"Well...that sucks." Oscar was upset. hedgehog was so excited about today and now she was busy. He couldn't think of a worse kind of irony.
"Don't worry about it, Oscar." Max places a hand on his shoulder, his attempt to console the boy. Though it was more of an opportunity he would take to touch Oscar in all honesty. "I'm still here, man. What did you wanna do today anyway?" He says pulling him in as close as he possibly could without raising Oscar's suspicions.
"I was just thinking." He was actually unsure. He was worried about Hedgehog he never really wanted to do anything without her. Plus, she was always the one to come up with their plans and activities so her not being there left him at a loss.
"Come on Oscar. what is it?" Oliver said from across the table. "It's not Hedgehog, is it? you know you can do things without her right?"
"Yeah." He mumbles hesitantly. He could do things without her. it's just Hedgehog was so excited about today. For her to be dragged off for something out of control bothered him. "I just wanted to go to the library. To find this old book my mom used to read to me."
"Yeah, we can do that," Max says happy to have an opportunity to get to know Oscar better and without an obstacle like Hedgehog in the way.
"Hey, count me in. I'm not doing anything right now." Oliver spoke with a full mouth. Hedgehog had abandoned her tray on the table, filled with some of the best stuff the monsters in the kitchen could whip up. Would have been a shame to let it all go to waste.
Max snaps his head away from the boy next to him and brings his gaze to the one sitting across from them. "What? I mean really. It'll probably be really boring." He wasn't expecting Oliver to tag along out of the blue. Now he was starting to feel like Hedgehog. He was trying to do something with someone he cared about and there was this invading force intervening and setting up shop.
"No, it's cool. I want to." Oliver was undeterred by Max's attempt to discourage him from coming along. He probably hadn't noticed the hint, to begin with. Their new third wheel was too focused on finishing the scraps of someone else food tray.
Watching someone eat another kid's food wasn't the weirdest thing Max has ever seen. Thought for Oliver to be one of those kids, he thought was strange. The musically inclined boy was usually so reserved, even around friends. Not really the type of kid to go munching on food that was already in the process of being eaten.
"Oh yeah, the more the merrier." Oscar officially invites Oliver to tag along. it was his day after all, originally meant to be spent with his best friend. There just wasn't much Max could do but control his emotions for now.
For a little while they sat at the mess hall table, making small talk and telling jokes about what they'd experienced in camp so far. Mostly inside jokes about the magical high jinks that occur around the island.
With how many kids get cursed daily and how easy it was for all of them to get into some pretty powerful magic, Oscar would think that there was some kind of regulation for it all. He figures there had to be a council of magic enforcing rules or a code of conduct put in place for Susie's shenanigans. Though if there was he hasn't seen anything. His concern is brushed off by the other two boys as wishful thinking or him over-complicating the situation like he normally did.
They were meanly waiting for Oscar to finish. He wasn't the fastest eater, especially compared to Oliver but Max didn't mind at all. Oscar could do no wrong in his eyes. They wrapped up not too long after, dumping any bit of scrap they had in garbage cans and returning the trays to their original spots for some other kids to come and use. Shortly after they make their way outside and back into the warm sun.
"So. What kinda book is it?" Oliver asked. The book must be pretty important if Oscar was heading to the library willingly. Everyone knew that the elephant wasn't a big reader. Most of his books either sat on a shelf in his cabin or were read to him by Hedgehog, usually before bedtime.
"Um...promise not to laugh?" Oscar asked and Oliver agrees with a nod. The usual thing's he liked normally got him made fun of by every kid in camp. That always made him uncertain about sharing any of his likes with anyone who wasn't Hedgehog. "It's called goodnight world." Despite promising to keep his laughter on the inside, Oliver couldn't help but express his feelings out loud. Oscar burns red as he's filled with slight unease and Max had noticed.
"Come on Oscar your- owww!" Oliver's intolerant laughter and oncoming unhelpful criticisms were cut off by a sudden swift jab to his right arm.
"It's not that funny, Oliver," Max says in defense of his self-conscious friend.
"Ok, Max. Sorry." Oliver was a little confused Max had never hit him, really hit him, before. it wasn't like they hadn't laughed at Oscar before. Why get so defensive now he wonders to himself.
