Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade.
Chapter 7: Vents
I yawned heavily and opened my eyes. Daylight already? Man what time is it? I rubbed my eyes and looked next to me. "Kai's gone." I said simply. I rolled onto the side he slept on, feeling the warmth his body had left. He had just gotten up apparently as it was still really warm. I lie there for awhile just, well, laying there. It was at this time I noticed that I couldn't hear anything. I stood up and walked into the living room. Hmm, nobody was here. I looked in Kai's room and saw Ray was gone as well. I then walked over and opened the door to Max's room. Both teens were asleep in their beds. I looked at Alan who had his hand down his pants, eww, and then at Max. My heart suddenly lurched when I saw the blonde. He was asleep but when I looked at him, all the memories of last night flowed into my head at a really fast rate. The fireworks, the talk we had, the kiss, and… Rejection. My eyes watered and I walked into the kitchen quickly getting something to drink. I downed a glass of water quickly and held myself together. The pain was fresh in my heart and, just like last night, I felt it would explode. Except this time, it wasn't a good reason. I sat on the counter and sighed. So this was rejection? I chuckled at myself. Never, not once in my entire life time did I feel like this.
"Morning Tyson." Someone said stumbling me out of my thoughts. It was Max. He had on green pants and an orange shirt. An orange jacket was tied around his waist.
"M-morning." I mumbled lowly so that hopefully he wouldn't hear me. My head was down and I suddenly felt like crap and wished Kai and Ray were here.
"He said good morning Travis! Or can you not hear?" Alan said suddenly popping up behind him.
I hopped up off of the counter I was sitting on and looked at him giving him an angry look. "I heard what he said." I answered looking him in the eye. I wasn't exactly in a good mood, and this wasn't exactly making it any better. I began to make my way towards my room.
"Well you should learn manners. Its no wonder you couldn't snag Max." he said smugly. I stopped in my tracks.
"What did you say?" I said, my mood getting worse by the second.
"I guess you really can't hear! Here let me shout it for you. You couldn't get Max because you're just a lowly bum who can't make real friends so instead you leech onto other people through beyblading who just happen to be bigger freaks than you are!!! Did you get th- huuu." I stopped that bastard midsentence. I watched as Max's eyes widened. Yes, I had finally hit Alan where he deserved it most. In his giant mouth. He was on the floor in shock looking at me. His nose was bloodied and he was holding his mouth. I cracked my knuckles and turned to walk away again. God that felt good. If only it were that easy though.
"What the hell is your problem!?" Max shouted at me.
I turned around. "Did you not hear what he said to me!?" I shouted right back.
"That doesn't mean you hit him!"
"What the hell else was I supposed to do!?"
"I don't know! But you didn't have to do that!"
"So your defending him!? You're going to sit there and let him say that to me!?"
He stopped for a minute as if thinking before Alan suddenly spoke up. "It doesn't matter Max. Someone who was raised by an old coot should be acting like this. It's only natural." He said standing.
I clenched my fists tightly. "Max move out of the way." I said calmly.
"I can't do that Tyson." He said looking down.
"What do you mean you can't?"
"If you try to fight him, you're fighting me too."
I was shocked. Did I really just hear that? "After all these years, I thought you were my friend. We'd been through so much together. We trained together, won together, and even lost together. We were never alone." I said fighting back tears. Cerberus had apparently woken up and bounded in right next to my side. He growled and crouched down. "I guess that was all just a lie." I paused before settling on my decision. This Max wasn't my friend, I don't know who he was but this Max was not my friend. "Then so be it." I said putting up my fists in an offensive fighting stance. "I'm not holding back on you!"
Max gasped and his eyes widened when he saw me. "Don't worry Max. I'll kick this bozo's ass." Alan said pushing past the blonde. I signaled to Cerberus just to watch. He barked at me and bounded onto a couch to watch in case I needed help. I wouldn't of course. Alan suddenly rushed at me with a smirk.
