingly out of nowhere. Having spent the month in a metaphysically impossible gymnasium, the group barely bats an eye at the whole "and just where was he hiding that" bit, though Max is kind of really confused at the gift. Just ... what.

"She said that if you guys ever want to play spy again, you might as well have the proper gear for it."

Everyone groans. Great, they were just set up for a terrible joke. Super.

"While I highly doubt that's likely to happen again, I think I'll be taking those," the Chief decides, grabbing the items. At everyone's unamused looks, he shrugs defensively. "What? They're pretty high tech."

"Well, if you guys are done posing for world's douchiest magazine, you can probably go now. I think we're done with dealing with you guys for the rest of our entire high school lives," Rei snaps.

Max's friends are all great big dicks and Max loves them all from the bottom of his heart. So much. Michael raises his hands innocently.

"Touchy, touchy... Well, I think our work here is done. Eddy, Steve, let's go. I bet we can still catch cheerleader practice if we hurry."

They walk off with smug laughter that is immediately shushed by the irate librarian, and then quickly followed by the sound of them being thrown out by her aide. Max loves that girl. Max has a lot of love to give today.

But none for Michael and his posse, bye.

"You guys ever get the feeling we're part of some really lame teen movie?" Takao grumbles from where he's leaned over his seat to look at the equipment Chief is a bit too taken with. "Like, not even a well-written one, just literally one of those that try too hard to do a bunch of cliche and then end up all over the place?"

Everyone choruses out a yes in the most unamused manner possible, even Kai.

"Wow, I'm glad that's not just me. Anyway, what's the deal? Why would Max's mom give us spy gear?"

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't my mom's idea," Max objects. "Her and my dad are really into the whole 'stop getting in trouble, Max' thing recently. I think I'm only getting ungrounded for Christmas."

"It's probably just their idea of a bad joke," Rei agrees. "Though it seems like a lot of money to spend on a one off chance to poke fun at us."

"Doesn't look that fancy to me," Kai says, and since Max knows he is apparently the heir to an extremely rich guy, Max takes it with a grain of salt. Like. Fifty thousand whole grains of salt. ...That is not how metaphors work, but Max doesn't care. The point is: so rich. So not allowed an opinion.

"They're actually pretty advanced, and if I can modify them a little, the range might be very impressive... Not that it'd ever come up anyway, because I swear if you guys drag me into more trouble, I'll stay away this time!"

"Don't worry, Chief," Takao reassures him, tugging the boy close with an arm across his shoulder. "I was serious last time. If we ever have to infiltrate another building again, someone is definitely getting punched in the throat. We've had enough trouble to last us a lifetime."

Max agrees. Come on. Like something like this will ever come up again!

Something seems ominous. Max pointedly ignores it.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The day tests results are in is a day of celebration for so many reasons, all of which have to do with never having to watch Kai do gymnastics ever again. Max never thought he'd get bored of watching Kai show off, but here we are. It might also be that gymnastics are now forever associated with forced work in Max's mind, but hush. Hush. Still, the one good thing that came out of the entire incident is that everyone is a lot more flexible now. What, like they'd let the kids have all the fun imitating Kai on their own! Some of those moves do look cool enough to want to do in real life, okay.

Other reasons the results being in is exciting is that not only is their volunteering time over, so is the world's longest semester! Max seriously feels it's been like five years since the semester started. Oof. They have a few weeks off for Christmas, and while Max is pretty sure he'll hang out with the guys, he'll be glad to get to do it in a context where all the work they have to do is force Kai to participate in anything ever.

All in all, test results day is pretty sweet. Except for the part where the results are plastered on the wall for everyone to see. Max will never get used to that part. Japan is so weird.

He goes to see his results on his own between classes, hoping the first year results would be less crowded than they were in the morning. He's glad to see that while some people are around, it's a lot less than the entire sea of people of earlier. He pushes past to look closer with a quick "excuse me" and is quick to spot his own name in the top ten. Max lets out a very loud woop and doesn't even care that everyone is giving him dirty looks. His own success guaranteed, he starts to look for his friends' names, since he knows they all didn't get a chance to see this morning either.

