Max was in a good mood. Singing to one of his favorite musicals while in the shower, giving the whole performance for the containers of soap. He gave it his all as if he were home alone and singing as if no one could hear him, but it was cut short when the shampoo bottle fell right on his foot.
It was supposed to be a quick and relaxing shower, however, he ended up injuring his toe in the process, not to mention the cherry on the cake or sundae or whatever the hell he wanted to put cherries on, but he also got soap in not one but both of his eyes.
He was pretty sure all of the neighbors hated him at this point. He screamed out whatever curse words that came to mind. It sounded more like a casual conversation with Bexon or even Hadley.
Max got out soon after that, without singing he quickly dried off and changed into his clothes. Okay, so his morning wasn't starting off as he had planned. He ignored his mood as he walked out to the kitchen where his boyfriend was making some kind of soup that Max was pretty sure was what Elysium smelled like.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Bexon asked, not looking up from his task.
"I don't want to talk about it," Max muttered. His eyes still burned and his toe was marked red where the container landed on it.
Max watched as his boyfriend turned to face him with an expression Max couldn't really read or maybe he was too tired to overthink it like he typically did. Bexon brushed a small bit of hair out of Max's face. His thumb brushed over the side of Max's face, the man still seemed shocked by the fact Max had freckles.
It made the blond grin remembering the night Bexon first realized it. It was kinda funny how much things have changed since then. It was barely three weeks since then and it kinda shocked Max how much changed in a short amount of time.
Then Bexon slapped him.
It was more of a pat on the cheek rather than a slap, but Max thought it sounded better and a bit more dramatic, plus it did kinda hurt.
"What the hell was that for?" Max asked, rubbing the side of his face.
"You know what that was for," Bexon muttered before leaning in and kissing Max's cheek. "You're not the one the neighbors complain to."
Max knew he was right. It probably wasn't the time to clue Bexon in on the fact some of the windows were open making it much easier for Max's loud cursing message to become the talk of the neighborhood. He just hoped somehow not too many people actually heard him. Even if he knew the walls were always thinner than you thought, at least in his experiences when he lived in the dorms his first year.
Today was just an off day where everything Max normally liked doing seemed like a chore. Max had a few books he wanted to finish before the end of his summer break, he wanted to go for a run, and relax before heading off to work later.
However, nothing seemed all that appealing to him, doing nothing felt tiring even. Max tried to push past his mood as he followed his boyfriend to the living room. Bexon was sitting cross-legged on the floor, he was typing away on his computer and Max was content with watching him work.
"You should take a picture, Moore. It will last longer," Bexon commented without looking up.
"Maybe I will," Max laughed.
He patted his pockets for his phone and without hesitation, he took a picture of Bexon and then a few more before the dark-haired man looked up with a glare.
"Give me the phone," Bexon demanded.
Max only grinned as he ran to the front door and outside. Max was not going to give him time to trick him into giving him the phone. Random curses were yelled from his boyfriend who was rushing after him.
Max knew Bexon hated his picture being taken and he would just delete them as soon as he got a hold of Max's phone. So Max did what any good boyfriend would do and ran away from him to the park.
Bexon continued to yell after him in the distance while he tried to catch up to the blond. Bexon wasn't used to running, only on the few days Grace managed to drag him outside, but even then Max wasn't sure if they actually ran or not. For all he knew they just walked around the block a few times and Bexon complained for most of it.
Max managed to get up one of the brightly colored slides and to the house-like structure that it was connected to. Max quickly flicked through the pictures and sent the two he liked the most to Grace praying to whatever god or goddess would listen to him.
[ Before Bex murders me, save these!! ]
[ Image Sent ✓ ]
[ Image Sent ✓ ]
13:23
Grace 🔮:
[ AWW so cute! ]
[ Saved them 😊 ]
13:24
Max put his phone back in his pocket and looked around for the angry short man. Bexon was nowhere to be found. Max considered he just got frustrated and he walked back home, but Max had a feeling he was somewhere close.
The afternoon sun would wear him out soon enough and Max knew that Bexon was practically a vampire about the sunlight in the summer. He hated it and wouldn't stay out for long.
