Chapter Text
When they arrived at the dorm, Max made sure he had his key and told his friends he will be there in a moment before heading to Bradley’s room and knocking on the door.
“Max?” Bradley was visibly surprised to see the sophomore at the threshold of his room.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure, come on in” Bradley moved to let Max in and closed the door behind them. “Is everything alright?”
“I... I don’t know, to be honest. Maybe I’m just being a little bit paranoid, but...” Max pressed his lips into a thin line as he weightened his next words. “Did I said something that upset you? I mean, I haven’t heard from you since Thursday and... I feel like I did something wrong. Is it because I teased you for calling me ‘sweetheart’? Because I didn’t wanted to make you upset or anything, I don’t mind if you call me ‘sweetheart’ or something like that, honestly. It was a little bit surprising, because I’ve never heard you call anyone that, besides Tank, so-”
“Max” the brunette cut him off before he could continue rambling, “I’m not upset with you, I just...” Bradley sighed. “I’m not sure how to phrase it, but the thing is I’m only used to be like that with Tank, we’ve known each other for years and calling each other like that is already kind of a habit.”
“Are you saying you didn’t mean to call me ‘sweetheart’ because I’m not Tank?” Max tilted his head confused.
“No. Maybe a little” Bradley mumbled. “We got used to call each other with those kind of pet names, especially because of his mother. She always greets us like that, so that kinda got stick to us. My father is not a big fan of that, so he tried to make us stop altogether, but in the end he settled with it if it was just between us. So saying it to another person... I can’t do that.”
“Okay, let me see if I got it right” Max chuckled as he shook his head in disbelief. “You’re telling me you were indeed upset about calling me ‘sweetheart’, but not because I teased you about it, but rather because your father is an asshole. Is that right?”
“Mostly, yeah” Bradley shrugged. “Max, please, don’t make a big deal out of this. You already made it clear that my father isn’t your favorite person.”
“Yeah, in fact I think I despise him more than I have ever despised anyone before” Max grimaced. “I think that man is a snobbish and pretentious dick who thinks he can control the people around him. Who does he thinks he is? God?”
“Max, drop it” Bradley huffed unamused. “It is what it is. If I’m okay with it, you can be okay with it too. It’s not that big of a deal, I’ve told you so already.”
“But you shouldn’t be okay with it, it’s your life” Max protested.
“It’s not” Bradley hissed, starting to get annoyed. “I’ve never been my own person, because all I am and all I will ever be is a product to mantain the Uppercrust name.”
Max took a step back, as Bradley’s outburst had caught him by surprise. “That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”
“Drop it now” Bradley grumbled through gritted teeth. “I’ve had enough with my father calling me today. You know when my father calls me? When he’s pissed off. And because he can not yell at who he wants to, he yells at me. So, please, Max, drop it already. Stop acting like you know how my life works, because spoiler alert, you don’t know. I don’t want to hear about it, okay?”
Bradley’s words were poisoned with rage, but when he took a good look to Max, the brunette backed down. Max’s eyes were widened and his mouth all tensed, looking like a little kid frightened of a monster.
“I’m sorry” Bradley whispered. “I’m so worked up because of my father’s call, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Look, the important thing is that I’m not upset about you teasing me, okay? I’m sorry I acted weird and I worried you.”
“It’s fine. I’m sorry too” Max mumbled. “I didn’t want to overstep with this whole thing about your father. You’re right, I don’t know about your life. I better go now.”
Max walked out the room before Bradley could reply, but it didn’t matter because the senior student didn’t knew how to reply to that either. He was genuinely concerned about whether he had made me upset, and I go and yell at him like a dick. Classic Uppercrust movement, of course, Bradley reprimanded himself.
Bradley hesitated for a moment outside the warehouse. Max haven’t talk to me since Monday, he didn’t even asked me if I was going to come around for their rehearsal. He’s probably mad at me, which would be understandable. Bradley took a deep breath before checking if the door was unlocked. When he stepped inside, the guys were in the middle of one song, but they noticed Bradley entering. Well, everyone except Max who has focused on his guitar with a gloomy expression. Even though Bradley had never heard that song before, Max’s voice was exuding so much pain that the brunette could almost felt it too when the younger boy sang.
“You took my memories, turned them to enemies. Twisted my fantasies, and made them a disease.”
Almost instinctively, Bradley turned to look at Bobby, but he was looking at his friend with a slightly concerned look. And PJ’s expression wasn’t much more relaxed. In case I needed enough proof of how much I screwed up. The only one that wasn’t looking at Max as if he was going to snap at them at any given moment was Nika, who looked at him as she was studying him when Bradley sat down next to her.
When they finished that song, Max raised his gaze at last, but he looked away as soon as he spoted Bradley and didn’t say a word. However, Bobby did greet him with a drumstick in hand, but it was briefly as Max quickly started playing Welcome to my life by Simple Plan. And there was only one time when he looked at Bradley during that song.
“No, you don’t know what it’s like when nothing feels alright, you don’t know what it’s like to be like me...”
“Okay, guys” Max said, “I think I can’t take it anymore today. How about we pick everything up?”
“Don’t worry, bro” Bobby smiled, “PJ and I can take care of that part. Go and rest some.”
Max blinked. Is he offering to pick things up? Bobby? “Did you hit your head, man?” he asked. “You never want to pick up, why-?”
“Yeah, Max” PJ cut him off, also smiling. “We’ll take care of everything. Go on, we’ll meet you at the dorm later.”
