Authors note: So, SCI (Summer camp island) is, or has always been something I've held near and dear to my heart. It's more than just a show to me and it's really helped me through some pretty tough times. it's something I never thought would end and I didn't really want it to, though I think that was just me being naive and all that. Shows like this and final space were the whole reason why I started writing though They were the reason I wanted to start doing anything creative. That mixed with the music of Hozier of course. So, I decided to make a story based on the episode spell crushers. For some reason, I thought Max was going to say he had a crush on Oscar. My brain is kinda weird.
I think I started this 2 or 3 years ago. 4 years ago? And I'm only just coming back to it know, slightly rewritten, because there were issues lol, and cross posted between here and Ao3. I hope you enjoy, I guess.
"Ok." She steps up to him. Her stomach was in knots and her limbs wobbled out of her control, legs almost giving out from beneath her. She was nervous too, she could never put it into words, every time she ever got close to him all there ever was, were noddle arms and a twisted stomach.
He was oblivious to it all of course, always was. Even now in his dispassion of a much too shrunken nose caused by her anxiety-enthused magic, he was all smiles. Laughing and giggling as he speaks to Her friend Oscar.
He always got weird around Oscar and admittedly her dunce of a little brother was never any better around Max either. When they came together nothing ever got done. Important or otherwise. Well, tonight he would have to take a backseat, at least until she finally got this weight off her chest that lingered endlessly ever since she first laid eyes on Max.
She steps over to Oscar first, interrupting the little elephant and bat giggle session by rolling the large protective bubble the boy and been in out of the way. He goes rolling with a little yelp. She'd feel sorrier if he weren't unfortunately in the way of her moment.
"Max." She begins but stops for a moment, holding a hand to her rumbling stomach. Her first thought is to run off, hide away and mask her feelings again for the rest of the summer though when she tries her mind is brought back to Ramona's words. If she couldn't do it now, she would keep feeling the way she did. Her magic would be less than useless with fantasies of what could have been.
The worst-case scenario was that he wouldn't feel the same. It would hurt but she'd be able to move on and focus on her magic skills without any intrusion.
She turns back to him with a deep concentrated, though maybe a bit uneasy breath. "I have something I need to tell you."
"Sure." He says with a bright smile, unassuming eyes pairing back into hers. Totally clueless to the missive warning sighs she was giving in the hope that her crush would drop the act and just get it already. Get her.
"Well, I..." She stops again, considering inwardly if the confession was truly the best idea. "I'm sorry about your nose." Headhood almost chokes out. The condolence wasn't smooth, but she needed to break the ice somehow.
"Nah it's starting the grow on me actually." He responds, without a care in the world or concern to follow as he reaches up to his tiny nose. "I'm thinking I might keep it."
"No!" She simi shouts abruptly. "Your first nose was way cuter...! I mean... what I really want to say is..." She stops once more. There was no more hiding it. Now or never her emotions were about to be set free. "I get all messed up when I'm near you." She moans, harshly rubbing at her eyes and bringing her hands down to her cheeks. "Like, uh... my limbs turn into noddle's. My tummy does flips... and I get hearts in my eyes."
Max leans in and rubs the back of his neck, swearing he could see her pupils from into stereotypical cartoon hearts. "Woah... that all sounds painful..." He said. Not so casually this time.
"It is..." She pauses. She can't keep this up forever. Try as she might, she knows that was impossible. "I have a crush on you Max!" She starts, goes, and blurts out the words with not much of a second thought to it.
He couldn't believe his ears. he hears the words, they come out as clear as the night sky. They even sound as stary. But he doesn't know what to say to her. Not anything she would want to hear at least.
"Oh... sorry hedgehog. I feel like you're one of my best friends... I mean I like hanging out with you and cool and I look up to you..." He trails of not exactly sure if he should tell her of all people his buried secret. "But I actually have a crush on... Oscar."
"Wha-what?" Hedgehog sputters hesitantly, unsure if she had heard Max correctly. "Did you just say you... have a crush on Oscar...? Oscar?" She repeats the name, for both of them. Her Oscar? The camp dunce, her best friend since childhood and little brother essentially.