He spots Rei a few spots from his own, more top twenty than top ten but still very impressive. Takao is not in the bottom ten, and Max is totally going to celebrate this with him in style, no questions asked. He finally sees the Chief's name (he had to take a moment to remember what it actually was, haha, woops) sharing number two with Emily and...

Max gives a rueful shake of his head. Of course Kai is number one. For a guy that went to summer school with Takao, he sure knows his stuff. He can spot the name of everyone else he knows, and no one did too badly. He turns around to head off, whistling, ready to invite Taka to the world's biggest "We're awesome, semester is over, and no one failed" sleepover extravaganza ever. It's been a while since he's spent some quality one-on-one time with his very best friend, after all! (Not that Rei, Kai and the Chief aren't also his closest friends, but Takao is ... Takao! He just can't explain it.)

"Congratulations, Max," Emily's voice cuts him off just as he's about to turn the corner. He turns to look at her instead, not sure if he heard her right. Was that... sincere? "Though I guess I shouldn't have expected any different from Judy's son."

Max grins a bit, unsure of this new Emily's attitude but so very okay with it. "Well, I had to get something other than her good looks from her, right?"

Emily actually smiles genuinely, pushing her glasses up. She looks a lot cuter like this, Max thinks. Now he gets why the Chief had to restrain himself to gush about her when they talked science partners. (Max's science partner is Takao and he regrets nothing, not even after that one time his eyebrows burnt off. It was hilarious.)

"Fair enough. Still, your entire group did pretty well, all things considered," she adds, pointing to the board. Max frowns a bit and she explains: "Volunteering, of course. You boys did pretty well, continuing the rest of your regular extracurricular activities while you worked on Antonio's... project, and you still managed to pass with flying colours. I'm impressed."

"Chief told you all about it, huh?" Max laughs off, scratching the back of his neck. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

Emily ignores him, turning to look at the score posting once again. Max waits out her silent dramatic moment, because everyone is allowed one per day.

"...Still, there's something to be said about that Kai," she concludes softly. Max frowns.

"What is with everyone's obsession with Kai? He's just another teenager, isn't he?"

"I thought so too, but—well, your mother knows far more about our project than I do. As smart as I am, I'm still a minor, so there are some details she just can't share with me. I have a feeling this city was chosen for more reasons than Judy being nostalgic for her family, or Daitenji's continued interest in the project, both financial and intellectual."

Max's frown only deepens and he reaches out to grab Emily's shoulder. "Emily?" She jumps, as if startled out of her thoughts. Had she even meant to share all that with him?

"Well, forget about it. Mysterious or not, Kai is just a teenager. I'm probably overestimating his relevance to everything here. See you later, Max, alright?" She concludes with a wave, and jogs away.

...Max is starting to really hate mysteries. The word mystery and all its variations too, while he's at it.

They totally are in some bad mystery sci-fi high school teen movie.

~o~o~o~o~o~

While everyone else's reaction to their own grades is pretty tame (and lame, let's be real!), Takao's is just as Max expected: loud, overjoyed and in-your-face. Just how he likes them. The rest of the group all have varying degrees of congratulations out when they hear, too, from Rei's enthusiastic "way to go", the Chief's completely ironic "I knew you could do it all along!" when he was the one stressing the most about Takao's grades, and even Kai drawls out a "congrats on not sucking, Kinomiya" that is possibly the closest thing to a compliment he's ever paid any of them. Of course, all that said and done, Max outshines them all by first grabbing Takao, then dancing with him enthusiastically, giving him a high-five and going into a rendition of "who's da man? You da man!" with the best gangsta accent he can manage. Since he lived in New York, it's a pretty epic one. After a few minutes of them acting like giddy children to everyone's vague amusement, Max declares with a dramatic flair close to Shakespearean plays that they are going to celebrate all night, woop woop.

He actually says woop woop out loud. It's a thing.