"I think it's cool Oscar." He says getting close to Oscar but not being too obvious that Oliver would notice. That is if the punch didn't already make him suspicious.
"Yeah. It makes me feel like a baby again" he said as the three boys start their trek up to the library. "You know it gives me...uh what's that word?"
"Nostalgia. It makes you feel nostalgic." Oliver says, trailing slightly behind them and rubbing the arm Max had roughly decked.
"Yeah, that's it. Hedgehog says it all the time. Usually, when she's talking about all the things she used to do when we were young." Oscar lets out a giggle that sends an unexpected wave of joy through Max's body. "Younger, I guess," Oscar remembers how his mom would read the book to him every night. It would always make him feel better despite its simplicity. It was something he always loved reading or more so having Hedgehog read it to him. "Don't you guys have books that make you feel like that?"
Oliver hums, loudly pondering the question proposed. "Yeah actually. My mom's old music books make me wish for simpler times. So, there's that." He admits stepping next to Oscar. "What about you Max? Any childhood book you miss reading?"
"Uh...yeah?" Max couldn't forget the books his mom used to read to him. Back when she could. "I had these Halloween books. My mom would read them to me every night. I really loved those stories."
"Wow. I think those books would be too scary for me." Oscar never liked anything remotely scary. If it had even the slightest chance to freak him out, he'd steer clear. That's probably the only thing he wasn't ashamed to admit about himself. Scary just wasn't his thing.
"Oscar. You're such a baby." Oliver said shoving him playfully. Drawing the attention of Max once again who had been oddly staring at Oscar on and off for the past few minutes. He had a look on his face that almost screamed jealousy. Like he was the only one allowed to touch Oscar and Oliver doing that was some sort of illegal act. "I'm just kidding Oscar. It's not a bad thing. Just means you're young a heart."
Oscar smiles at him. "Thanks, Oliver. Why don't we hang out more often?" Oscar said. He was always determined to make new friends or in this case, spend more time with the friends he had already procured.
"Actually, yeah. We could stand to do more things together. maybe we could do something tomorrow too." Oliver offered. He wouldn't mind spending more time with Oscar. They hadn't really gotten to know each other, and the elephant was cool enough.
Max was starting to feel strange. Heat began to boil up in his face and it was definitely not due to the weather. He thought he would get the chance to bond with Oscar, just he and the other boy all to himself. But Oliver just had to make himself a factor in their time together. Another third wheel in Max's mind. Another obstacle.
"Alright we're here," Oscar says, snapping Max out of his train of thought and bringing the bat back to the Island they stood on. The familiar old structure stood like a beacon of hope for Max. He would be able to lose Oliver in there with just enough time to spend with Oscar to himself. Maybe it was selfish of him to want something like that. To dich his supposed friend for someone he had a major crush on, but Oliver would get over it. Max was sure of that. Nobody ever stayed mad at each other in this camp for long.
Oscar is the first step inside the dark, quiet building closely followed by the other two boys who were intent on helping him find a book he had not seen for a least a few months now.
They figured the most obvious place to start was the children's section and even though they knew what they were looking for, that didn't stop the hard times from rolling on. They searched for what seemed like hours reading over the spins of shelved books carefully and even pulling the ones with no name on the side out in the hopes of getting lucky eventually. However, with no book from his childhood in sight the group was beginning to lose hope.
At some point in their search, Oliver flops down at a table. by this time, he had started reading a big book of nursery rhymes he had found, mindlessly flipping through the pages with a restless sigh every now and then. "Yeah... I don't think this book exists." He scoffed, one cheek resting on his hand as he continued to flip through the book. He was clearly out of it now and couldn't even be bothered to pretend to look. Max was secretly hoping Oliver would up and leave on his own though that hope would never come.
"No. They have everything here. Maybe he just misremembered the name?" Max huffs looking over every book in the G section multiple times to make sure had hadn't missed the elusive thing by accident. "Oscar are you sure..." Maxe turns to speak but stops when he realizes that Oscar was nowhere in sight. "Wait... where is Oscar?"
"Hm...oh. I thought he was with you?" Oliver takes his eyes off the old book to bring his attention to Max. "He wasn't with you?"