Max chuckles nervously. He knew this would happen if he told her. Saying anything to anyone would have landed him somewhere on the weird spectrum. But it was even worse now that he knew she had a crush on him "Yeah actually. I don't know I just...you know."
Hedgehog stares at him, unamused laughter coming out in disbelief. "Come on Max. Oscar? He's just so, well... Oscar." Hedgehog didn't really understand what was going on. Max liked Oscar like that...? She didn't have any words. She doesn't even know if she should feel revolted or enraged.
"I mean...I don't know, I just like him." Max was now on damage control, doing his best to justify his feelings whilst attempting to calm Hedgehog down. "He has a great laugh. His sense of wonder about the world is so adorable and he's..." His thoughts escape him for some unknown reason. The word was on the tip of his tongue but his mouth couldn't bear to utter it.
"Cute." Hedgehog finished for him. The way she said it causes him the flinch slightly. The word came out as sharp as a knife he had just barely managed to dodge.
"Yeah... but I don't know if he would even like me back so..." Max trails again. He wasn't sure if Oscar even liked boys and he was too afraid to risk their friendship over something so stupid. So the best thing he could think to do was hide it for the time being.
"Right, I get it." She spoke. She's calmer now but still uneasy with the sudden revelation of her former crush's feelings toward her friend. "I know exactly how you feel."
Max was now a little relieved. Even though she was still shocked, she looked calmer now and the last thing he would want is for her to be bitter towards him, or Oscar, for that matter. "Right... I really didn't know you liked me."
"Yeah. But I think I'm over it now... I just needed to hear you say no." She says trying to hide the malice in her voice through a fake smile and halfhearted grumbling.
Even though he was somewhat glad that she knew now. He was still uncomfortable with the fact anyone knew the feelings that developed since arriving on the island. It's not the kind of thing a lot of people would be happy with. "Right. Hey uh... could you not tell Oscar by the way."
"Yeah, sure. Oscar probably wouldn't understand anyway. He's weird like that." She says knowing that Max would have to tell Oscar outright that he liked him. And even then, the boy probably wouldn't get it.
"Right...right." Max felt a little more comfortable. Though the fact Oscar was so oblivious to how much he didn't actually know about anything made him all the cuter in Max's eyes. He didn't really know him too well, but he wanted to get to know all the while, hiding his feelings along the way to the best of his abilities. As clueless as the elephant was, Max still wasn't sure how he would take it if he confessed his feelings outright. "Hey. Can we fix my nose now?"
"Oh yeah, just give me a sec." she places the wooden wand to his nose and recites the spell to return it back to its normal size then walks over to Betsy to complete her test as Max makes his way over to a struggling Oscar who had overheard what hedgehog had admitted to the Bat.
"Wow. Hedgehog had a crush on you. Man, just when you think you know a person." He said completely unaware of the feelings that Max has. If only Oscar knew how true, this statement was.
"Yeah well, you know. I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. So, I let her down easy." Max said, hiding the real reason he rejected Hedgehog behind a shaky explanation and a rub of the neck.
"Yeah, I hear you. Relationships, like you know. Kissing and handholding and stuff. Just seems way too hard." Oscar babbles, never really knowing where to start with love. He'd much rather have a friend he could trust with his life more than anything else.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
Oscar and Max stood there talking until Hedgehog would rejoin them, showing the two boys her newly acquired wand. Hedgehog had all the makings of a good witch Oscar was sure of that. She had a love of learning no kid their age really experienced. Max on the other hand was a bit more reluctant from what she could tell.
She doesn't think he didn't agree with Oscar but given the night's events maybe he was afraid she would turn him into a frog or something or something equally as unappealing. She has half a mind to do so if she were being honest.
One day she might even be more powerful than Susie and they let her know the whole way back to their cabins talking, joking, and playing the whole way back. Max stood noticeably close to Oscar as they laugh about an inside joke, they had from their time together.