I was angry at this point. Really angry. Throughout the years, Ray had taught me a lot of moves. Some of these, I only used if I was in a pinch. At this point I was deciding whether I should seriously hurt him or not. He threw the first punch which happened to be really slow. I dodged to the left and waited for his next move. He attacked again but this time trying to kick me in the stomach. I caught his kick halfway and smiled. I pushed his foot away causing him to stumble before I lunged in for the kill. I kneed him in his stomach before elbowing him in the jaw. He fell straight down and didn't budge. No, I didn't kill him; I didn't even knock him unconscious. The kid just couldn't take a punch. At this moment I had let my guard down which probably wasn't a good idea because before I knew it Max had tackled me onto the ground, hard. He sat on my stomach and punched me in my face, hardddd. I felt blood fly from my mouth at the force. He hit me again causing my head to fly the other way. He raised his hand about to hit me again when I suddenly caught it. He gasped as I raised my fist. I could have hit the blonde so hard that he could have had a permanent scar on his face, but instead I didn't. I pushed him off of me and he fell to the floor. We both got up and put up our fists again preparing for more. It was then a thought came into my head. I can't do it. I knew all to well in my head that I wouldn't be able to hit him. I just couldn't. I had to got with the alternative. I lunged at him quickly before he had a chance to realize I had made the first move. I slammed him into the wall hard and held him there looking into his eyes. He was crying.
"What am I doing?" he said his tears getting through. He looked at me and saw the fierceness in my eyes. He then looked at my cheek and saw the blood coming from it, and the blood down my mouth. "Tyson, I'm so sorry." He breathed out crying. I released my grip on him and my eyes softened into a look of understanding.
"I can't believe I ever called you a friend." I said to him simply. "I trusted you with everything I had Max. Why did you do it?" He was looking at me now with water in his eyes. "I can't do this anymore." I said before whistling to Cerberus and heading to the door.
"Where are you going?" he said trying not to cry anymore.
"I quit." I said simply. "You can consider me off of the team."
"WH-what!? Tyson you can't just-"
"I can and I am!!!" I yelled at him. "You hate me here so much, well fine! I'm finally leaving! Good riddance!" I opened the door refusing to listen to him anymore and stepped out slamming it behind me. I pressed the button on the elevator door and waited for it to come up. It opened just as the one across the hall opened revealing the rest of the team.
"Tyson! Sorry were late, we were getting breakfast. Wh-where are you going?" Ray asked rolling a cart of food to our door. He then noticed the blood I still had on me.
"Tyson what happened?" Kai said gesturing to the blood on my face.
I looked at him and wiped the new brimming tears from my face. "I'm sorry." I said just before the elevator door closed. I slid down onto the floor of the elevator and Cerberus jumped into my lap licking my face. I had to leave; I needed to do some thinking. I didn't even know where I was going but I had to get out of there.
(Normal POV)
Ray walked into their suite and set the food down on the table, the rest of the team following into the living room. Kenny sat down in one of the armchairs and turned on the TV not noticing a thing. Kai sat down on the arm of the couch and looked at Max who was on the ground holding his knees and Alan still knocked down on the floor. "Max what's wrong? What happened here?" Ray said after coming from the kitchen.
Max simply shook his head before putting his face in his knees. Kai then decided to say something. "Max, what happened here? Where's Tyson going?"
The blonde lifted his head up showing his tear filled eyes. "He quit." He said quietly before burying his head back in his lap and crying.
"He what!? What do you mean he quit!? Why would he?" Kai shouted at the blonde completely shocked. He picked him up by is collar and held the poor blonde up to the wall. "I swear to God Max if you did anything to hurt him in anyway I will personally make your life a living hell!"
Max didn't reply he only sniffled and continued crying.
"Kai calm down. Max tell us what happened." Ray said causing Kai to drop the blonde on the ground.
"I can tell you that." Alan suddenly said. He was sitting up with an ugly purple mark on his right cheek. "He had a temper tantrum because he couldn't take a joke is all. He ran off crying like the little baby he is." He said standing. Something in Kai suddenly snapped. This kid had broken Tyson's heart, caused tears to come from his eyes, made him quit the team, and he was still bad-mouthing him!? Kai walked over to the boy who was currently laughing. He picked him up by his collar and slammed him against a wall so hard that he made a crater in the wall which would probably cost a fortune to fix since it was so expensive. Alan shouted in pain and stared at Kai, fear in his eyes.