"No. Oh no. We have to find him." Max was starting to worry, and his mind begins to race. It was never good when Oscar wandered off on his own. He always managed to get himself into the most trouble when he was alone. Max remembers the time the boy managed to lose his voice and had to run around camp with someone else's for close to a week. Max was still curious as to how he got it back.
"Max, relax. Like what's the worst that could happen?" Oliver closes the book, pondering the worst trouble Oscar could get into in a quiet library. "Actually yeah. You're right. Then hedgehog would kill us both for sure."
Max runs his hands through his hair and over his ears, taking his backward cap off in the process. "Alright let's split up. You take the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy sections." He knew Oscar probably wouldn't be anywhere near those areas, but it never hurt to be sure. "I'll look here, the mystery section and non-fiction."
"Right. But I think I can skip over horror, right?" Oliver knew Oscar would never step foot near anything remotely scary. Searching there could be a waste of time. "I mean. It just makes sense, right?"
"Still check just in case. He might have stumbled in there by accident." Max insisted worried if Oscar did wander in that he'd most likely be cowering in a corner somewhere.
Oliver sighs. "Yeah, sure. No problem." They were now in search of the lost boy. Max going off in one direction and Oliver in the other.
Max would be lying if he said he wasn't worried. He liked to think Oscar could make his own decisions, that he could handle himself though the more he thinks the more those reassurances begin to fade away. He was still Oscar after all and he was prone to bad luck, a lot of bad luck. But even so, he still managed to stay happy throughout it all. That could also be due to Hedgehog for the most part.
While looking through the mystery section all Max could think about was Oscar and hedgehogs' relationship. How she made Oscar feel and how he wished he could make Oscar as happy as Hedgehog did. He thinks about their life before coming to summer camp and what it would be like after it was over once the end of summer arrived.
The more he thought the more his resilience starts to break down. He wasn't feeling confident in his abilities to make Oscar love him and he didn't want to come out to him in fear of rejection. Who was he kidding, this was never going to happen for him. He might as well throw in the towel and call it quits.
Once he rounds a corner and steps into the non-fiction section Max would spot a strange sight. a pair of legs sticking out of one of the large bookcases. Not just any pair of legs either. They also came with a pair of light blue jeans and red sneakers.
"O-Oscar?" He whispers, cautiously approaching the legs, confused as to what was going on just then.
"Max? Is that you?" Oscar asks, kicking his legs around in an attempt to wiggle out of his conundrum.
"What is happening here?" He walked up behind him noticing the two books the boy had miraculously decided to get stuck in between. "You're literally stuck in between a rock and a herd place." Max chuckled, pointing out the irony of the situation.
"Well, when we didn't find it. I thought I'd try somewhere else" He had all but given up on his escape attempt. Oscar never failed to wind up in some pretty weird predicaments. He also always seemed to be getting caught in something in this library.
"And so, you decided to try for non-fiction?" He raises a puzzled eyebrow. Suppose it made sense in some way. People do go to sleep, stores close and days turn into nights.
"I thought I saw it. But it was just a rat." Oscar says, crossing one foot over the other.
"How...did you confuse a book with a rat?" Max laughs. Only Oscar could mistake an animal for an inanimate object. Even so, a rat and a book were two completely different shapes.
"Hey, Max? It's really dark back here, could you help me out?" Oscar was now keen on getting out of the tight space and growing even more restless by the second.
Max stops his uncontrolled giggling and shakes his head around, forcing some clarity back into his thoughts. "Yeah, no problem." He steps behind Oscar, doing his best not to stare as he grabs ahold of either side of Oscar's waist.
An old familiar feeling begins to arise in the lower half of his body. Why was it that every time he was around Oscar, he found himself in the most vulnerable positions? unlike those other times, however, this was more direct, and more importantly it was Max holding onto Oscar instead of the other way around. Now he was in control and had Oscar in the palms of his hands. Quite literally and figuratively. This was one position he hadn't thought he'd find himself in. With the other boy completely at his mercy.