Their last few hours volunteering are punctuated by a lot of tears from Antonio, disappointed looks from the group they trained (they'll make it to regionals, Max just knows it! ... Whatever those are!) and one very intense "thank fuck it's over" look on Kai's face that everyone else only has a pale imitation of. Poor guy. The kids all seem to want one last demonstration, too, and Kai, while not weakened by the stares of cute children and pimpled teens, is still extremely fond of showing off, so he gives them all a show even better than the very first time he showed off for Takao. Kai sure has a flair for dramatics. Of course, the rest of them, not to be outshined, also show off the moves they learned this month. They may not be as impressive as Kai, but Max's upper body strength has never been higher, and Rei's natural flexibility (...and kittycatness, yes) adds nothing but grace to moves he hasn't perfected yet (anything off the floor). Takao, meanwhile, seems to have picked it all up quite naturally... except for the landings, which he still fumbles. It's a testament to Kai's good mood that he actually just gives him a hand up at the end of their own show, though he does ruin it by saying it's too bad there's no cure for clumsiness. Takao bites back that it's too bad there isn't a cure for constant dickery, and Max laughs at both of them with no shame. He gets a noogie for it.

His hair ruined (damn it, Taka!) and the youth center long behind them, Max and Takao wave off the others with a promise to force them all to hang out in a few days, school or no school. Rei and the Chief readily agree, while Kai just looks upwards and says "not a chance in hell". Everyone ignores him, because he does not actually get an opinion on hanging out with them. Ever.

They go to Takao's family dojo, partly because there's a lot more space than Max's own tiny home-slash-hobby shop place, partly because Takao's grandpa can be a lot more lenient on ridiculous behaviour than Max's parents, and mostly because Takao's video game and manga collection can put anyone to shame. Max calls it the fatherly-guilt factor, because while Takao's dad is never around, boy does he send the guy a lot of presents. That plus his older brother leaving behind everything he owned when he went on his archeological digs means that the Kinomiya dojo is the perfect place for any teenage boy sleepovers.

Except for all the calendars, those are just weird.

They set up on the actual dojo floor, much to Takao's grandpa's long suffering, and it takes a few awesome kendo stick (what was the name? Shinai, or something? Max is so bad with words these days) dodges for him to finally let up, though he does tell them not to make too much of a mess. The boys readily agree and then proceed to surround themselves in piles of junk food, blankets, pillows, game controllers, dvd cases, manga and comic books and regret nothing. They even start throwing popcorn at each other during the other's turn on an old Sonic game every time they lose rings or die. Then they have a pillow fight. The end result is feathers and popcorn everywhere, and Gramps is definitely gonna have a fit when he checks in on them tomorrow morning. ... Or, uh, more accurately, this morning, because it's like three AM by now.

Max is being a caterpillar in a cocoon of blankets on top of his futon, the both of them having destroyed today's Fort Naptime earlier because it was getting to be a bit too stuffy in there, when the effects of a mix of way too many energy drinks (gotten for no reason other than to never sleep again) and an extreme sugar overdose start to wear off and he finds himself crashing in the worst possible way. Takao, sitting up right now but still covered head to toe in a blanket with only his hands sticking out as he tries to beat a ... weird... boat... guy... in Kingdom Hearts, looks over at him when he lets out a yawn.

"Aw, c'mon, don't tell me you're crashing now, Maxie! The night's barely started!"

Max shakes his head in denial and rolls over, looking at the screen upside down. It makes a lot more sense that way. Definitely. (No, it's still really weird, why is that guy naked?)

"Nooo, I'm good, I'll just like ... drink a thing, or whatever," he mumbles through another yawn, this one triggering one in Taka. Ha. Yawning is so weird like that.

"Shut up, look, you got me doing it now, lamester," Takao says, kicking at him futilely through his layer of blankets. Max can't feel it because he also has a million blankets around himself, nyeh nyeh.

"Lamester?" Max mocks with a laugh, refusing to stoop to violence like Takao. (Also he is way too comfortable right now to move.) "Do everyone a favour and don't say it in front of the others, man, I don't think they'd stop laughing at you for the rest of the year."

Takao blows him a raspberry because he is Max's most mature friend.

There's a bit of a silence as Takao finishes his boss fight and they watch the resulting cutscene (pfft, Square games and their unending cutscenes) with droopy eyes and just a slight bit of singing along to the game's theme song when it comes on. Max is way more familiar with the English version but puts up a good effort, at least. It's only when the credits have finished rolling and they've spent far too long looking at Takao's stat screen that the other boy speaks up, giving Max a near heart attack. He'd almost been asleep!