Hedgehog noticing Max's interactions with Oscar made her spiteful both at Max for crushing on Oscar, super hard no less, and Oscar, who at the beginning of summer only really wanted to talk to her was now friends with almost everyone on the island. It was something she wanted to discuss or had to discuss with him later. It was just a major sudden Change he had undergone in such a short amount of time. She couldn't help but feel a combination of fury and jaded, jealousy bubbling up in her gut.
So, the fact that she wasn't the only one Oscar was talking to anymore was odd and a bit disheartening. But her more pressing matter she needed to get her head around was that she hadn't even known Max was like that, and with Oscar.
Everything was just way too weird to handle for one night, she would have to tackle these issues one by one starting in the morning. For now, she would soak up all the joy she could that came with being an official witch and all she had to do was keep it a secret from Susie. That was another problem she would have to deal with adding to her stressed-out to-do list.
They make it back to the cabins, entering their respective summer quarters happy that the already long day was coming to a quick and different close. Hedgehog had decided to spend the night with Oscar determined to get some sort of answer out of her long-time friend. She really only wanted to get his thoughts on Max mostly.
As they ready themselves for bed hedgehog has to know what was up with Oscar lately. She needed to find out what was really going on. What if the witches were forcing him to do this, to make him come out of his comfort zone or maybe they had put a spell on him to make him more cooperative and outgoing, or maybe he was possessed by a ghost when she wasn't looking at some point. She hopes he wasn't at least.
"Hey, Oscar." She calls over to him as she lays down wrapping herself in a blanket. "How come you've been hanging out with so many people all of a sudden?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" He says as he begins to put on his Jamas.
"I mean like. You've been talking to other kids a lot... especially Max. Why is that?" She asked with clear concern and a little apprehension for her friend.
"Oh, that? Max just likes to hang with me. He's been asking a lot lately." He says as he crawls into bed, not paying any real attention to the question Hedgehog had asked.
"A lot huh?" She puts a finger to her chin as she mulls over why Max would do this if he had no intention of revealing how he felt to Oscar. "Hey, Oscar. has max... tried anything with you?" She was a bit hesitant to ask this next question. She didn't really want to know if the answer was far from good.
"What? What do mean, hedgehog?" He says, confusion visibly washing over his face at her sudden question. He wonders if she meant what they did when they were together? "Like swimming in the lake? or getting something to eat at the mass hall?"
"No Oscar. Has Max ever tried to touch you?" Her cheeks brighten. She felt a little embarrassed asking but she doesn't want anyone taking advantage of him. He was just too innocent.
"Oh yeah. He touches me all the time." He says casually, now resting comfortably on his bed. A goofy smile plasters his face, a noticeable contrast to Hedgehog's own shocked expression.
"What!?" She nearly jumps out of bed once the answer hits her ears. She felt angry knowing Max had done such to Oscar. He knew Oscar wouldn't understand and that's why he did it she thinks. "Like how? Can you show me?"
"Yeah, sure. You know like high fives and shoves and stuff." Oscar giggles as he begins to high-five himself and pat himself on the back.
"Oh... No Oscar I mean... you know." She brings a hand back to her chin, thinking she should have known Oscar wouldn't understand exactly what she was talking about. She needed to be more direct and jump straight to the point. "I mean has he ever tried to touch your private parts?" She whispers, cheeks glowing brighter, even more, embarrassed and equally scared at the same time.
Oscar shoots up and directs a stunned, puzzled glare Hedgehogs way. "What? ew, Hedgehog no! What does that even mean?" He says now jumping out of bed at how crazy the question came off. She defiantly could have approached that better she thinks.
"I mean. I just don't want anything bad to happen to Oscar." She explains knowing how insane her assumptions were, but she was only looking out for him. She was trying to protect him. He needs to be protected.
"Come on hedgehog. Max wouldn't do that... He's Max." He says defending his new friend who the boy hadn't been so sure about not too long ago, but who he now loved being around since getting to know him better.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to look out for you Oscar." Maybe she was overreacting just a little, though who could blame her. "I didn't mean anything by it. I swear." She says apologizing for the outrageous assumption she had made. In the future, she would give things more thought before jumping to conclusions.