As if right on cue, Max heard footsteps coming closer and closer.
"Maxwell Shit-Head Moore, get the fuck down here!" Bexon yelled.
Max was glad there weren't kids around because his boyfriend had no filter. Yet, he couldn't help but think how he was the one the neighbors complained about, he wasn't fully sure he believed that.
"Why should I?" Max questioned.
Max looked over the monkey bars wondering if he could still hang from them as he did when he was a kid. Max remembered when a teacher had to be pulled off of them before he passed out. Dares were a dangerous thing for elementary school Max.
"Because I fucking asked nicely," Bexon yelled at him.
Max laughed. He did not understand how that was the "nice" way of asking but he figured why not have some fun while he was there. It wasn't every day he went to the park or that Bexon went outside during the daylight hours.
Max crawled over to the monkey bars and crossed over them until he was in the middle. He managed to get his legs over the bars and then he let his hands drop, nearly falling. He might have forgotten how difficult it was, and how the bars kinda hurt against his legs.
Bexon found him and walked over, no longer looking pissed off, but rather amused at the upside-down man that was his boyfriend.
"Max, what the hell are you doing?"
Max did his best not to fall off. It might not have been a far drop if he did, but he would rather not end up breaking something just in case. He did that before once, and it was embarrassing explaining to a doctor that he broke a toe while hanging upside down on playground equipment. He was eighteen at the time and very much did not want a redo at twenty-one.
"Trying to kiss you," Max complained.
It was the best his mind could think of at the moment and he had nothing to lose so he pushed his luck. Bexon just shook his head and looked up at Max's shaky legs.
"You're going to fall, you do realize that."
Max did in fact know that, but he was not going to say so. Instead, he knew his boyfriend liked his voice and liked it when he cursed so Max rolled with it and said the first thing that was on his mind without filtering it.
"Fuck off and just kiss me you asshole! I'm getting lightheaded."
Bexon walked closer to him and leaned in to kiss him, Max stupidly closed his eyes and before he knew it Bexon was reaching up and taking his phone before running back to the house.
"You asshat!" Max yelled after him.
Though this time it was just in time a woman looked over at him with a glare, he wanted to question how long she had been there, but quickly muttered an apology before he got down and was running back to his house.
By the time he made it through the front door Bexon had figured out his passcode—which he knew wasn't all that difficult when anyone learned Max's favorite number was seven. In hindsight, he shouldn't have made his passcode only sevens.
Bexon deleted the pictures by the time Max tackled him onto the floor.
"Don't worry Darlin' I sent them to Grace for safe keeping."
Bexon let go of the phone and looked up at Max.
"You sent them to my sister?!" Bexon groaned.
Max leaned down and kissed him on the nose. "Yep, I kinda figured it was my safest bet."
"I hate you," Bexon muttered dismissively.
"I don't think that you do or you would have pushed me off of you by now," Max grinned. "I think you might even have a crush on me."
Bexon scoffed.
"I know how embarrassing for you," Max commented.
"Shut the fuck up, Moore."
Bexon pulled Max down by the shirt so his full weight was now on top of him as he kissed his boyfriend. The moment lasted a second before Max's alarm on his phone was going off and scared both of them.
Max made a mental reminder to turn down his volume a little at some point.
"Anyway, duty calls," Max kissed him on the cheek before getting up. He grabbed his keys and was out to the garage soon enough.
━ ⋅✰ ━ ᗢ ━ ⋅✰ ━
This time Valerie was working in the kitchen rather than in the garden. "Luca burned another batch of cupcakes so he is now banned from—the kitchen."
Max laughed but nodded anyway. They had a rule: if you burned something more than once (or in Luca's case sixteen times and counting) you got banned from where or what you burned them at or with.
Max started his shift, clocking in a few minutes after he got there—because he forgot. Surprisingly he was happy, his anxiety wasn't all that bad to deal with, and the smell of freshly baked cookies and cupcakes that weren't burnt filled Latte's.