He snaps out of his hypnotic state, regathering what little discipline that had nearly slipped out of his grasp, spurred on by the thought of what he'd rather be doing to the stuck boy, and begins to pull. Oscar doesn't budge and Max decides to up his effort. He moves his hands from Oscar's waist and to his thighs, getting a firm grip and pushing his intrusive thoughts back. Max counts to three and pulls again.
Better this time but the boy still wasn't quite free so Max makes a hefty decision, one he hopes he wouldn't regret. He gets even closer to Oscar, placing his chest to his back and wrapping his arms around the boy's stomach. He begins to count again, and he tries to keep his mind off of how close he was to Oscar then. He was right on the other boy's back. They were practically hugging. Max's excitement was starting the get the best of him, he could feel it, but he couldn't lose control, not now. He shakes more sense into himself and pulls once more.
The bookcase moves a little, the books Oscar was stuck in between jog loose as the boy comes out. Max had gotten him free, though incidentally falling onto the floor in the process with Oscar following not soon after, landing right on top of him. If Max was able to keep his urges at bay before, Oscar falling literarily into his lap would send him over the edge. When he looks up at Oscar on top of him his face burns brighter than the sun itself.
"Oh sorry Max. Here." Oscar climbs off of Max and turns to him, offering his hand to help the bat back up to his feet.
"Uh-y-yeah. No problem..." He was nervous and he couldn't tell if it showed or not. That was probably the closest he was ever going to get to be with Oscar in that way. He only wished it could have lasted a little longer. "I'm uh. I'm gonna go ask the front desk about your book."
"Oh okay. I wonder why we do that from the start actually." He barely managed to get the words out before Max quickly brushes past him and towards the front desk. seemingly embarrassed by something. Oscar turns and begins to follow but stops when he spots the book they'd been looking for. Misplaced by someone too lazy to put it back on its correct shelf.
"The nerves of some kids." He smirked, walking up to the self and grabbing the book from it. "Hey, Max! Max, I found-" His claims were cut short after turning and running right into someone else. Being as clumsy as he was, he should have known it would happen sooner or later.
"Hey! Watch Where ya going baby boy. You loser." The pink-haired koala hissed, glaring at Oscar from where he stood.
"Oh hey, Michael. No softball practice today?" Oscar returns a subtle dose of sass. It wasn't the wittiest retort and he's sure Hedgehog or Max could have come up with something much better, but it still managed to get under the koala's short-tempered skin. "What are you even doing here? You actually have to know how to read before checking out a book you know."
"Why don't ya mind your own business huh? Whatcha got there anyway?" He said, snatching the book away for Oscar before he could tell him to push off. "Goodnight world?" He laughs. "You know this is a baby book, right? Oh, but that makes sense for someone like you, doesn't it?"
"Come on. Give it back" Oscar was trying to take the book back but Michael was stronger than him. Kind of taller to so he didn't have to work too hard to keep Oscar at bay whilst teasing him over the storybook.
"Yeah, right loser. Ya gonna get Hedgehog ta read it to you?" He mocked Oscar, keeping him at arm's length and holding the book over his head. Oscar didn't want to fight; he wasn't that kind of person. The next best thing he could think to do was cry.
Max hears the commotion from the front. It takes him a minute to move or do anything besides stare in the direction of the scuffle until Oscar's voice rings out as clear as day. He was in trouble and that was enough for him to spring into action.
He rushes to where he hears the arguing and subsequent familiar sniffling to see what was happening. Max had been expecting to see Oscar being picked on, but he wasn't expecting to find Michael doing the picking. The koala was never an early bird and not much of a reader either. Max has the slightest clue why he was in the library so early in the morning, but the sight of the pinked-haired boy teasing Oscar makes him angry, and he wasn't going to let it continue.
"Michael! Leave him alone. Now." Max stepped in between the two shielding Oscar from the bully.
"What do ya mean, leave him alone? Since when do care for this loser?" Michael spat, pointing his hand with the book still attached at Oscar. Micheal was essentially the camp bully. He didn't like anybody and the same could be said for him. Say for his only two friends, Jason and Aubrey.
Jason wasn't so bad, in fact, everybody in camp would agree that he was the nicest one in their little group, and no one could understand why he hung out with Michael so much. Aubrey on the other hand was on par with Michael with his cruelty and even had a stupid wannabe gangster persona to go along with it.