"Hedgehog you're so weird. Can we go to sleep now? I'm really tired." He stretches his arms out above his head, yawning as he envelops himself back under his blanket. "Plus. I can take care of myself, I think."
"Uh...Yeah right. I know." Hedgehog says through gritted teeth and glazed-over eyes, not completely sure if Oscar could really protect himself as he says. "Hey, Oscar can I ask you one more question?" She wanted to know if Oscar had ever noticed how weird Max was acting around him. "Do you think Max likes you? Like likes you?" She probably already knew the answer though she figured she'd still give it a try.
At first, he isn't sure what she was asking but slowly realized what she meant over the cores of a minute. "Oh. What? Like Max having a crush on me?" He rises an eyebrow at his best friend.
"Yeah like. do you think he likes you like that?" She kept herself propped on her elbow, leaning up on her bed as she awaits Oscar's answer. Admittedly, and rather shamefully in her mind, she was on the edge of her seat. The girl just needed to know her friend's thoughts.
"Oh no. Not me. Max is a really cool friend. But I don't think he has a crush on me or anything?" He closes his eyes, keeping a reassuring smile on his lips. "Yep, definitely doesn't." He says in his usual oblivious fashion. "I think I would know if he did. I'm smart like that."
"Uh-huh, yeah sure Oscar" she laughs before rolling herself into her blanket. She thinks she had gotten all she needed from him tonight and was ready to drift off to sleep. "Good night, Oscar."
"Good night hedgehog." He replies to her as he starts drifting off to sleep. "Max, having a crush on me? Just crazy."
-/-/-/-/-/-/
Max makes his way into his cabin and into his bed. Although he couldn't immediately go to sleep. His thoughts kept him up for most of the night. He loved being around Oscar, but he wasn't sure why.
His plan was to just wait it out until the end of the summer, but his heart seems to disagree with that strategy. He thought he would be able to put it off or talk himself out of his feelings. If only it were so easy.
He couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about Oscar. The way the other boy moved, there was a reason he liked walking behind him a lot. The way he talked. Oscar's naivety was just the cutest thing to him, and his wonder of the world always left Max a bit weak in the knees.
The way his eyes looked. there wasn't anything special about them and to anyone else it wouldn't mean anything at all. But for Max, he could get lost for hours. He remembers that time the whole camp was sucked into an old video game, it was kind of ironic that Oscar was the main character, and he was the villain. Maybe it was because the villain was a vampire and he just so happened to be a bat of all things.
Honestly, he was having fun with the whole thing, letting his urges guide him into misconduct. He would never hurt anyone intentionally of course. That game sure was a good excuse though. What really riled him up however was when Oscar came to defeat him.
When Oscar was on top of him, he could barely contain his excitement. He was glad Oscar never noticed the sudden tightening of his jeans. The ordeal could have been so much more embarrassing. Even if Oscar did feel, would the elephant have cared? Would he care now if Max really told him how he felt?
He would've been okay with just being Oscar's friend but the more he thought about the more he surmised that friendship just wasn't going to cut it. He could have hidden it all summer if he wanted to but the thought of missing out on someone like Oscar was too painful. He thinks the best thing to do was to start listening to his brain and his heart. They both wouldn't stop pummeling him with notions of holding onto the other, so why not indulge in his feelings. If only a little.
Max couldn't come out, not straight away. He had to come up with a way to make Oscar like him like. No more than just like him. He wanted Oscar to love him. But first, he needed to prepare. He needed to know if Oscar even liked boys and he had to get the other to fall in love with him as well.
Just hanging out with Oscar wasn't enough anymore, but where to even start? He could ask Hedgehog about what some of the things Oscar liked. She had known him for much longer so she must have something. No, she was clearly still a little mad with him so that wasn't the best option.
Max figured his best bet was to do more personal things with Oscar. Anything he could think of that Oscar would want to do with him. The only problem with that was, Oscar was always with Hedgehog, no matter where they were or what the activity was. Those two were as thick as thieves, particularly glued to each other's sides. That could make things difficult. Whatever the new plan will be he would have to worry about it in the morning and probably make it up as he goes.