Max would definitely be trying one of the daily specials as his free food for the day. Though Valerie said as long as it was under ten items she really didn't care if her staff ate or drank anything there.
Max got to work, cleaning up what he could of the kitchen while Latte's wasn't busy and then making more drinks than he could count. By the time the café was manageable again, Max finally looked at the message he got earlier.
Grace 🔮:
[ Hey, sorry to bother you but I just wanted to let you know about Bee's graduation. They finally got a date back and I know my brother will play it off or not even tell you, so please make sure he is dressed and at the location I send you by 14:00 tomorrow. It would be amazing if you can join us too, if not, it's fine. ]
[ Location Sent ✓ 📍]
15:45
Max read over the text, it was definitely news to him. Even Hadley hadn't mentioned anything about it. He was obviously going to join them.
[ No problem, I will have him there with a bow and everything ]
16:01
Max turned his phone back to vibrate after that before turning back to his job. Hadley on the other hand was busy planning out the decorating theme for Halloween.
They had just gotten there and were already planning on what to do for October.
"It isn't even August yet," Max deadpanned. "And where did you even get all this stuff?"
Not only did Hadley have a plan, but they also had a contractor's bag of autumn and Halloween-themed decorations spilling out of it.
Hadley shrugged. "I might have found a person in a van outside of a craft store. So I might have hijacked it when they weren't looking and—uh yeah—they were not too happy about it."
"You stole from a person in a van?" Max asked, making sure he got the story right.
"I wouldn't say stole from them but uh... yeah, a little."
Max nodded, not really sure what to do at the moment. As long as the person in the van didn't find out where Hadley worked or lived Max didn't need to know much more.
"Okay then," Max left it at that.
Hadley put most of the stuff in storage for autumn but they added a string of lights to the counter, giving it a more cozy look. Whatever kind of lights Hadley stole, they were at least good quality.
"Since you're not busy. Help me with the other fairy lights," Hadley chuckled at the end. "Kinda fitting for you—sorry that was mean even for me."
Max laughed at their failed attempt at a joke. "You know that I prefer the term Mr. Fairy unless it's one of my many lovers from another realm, thank you very much."
Hadley nodded. "Of course, you're right. Let's get to work, Mr. Fairy!"
Max helped set up the lights and it did make the space seem much more inviting. Latte's was always a nice café, but lights always made the space much cozier somehow.
Soon enough though Max was back behind the counter and familiar mocha brown hair caught his attention when the person walked in.
Liv whistled. "Well, damn. This place looks different, fancy even."
"Thank you I try," Hadley joked. They finally headed back to the kitchen to make sure that everything was ready and packed for their donations in the morning.
"What can I get ya?" Max asked his friend.
"Coffee as dark as my closet—oh and one of the sprinkle cake things... for Finn of course."
Max chuckled. "Yeah, of course."
He got her order ready, a plain black coffee and one of the rainbow sprinkle cupcakes.
"You know I might know this guy who knows this woman who knows this person who has super kickass Halloween decorations when the time comes," Liv commented. "Let your—"
Hadley was already rushing back out front at the mention of Halloween. They nearly tripped on the way but quickly got their balance back.
"Really?!" Hadley questioned.
"Yeah, Parker's friend from summer camp when he was twelve or something. Her name's Summer ironically and she works as an artist. She has this big horror collection, it's both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. I can send you her number if—"
"Yes, yes. Very much need that number," Hadley cut her off excitedly.
When Liv finally left it was dark out. She had talked about everything and anything about Summer's work and a good bit of Halloween. It was a favorite holiday for most of Max's friends, it blamed it on them all being queer to some degree.
Max didn't really remember much of the conversation, just finishing up his work as soon as he could so he could get home and be wrapped up in the soft blankets Bexon left in his room. Max was not planning on returning them until his boyfriend mentioned something about them. The blond just couldn't wait to go to bed.
Max was definitely not much of a night owl.
A/N:
Luca: (great cook bad with fire)
Valerie: You're banned from—the kitchen in general
Luca: No idea why I am great at what I do
Also Luca: (apron is literally on fire)