"Hey, Maxie," he says, still gripping the controller tightly and looking blankly at the screen. "Is everything all right with you and your mom?"

Max lets his arms escape his cocoon long enough to grab his forgotten pillow, resting his head on it. He looks at the ceiling.

"Mmm... yeah, sure. Why do you ask?"

Takao sighs and lets himself flop backwards, staring at the ceiling like Max. At least, Max assumes.

"I mean, you guys didn't really talk about stuff, did you? And you still don't really know what's up with her and her research... I dunno, I'm probably just projecting or something."

"Nice word usage," Max compliments him, and Takao flips him off in the dark. "You mean, like, because of your dad, right? You're still mad at him because of this summer?"

"Yeah I am! He still hasn't contacted me since, y'know? Hitoshi either. And it's dumb, because I know if they showed up here, I wouldn't even talk to them about it, I'd just be so happy they were here in the first place... So I guess I get your thing with your mom. Just—it still kind of bugs me."

"... It kind of bugs me too," he admits softly. "But my parents are so happy, and I just want to spend time with my mom and show her what I can do now, I don't wanna fight... Even though—" Max breaks off suddenly, biting his lip.

"Even though what?" Takao asks after a beat.

Max hesitates for a few seconds, but he's been sitting on it and worrying about it for so long, he just ends up blurting out:

"...Okay, look, Taka, you can't tell anyone else about this."

"Yeah, sure, okay."

"No, you've got to promise. I'm not even sure if I'm interpreting it correctly or if it's just my imagination, and maybe I'm making more of a big deal out of it than it is, but—"

"Okay, okay, I promise, geesh, get on with it," Takao cuts him off.

"... So, remember how earlier this month, when we first got caught being idiots, the condition was for Kai to do something for my mom?"

"Yeah, man. That feels like years ago, though..."

"Anyway, the morning after, I was heading off to talk to Principal Daitenji to let Kai off the hook, since it was my fault, and the whole thing was super weird and skeevy—anyway, I was heading there when I overheard him and my mom talking."

"About what?"

"About... about Kai, I think. They were saying all these weird things, like about wanting to study Kai or watch him or something, and Kai's grandfather basically stalking him and them not wanting to know they were onto him for—for something, I dunno, and I... We don't know a lot about Kai's home life, right? But then all this other stuff didn't make sense, like, if they're just worried Kai's grandfather is, is abusing him or something, what's with my mom wanting to study him or Principal Daitenji's... suspicions or whatever, and—"

Takao actually rolls over on him to stop him from talking, and Max chokes because damn it Taka I can't breathe!

"Okay, okay, woah, slow down, Maxie. Just what are you on about?"

Max squeaks, because he can't fucking breathe get off get off get off, and Takao finally rolls off. He gasps for air a few times. Takao mumbles about drama queens while Max tries to remember what oxygen tastes like. (Nothing. It's air.)

"Look, the point is—I overheard my mom saying weird stuff about Kai with the principal, and she noticed me after, and she told me not to talk about it to anyone because it might be dangerous, and I've kind of been slowly freaking out about it mentally for the past month because I feel like the worst friend ever and also because I don't get it!"

Takao stares at him when he finishes ranting and blinks.

"Okay, um. First off, that's really weird. Second, I don't... I mean, you've seen Kai, right? There's no way he's getting abused. He's the abuser, not the abusee. And... yeah, that's really weird. What's with grown-ups talking about Kai like that? Creepy."

Max makes the sound of a frustrated and dying cat, because that is completely unhelpful to his dilemma. Takao holds up his hands in surrender.

"Right, okay, uh... You're right about us not having the whole picture, and I gotta admit, something freaky is definitely going on. Obviously we can't just confront Kai about it, knowing the guy he'd just go 'it's none of your business Kinomiya just leave me alone' and go grump somewhere, but... I dunno. I don't think I like this either."

Max sits up to look at Takao, as usual widely appreciating his Kai impersonation. It's beautiful. Tragically beautiful. Still, now is not the moment for weird laughs.

"So... what do you think I should do?"

Takao slides an arm around Max's shoulders and tugs him close, and oh boy what has Max wrought now.

"Well! I think... I can handle your little problem, Maxie."