"I am so sick of you! I've put up with you from day one but now you've crossed the line! I am going to put you through hell!" Kai said his voice angry beyond comparison. Everyone in the room simply stared at him hoping he wouldn't kill him. Kai took the blonde and threw him against the wall hard before grabbing him again and launching him across the room. He hit the opposite wall and tried to crawl away quickly. He made it about an inch before he suddenly saw a pair of all black pants. He looked up and saw an angry neko-jin. Ray bicycle-kicked the boy into the ceiling causing another dent to be made. He hit the ground with a thud. He started to back up away from Ray and Kai when he hit the armchair. He looked up and saw Kenny smiling. He stood up quickly but was surprised when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"This is for Tyson!" Max said before punching Alan as hard as he could into the screen door causing him to break it and fall backwards completely unconscious. He looked at the boy on the ground for awhile before turning to his team. "I've made a huge mistake. Please, help me find Tyson! I wouldn't be here without him. I promise I'll fix this!" Max said tears in his eyes.
Ray looked at Kai who nodded. "What's the plan Chief?" Kai asked.
"Ok it looks like I can't track Tyson but I can track Cerberus. It seems they're moving inside this building. The best plan would be to split up and find him. Unfortunately there just so happens to be a mall in the basement of this hotel and many floors harboring bars, arcades, and other stuff. He could be anywhere. Kai, Ray you two get the mall. Max and I will take the hotel. We'll phone on these if we find him." Kenny said holding up his cell phone.
"Any questions?" Kai asked ready to go.
"Can someone give me lift to the vents? I want to check the rooms from up top." Max said shyly.
"Good idea. Come on, climb up." Ray said putting a hand out as a step tool for Max. Max placed his foot in the boy's hands and was hoisted up to the vent. He unloosened the screws, dropped the door of the vent and then climbed up. He signaled to the others that he had made it before starting to crawl through the vent.
(Max's POV)
I kept crawling through the dimly lit vents. I looked down on the bright lights of the many rooms that I crawled past making sure not to crawl directly on them for risk of falling. It was really stuffy in the vents and I was sort of claustrophobic. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of finding the boy I had so foolishly lost. I couldn't lose Tyson. I don't even know what was going through my head back there! I actually hit my best friend! I was trying so hard to deny that I was in love with him when the truth was that I couldn't live without him. But I blew it. When Alan said what he said the only thought going through my head was that we were just friends and that I didn't like him like that. That's why I put Alan before him. I couldn't take the truth. It was happening way to fast! I was so confused! I'm confused right now! Dammit! Gotta keep crawling though. I suddenly didn't feel the cool steel beneath my hand. I gasped before realizing that I was sliding down the vent shaft pretty fast. I hit the end of the slope with a thud before groaning. I looked down into the room below me and saw a couple of two watching a movie together. One of them then leaned over and kissed the other. I looked away quickly feeling myself start to tear up AGAIN. I continued feeling my way down until I reached a fork in the road.
In front of me was a cold steel wall, but there were two passages leading to the left and right. I sat down and leaned back on my hands wondering which way Tyson would take in this situation. Let me think. Tyson always goes to the right but he's probably trying to trick me so he's going to go to the left, but he knows someone will catch on so he would end up going right! I turned to the right and continued crawling down hoping I would find Tyson in one of the rooms the vents showed me. That's when it happened. I was crawling when my hand suddenly felt just the air again. I tried to catch my balance but it was too late. I felt myself falling and it wasn't long before my entire body had fallen off the edge of the vent. I did what anyone would do. Scream. This day had been a disaster! I had lost Tyson and now I wasn't going to find him because I was going to die! I fell through the vent and fell to the ground with a thud. I couldn't move. It was then that my body rolled down another slope. I didn't know what to do. I would die here in the vents and that would be it. No more Max. I suddenly hit something soft on the landing. I rolled onto the object, thankful that it had stopped the blow from the ground. I looked up and saw Tyson staring back at me. "H-how did you find me!?" he said puzzled about my recent drop in. I could see his face clearly as light was shining through the doors of the vents. My eyes widened and I didn't say anything.
(Normal POV)
Max suddenly jumped on top of the boy, who was currently sitting with his back to the wall, and wrapped his arms around his neck tightly refusing to let go. Tyson was shocked and didn't react at all. Cerberus was asleep next to Tyson which was good because he probably would have attacked the blonde for what he did. After awhile he felt his arms moving on their own and he wrapped his arms around the boy. He placed his head in the crook of his neck and smiled. "I'm actually glad." He said quietly. "If anyone were to find me here, I would want it to be you." Max squeezed him tighter not wanting to ever let go.