Okay, why the fuck are they talking to me as if I were a wild animal and they were trying to stop me from eating them?, Max thought as he realized the mood floating around their friends. He was going to interrogate them about it, when Bobby intervened once again.
“Hey, Uppie, you could take him back to campus.”
Oh, that’s why, Max sighed. He turned around with an unamused look to face Bradley, who looked like a deer in the headlights.
“You should do it” Nika whispered to Bradley with a knowingly look, as if she was the angel on his shoulder.
“Okay, guys, what are you plotting?” Max asked to his friends before the senior student could react.
“Nothing” PJ shrugged stiffly.
“That you two to talk” Bobby confessed at the same time.
Both of them exchanged a confused look.
“Why would you say him that?” PJ reprimanded him.
“Why have you lied?” Bobby replied.
Max rolled his eyes as his friends argued. “Guys, I’m still here, can you not talk like I’m not?”
“Well, then leave” Bobby suggested with a smile.
“So subtle, Bobby” PJ mumbled.
“Thanks. So, Maxie, why are you still here? Bye-bye.”
“Fine, whatever” Max sighed as he got off stage.
Max headed to the door without even looking at Bradley, but then Bobby stepped in again.
“You too, golden boy. Go, go, go” he gestured as if he was trying to throw an animal out of there.
Bradley was about to protest for Bobby’s manner and insistence, but it was Max who spoke then. “You heard the man, let’s go.”
Bradley took a quick look to Max’s friends, Bobby being even giving him a thumbs up to encourage him, before following the shorter boy’s lead. Max had an unreadable expression as he was already waiting for Bradley next to the older boy’s car. Is Bobby trying to mess up with me? I have the feeling that Max could kill me any moment, and that freaking lunatic is pushing me to this?
“Are we leaving or are you going to stand there looking at me as if I were going to kill you?” Max’s question brought Bradley out his thoughts.
The car drive to campus was silent. Max didn’t even try to put any music on the radio and he stared out the car window the whole ride. It wasn’t until they were on the dorm hallway in front their doors that Max spoke.
“Look, I apologize for Bobby’s behavior. Like I’m sure I’ve said before, he’s a meddler.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed” Bradley muttered.
“I honestly don’t know what he’s up to” Max shrugged, “but we don’t have to talk about it. I didn’t even expect you to come to the rehearsal today, so it’s not like I know what I’m supposed to say now.”
“Yeah, well... Bobby texted me to ask if I was going to go there, so...”
“So this was his plan all along” Max huffed with a slightly annoyed smile. “Like I said, we don’t have to do this” he repeated as he was about to open his door.
“Max” Bradley couldn’t hold back to spoke with the hope that the younger boy would stop before entering, “I get that you’re mad at me.”
“I’m not mad at you” Max murmured without looking at him. “Okay, your room or mine?” he said out in a breath.
That caught Bradley by surprise. “What?”
“Well, you want to talk about this, right? I’d rather not have this conversation in the middle of the hallway” the shorter boy gestured their surroundings.
“Oh, yeah” Bradley whispered. What the fuck did I just thought it was about? Stupid. “Well, I guess my room would be quieter.”
Max shrugged and then they both went into Bradley’s room. Max headed straight to the couch and sat down, but he didn’t look at Bradley.
“I’m not mad at you” the younger boy repeated. “I’m mad at myself.”
Bradley blinked as he stood there, not knowing if he should get closer to the other boy. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m... The other day, when you snapped at me, I...” Max seemed to have troubles finding the right words. “It put me kinda on a ‘fight or flight mode’ and... I didn’t like it. I’ve been there, and I don’t want to be there again. So I... I didn’t know how to talk to you and so decided not to.”
“Doesn’t that should make you mad at me, not at yourself?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. But it makes me mad at myself, for... For being uncapable to move on, for looking over my shoulder all the time. It makes me mad at myself because I’m afraid of making the same mistake I once did. I misjudged someone because I thought I knew more than I actually did.”
“So was me snapping at you what triggered this? Or was it also because what I said about you not knowing about my life?” Bradley interrogated as he took a step closer.
“I guess both” Max mumbled. “I don’t know how to say it, honestly, but everytime I feel I finally understand you, everything takes a complete turnaround and I feel like I’m back to the starting point. And it feels like the less I know, the more I screw everything up, so... It’s frustrating.”
“Well, I also don’t know all about you, don’t I?” Bradley finally sat down right next to the sophomore. “Look, it’s fine if you give up on this whole thing about being friends with me, I’ll understand.”
“It’s not that” Max whispered. “I enjoy spending time with you, even though it might sound weird. I’m just afraid of being wrong about you.”
“You probably are” Bradley shrugged when Max turned to look at him confused and hurt. “And I’m probably wrong about you. That’s normal when you are getting to know someone, don’t you think? I’ve been wrong about Tank sometimes, haven’t you been wrong about PJ or Bobby at least once?”
Max fiddled with his snakebites piercings with his tongue as he pondered about Bradley’s words.
“Well, I did thought Bobby was just an airhead when I first met him.”
“To be honest, who doesn’t?” Bradley chuckled. “I mean, the first time I met him, he had put spoons and straws on himself. And he was so proud about it, to make matters worse.”
Max let a laugh out, feeling a little bit better now that the dust had settled. Deep down, he still felt uneasy about how the conversation from Monday had gone down, but at least he knew now that he could sort things out when he screwed it up again.