"You can?" Max asks in pure disbelief.

"All we need is a little... finesse. I'll try to talk to Kai about his home life," Takao starts, ignores Max's desperate "please don't", because he's seen what happens when Takao talks to Kai about anything. "And you, my friend, should definitely spy on your mom. And enlist the others to help out in finding out the most we can about Kai's personal life."

Max regrets everything.

"Taka, I really don't think this is such a great idea..." he trails off at the look on Takao's face, which has seemingly grown somber.

"Look. I know I'm not always the most, uh, tactful guy around, but ... I'm not doing this for me, okay? Something's been bugging me since this summer, and you overhearing that conversation with your mom just proves there's something we're missing. And—and I don't like it. If Kai's in trouble, it's only fair for us to get him out of it, right? Since he's gotten us out of trouble a lot, grudgingly or not."

Max stays quiet for a while before sighing, giving in. It's true. He does owe it to Kai to at least try to help him out. Whether he's aware he needs help or not.

"Yeah, okay. But—let's sleep on it? We might have a better plan than just plain ol' stalking Kai if we do."

"... Fiiiine, it sounds creepy when you call it stalking, anyway," Takao relents, pouting.

They turn off the console and TV, curling up on futons stuck together because Max is a glutton for punishment. (Takao sleeps like he does everything else: noisily, flailingly, and, uh, hungrily, actually.) They say their good nights with a heavy heart, Max staring wide eyed into the darkness and wondering if he made the right choice to tell Takao.

He's just about to fall asleep when something occurs to him and he starts laughing, in near-hysterics.

Takao bolts up, confused and disoriented.

"What. What, why're you laughin'," he slurs out, barely a question.

"I just remembered what a filibuster is! Damn it, Kai's hilarious!"

Takao hits him in the face with a pillow. Max keeps laughing.

---

NEARLY TWO YEARS LATER holy shit this thing is still alive? Hello, everyone, and welcome to Zia's excuses corner! In the category this time: I broke like four laptops, went through a bad break-up, difficult financial situations, and the number one excuse of all: this is a beyblade fanfic and I'm like nearly twenty three why do I still care oh my god what is wrong with me.

IGNORING ALL THAT, I once again started to rewatch Beyblade while writing this chapter (...re...re...rewriting, ha ha ha four laptops), which means there are a few references and jokes that directly refer to the dub! Because god that dub. That dub. ANYWAY. Fun fact, this chapter's outline made a lot more sense according to the previous one of this arc ... oh, about two years ago when I wrote it. But you know what I hated it so I came up with something completely different and wrote off my other plotline without a backwards glance and NOBODY CAN TELL, RIGHT? HA HA whatever.

I've actually already started work on chapter 15 (what the hell, right?), and unlike this ... entire arc... everything in the rest of the fic is actually PLANNED IN ADVANCE? Shock. Gasp. Incredible.

You know I actually had an entire author's note planned for this chapter but since it clocks in at around, oh, twenty thousand words, I think I'm good. Uh, apologies to any and all All-Starz fans because wow I sure was a dick to them in this fanfic. Uh. It's not quite character bashing but it's close, especially for Michael and Steve and I'm really sorry. It's just that. I. I don't care about the All-Starz. They're probably my least favorite team from season one. Plus, you know what this is a fanfic about the bladebreakers why would you read to learn about any other characters. Uuuuh. MOVING ON.

Everyone is really overestimating Kai's importance in everything. I just need to say this even though I lampshaded it like fifty times. This remains a huge parody of everything ever, which includes the world revolving around one person. Please don't believe Ondore's lies.

also yes I did make Kai do gymnastics for an actual legitimate reason and not just because I have a Nightwing fetish, thank you very much. Really. I swear!

To anyone still reading this, oh my god you guys are so cute thank you. Also, I actually read a few fics and noticed a few people unsubtly trying to copy my style and/or jokes, and while that's like really flattering, please don't do that. It's not an actual legitimate writing style. It's terrible. Why would anyone ever want to have this style. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write dramatic scenes?

Anyway, all in all, I hope you enjoyed it!

-Zia

ps: it's not twenty thousand it's 18k but that's CLOSE ENOUGH FOR ME