"Tyson, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." He cried into the boys shoulder.
"I understand." Tyson replied rubbing his back. "It's ok now."
Max suddenly let go of the boy and put his forehead against Tyson's. He closed his eyes and kissed him slowly wanting it to last for as long as possible. Tyson pulled the boy closer to him in hug, holding him tightly. It was Tyson who pulled away first though. Max put his head on the boy's chest listening to his heart beat. "What about your boyfriend?" Tyson said putting his hand on the blonde's back.
"I don't have a boyfriend. I… I love you Tyson." Max said lowly.
Tyson felt his heart do a flip. The words he had wanted to here were just delivered to him out of his lovers mouth. "Maxie. I love you too." He said holding him tighter.
"See? I can't have a boyfriend if I'm in love with you." Max said sitting up on Tyson's knees.
"Am I your boyfriend then?" Tyson said blushing hard.
"If you wanna be." Max said also hiding a blush.
"Good. Then I'm your boyfriend from now on. Don't forget that." The navy haired boy said smiling.
"I won't. I promise." Max said hugging him. "Will you come back to the G Revolutions?" the blonde asked pleadingly.
"Uhhh, hmmm, sure." He answered hugging back. Max snuggled into him and sighed.
"Tyson, I'm really sorry. Please believe me. I don't know what came over me." Max said holding onto Tyson.
"Its ok, really it is. A lot has happened in these last few days, I don't blame you. But one thing." Tyson said looking at the boy mischievously.
"Anything."
"Well actually a couple things. One, don't ever let me see you crying again. Two, I'm the only one that can call you Maxie, except for Ray, and Three, did you have to hit me so hard?" Tyson said holding his face sympathetically.
Max smiled and hugged him. "I'm sorry. You ready to go back now?"
"Heh heh, about that. I'm sort of lost." Tyson said smiling and scratching his head.
"You're what!?" Max shouted. "Were going to be stuck down here forever!"
"At least I'm with you." Tyson said looking at Cerberus, to shy to say such a thing to his face.
"Your right and I'm glad to get lost in a vent with you of all people." The blonde said kissing Tyson again. "Come on; let's find a way out of here."
Tyson put the sleeping puppy in his jacket so his head was sticking out of the front. (Kiba style.) The two bladers then started crawling through the gigantic vents. "Do you know what floor we're on?" Tyson asked after they had turned a corner.
"Nope. I thought you would know." Max said hoping that they wouldn't be stuck. They were crawling for awhile when Max suddenly slowed down to a halt. "Tyson." He said quietly.
The teen stopped crawling and looked at the blonde behind him. "What's wrong?" he asked crawling up to him.
"Aren't you mad at me?" he asked not looking at him.
"No, why would I be?"
"Because of the stuff Alan said. I sat there and let him say it. I even tried to defend him!"
"Well I was actually. I… hated you for it. I wondered why I had even became your friend so long ago. But when I saw you fall down an elevator shaft, get scratched up in these vents, and overcome your claustrophobia for me, I realized there must have been some mistake. That Max wasn't the one I knew. The one in front of me is. And I'd like to see the real Max make it out of these vents before he's 80."
Max was speechless. He only nodded happily and continued crawling next to the boy. After about 5 minutes they came to another dilemma; there was a dead end. Both sighed, already exhausted and looked around for another route. "Is there another path somewhere back there?" Max asked gesturing to the way they had came.
"No, and we can't go back because we got down here from falling down an elevator shaft." Tyson said resting his back on the wall.
"What about one of the rooms we crossed?"
"I guess we can get down from there. This is the only one though." Tyson said pointing to the one next to him. They looked through it and saw Kai, Ray, and Kenny standing there talking. Both of their faces lit up in excitement and they called their names loudly. The team looked over and saw them in the vents instantly.
"How did you guys get all the way down here!?" Kenny shouted at them from the 10 foot vent above them.
"We fell down an elevator shaft! Hold on! We'll lower ourselves down!" Tyson shouted from the top of the vent. He kicked off the vent door and looked down. "Whoa that's a long way down." Tyson said all of a sudden scared of heights. His hand suddenly slipped its hold and he felt himself falling. Max grabbed onto Tyson's waist trying to hold onto him but had no grip. Both teens fell at high speed, bracing themselves for impact. Tyson screamed as well as Max but, for some reason the pain never came. Tyson opened his eyes and saw Kai smirking at him. "Thanks Kai." He said hugging him.