"Cause I said so. And give the book back." Max had demanded he just stop with the edgy attitude he wasn't impressing anybody.
"Stop...and give back the book. What is wrong with you?" Michael repeated back to him. "What? He's your boyfriend now. Ya going homo or somethin?"
As soon as the insult leaves Michael's mouth, Max is quick the rush him, tackling the other boy onto a table and breaking it in the process. Max pins him down and startling him as he delivers a flurry of punches to the pinked haired boy's face. Micheal may have been a good fighter, but he could never hold a candle to Max on his beast days. Oliver overhears the load crashing and fighting and rushes over when he sees Max on top of Micheal. He wraps his arms around Max and tries his hardest to pull him off of the koala, though to no avail.
"Alright, alright. break it up!" Susie had intervened, manifesting basically out of thin air. She uses her magic to separate the two boy's casting a bobble of force to repel them from one another and lift them into the air. "What's even going on here!?"
"He was bothering Oscar." Max growls. Despite levitating a few feet apart from each it didn't stop Max from trying to attack the pink-haired bully.
"Alright, you babies calm down!" Her shouts were enough to shack the building and settle the boys down. "I swear, I will turn you all into frogs if you don't," Susie says, lowering the two squabbling boys back to the floor. "Michael get outa here. You've got practice."
"Yeah, whatever." He scoffs as he pushes past Max. "Later fag." He managed one final insult before leaving the library and leaving Max with much of an opportunity to respond to the not-so-off-handed comment.
"Thanks, Susie," Oscar said with a short sniffle. The words sound too weird. He never thought he'd be thanking Susie for anything.
"Yeah, whatever. He was being a jerk anyway." She says shrugging off his appreciation. "But don't think I'm letting you off the hook, Max." She steps over the remains of one of the library's tables. "Just look what you've done. Are you literally insane?"
"What?" Max blurts and rubs the back of his neck. "But Susie I- he called me-"
"That doesn't matter. If someone's bothering you, you come to me or one of the others. You hear?" She pokes her wand into Max's chest. "It's how we avoid situations like this." She points out the smashed table. "You're defiantly paying for that."
"What!?" Max shouts. "B-but can't you just fix it with your magic?"
Susie brings her wand up to her mouth and starts tipping it against her bottom lip. "I could... but then that wouldn't be a sufficient punishment for you, now, would it?" Max sighs, defeated. He couldn't argue with the witch concealer and even if he did and managed to hold his own she just turn him into something grotesque out of spite.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Oliver questions Susie's sudden appearance in the library. Now that the dust from their conflict had settled the group does think it's strange that the head concealer would be there, just in time to stop Max from doing some real damage.
"Hey, I just came to tell you about the blood drive." She says rolling her eyes. "Me and Alice are running all over camp just to get the word out to you babies."
"Blood drive?" Max, Oscar, and Oliver all say simultaneously.
"Uhh, yeees." She groans. Susie never liked explaining anything to her campers or helping them in general. "Look in about a week, the elves will be hosting a blood drive. And we're putting it together."
"Why though?" Oliver was still confused about why the elf's needed their blood.
"Oliver...all you need to know is that they're giving away free gifts for your blood. So, the more you give the more we get." She had hopefully gotten her point across this time. "So, I encourage you all to give till it hurts." She smiles, lifting her wand into the air and flicking her wrist, blanking out of existence. And like that she was gone, probably teleported back to her cabin now.
"Thanks for helping me Max," Oscar spoke quietly, the tears brought on by Micheal's insults still trickling down his cheeks.
"Don't worry about it, Oscar." Max brings his hands to Oscar's cheeks and uses his thumbs to wipe away the tears. He never liked seeing Oscar cry but now he actually felt the need to do something about it.
Oliver looks over and sees Max's sudden affection. coupled with the fight, the looks from earlier, and the one punch he had received from Max when almost calling Oscar a baby, he had a hunch he knew what was going on. but it's something he would ask about later. Max didn't look to be in the best mood now.
"So. Now that the excitement is over. I think we have a book to read." Oliver says, picking the book up from the ground. "It had better be worth it."