"Get off of me!" a woman said struggling to get Max off of her. Max opened his eyes realizing what had happened. He then blushed when he saw the he had fallen on a woman who wasn't exactly in the best shape of her life. Tyson smiled before laughing at the blushing boy who was busy trying to make excuses for falling on her. Once Max had apologized about a million times the lady was satisfied and stormed away like an angry penguin.
Kai let Tyson down who took a deep breath before sighing. "Kai. Am I still apart of the team?" he said hopefully.
Kai pretended to think before smiling. "Of course." He said wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Tyson hugged him back smiling.
"I'm glad your back Tyson." Max said joining in on the hug.
"Hey don't forget me. Welcome back Takao." Ray said also hugging his team. They all stayed like that for about three seconds until Tyson's stomach growled. Everyone laughed at the blushing boy before heading off to find something to eat.
(Later that night. Tyson's POV)
I'm sitting here in my bed just staring at the ceiling right now. Cerberus is on my chest, and ironically it feels as if a heavy weight has been lifted. Alan got amnesia from the beating he took and didn't remember anything that happened before he woke up, meaning he still believed Max to be his boyfriend even though Max had refused to kiss him many times during the day. We hung out for most of the day, especially Max and I. We were inseparable. It's still not that simple however. Alan is still here, and I don't even really know what to do from here. I think everyone's asleep by now. It's about 2 a.m. Therefore I took this time to reflect and try to absorb everything that had happened today.
Unfortunately a voice startled me out of my thoughts. "Tyson are you awake?" Max whispered from the door way. He had scared the crap out of me!
I nodded before realizing he couldn't see my head. "Y-yeah I am." I said before putting my arms behind my head and lying back down.
"Alan's snoring really loudly. Can I sleep in here?" he asked politely.
"Sure. Make yourself at home." I said petting the all black dog on my chest. He licked my chin before hopping off of my bed and into his brand new doggie basket. I then noticed that Max was spreading his cover out on the floor. "Max, what are you doing?" I whispered to the blonde. I could barely make his face out except for the moon shining brightly through the window.
"I'm making a bed so I can go back to sleep." He said simply.
"You're not sleeping on that hard wood floor! Come on hop in." I whispered lifting up my covers and patting the bed beside me. He smiled and got into bed next to me, scooting to the edge so that he was almost falling off. I laughed at him. "You won't get any sleep like that. Here." I pulled him close to me so that our foreheads were touching. I pulled the covers on top of us and smirked. "There. Don't be so shy Maxie."
"Ok. This is more comfortable." He said before snuggling into my chest. "Really comfortable."
"Good. Get some sleep." I said putting a protective arm around him. I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost instantly after I heard Max snoring lightly. I guess thinking will have to wait until the morning.
(Kai's POV)
What the- oh man. I really need to teach Cerberus to let us know when he has to go. I guess that means I'm bunking with Tyson. I put on some new pajama pants before walking into the boy's room. "Hoy Takao. I need- ohhhh." I said noticing who Tyson was sleeping with. I smiled. I guess they worked it out after all. I'm happy for him but I still need a place to sleep. There was Max's bed but I was not sleeping in the same room as Alan. Wait duhh. Ray wouldn't mind. I walked back into my room and nudged Ray. "Ray, scoot over." I whispered quietly. He didn't budge. I nudged him harder.
"Kai I don't want anymore strawberries!" he said still asleep. He then opened his eyes and saw me. "Oh morning Kai. Is it time to train already?"
Am I that predictable!? "Ray scoot over, I need a place to sleep." I said gesturing to the wet spot in my bed.
"Ohh you made a mess." Ray said half asleep.
"No I didn't make a mess! It was Cerberus now scoot over!"
"Oh ok." He said blushing.
I got into bed with the sweet smelling neko jin and sighed before falling asleep. There was something about Ray. Something that made him different. Oh well, in the morning. I'm pretty tired.
----------------
Tell me whatcha think! There's only going to be one or two more chapters left! I'm thinking about a sequel starring Kai/Ray but that will have to wait until I get an ending straight. To my reviewers, err reviewer. I thank you for your time in reviewing this story. Its one of the most important things that gets me off my lazy butt and onto the computer. Thanks again!