rin

"Not yet, no" you reply without taking your eyes off the screen. Eddie hums and goes to the kitchen to get a snack before sitting on the floor besides you. His whole side pressing against yours as both of his arms wrap around your torso. His chin resting on your shoulder as he watches your screen.

"That seems boring" he mumbles, a bit pouty, one of his hands leaves your body to take off his glasses and put them on the coffee table besides your laptop. "Let's go cuddle" Eddie whispers as he goes back to hugging you.

"We are" you say with a small smile.

"No, I'm cuddling you, you are neglecting me, you are being mean and... mean" he lets out an exagerated sigh. "Pleaseeeee, my friends were being so mean today, I need love and... I don't know, just hug me back" Eddie practicaly whines in your ear for you to pay attention to him.

"Fine! Okay" your hands leave the keyboard, your body turns slightly to hug him back, his head burying into the crook of your neck as he hold you tighter. "what did they say?"

"I don't know, we are always mean, I just wanted to make you hug me" he mumbles into you. "Can we watch a movie, or reels? let's watch reels in bed, yeah?" Eddie pulss away slightly so he can look at you, his smile growing when he sees you nod.

"Reels sound good, wanna order some food?"

So, Max shows. He doesn't mind getting knee deep into your interests, read your favorite books, watch your favorite movies, listening to every album and artist you like, play your favorite video games. He would learn to crochet just to sit by your side and do what you enjoy.

"You are like the cringiest guy ever" Eddie says on the discord call, Max shows proudly the shirts he got custom made for the both of you, both black, one with Foxy’s face and the other one with Bonnie’s face.

"It’s cute! it’s something that’s special for me and its cute, it’s us" Max says with a grin.

"It’s us? that’s such a tiktok couple repost thing" Plenty says trying to not laugh but Eddie beats him to it, letting out a wheeze.

"This is why you all are single" Max says with no real bite, already planning on getting some minecraft inspired shirts... or one that matches his cheesy bread one.

Max would plan the cutest dates ever, building legos together, a picnic at the park, going to the aquarium, museum, movie nights. He looks forward to hanging out with you, even if it’s just sitting together at his apartment while he games, which is one of his favorite things to do.

“No, I have plans” Max says to his friends on the call.

“Join the game!” Jacob screams into the mic.

“Hop on repo, hon on repo…” Plenty repeats over and over again.

“It’s date night with the pookie, we have to finish FNAF 2” Max says with all seriousness. Before hanging up.

He likes giving you gifts, flowers on random days, the usual “it made me think of you” as he hands you a trinket he saw at the store while grocery shopping. At times he has to be told by you to go play with his friends as if it was some sort of punishment.

“But you are here” he says, whining as he clings onto you in the couch, the movie still playing on the tv.

“Yes, and I’ll be here after. Plenty is spamming me to tell you to get on REPO, just play for an hour or something”

“Nooo” he drags out the words, hiding his face on the crook of your neck, “they are mean and loud, I want to hang out with you”

“He just told me you were the one to plan this”

“Because I didn’t know you were coming over” His head moves slightly so he can look at your face. “Please, just once” he says giving you sad puppy eyes, as if he didn’t do and said the same the last 5 times you came over.

“Just play for a bit, yeah?” Max groans as it actually pains him, but he doesn’t let go, he just scoops you up of the couch and stands up with you in his arms. “What are you doing?” your arms wrap around his neck as he starts walking towards his office.

His studio is down the hall, you don’t hear him scream as much, be as loud as usual, it feels wrong, worrying. You wait on his bed, trying to scroll to keep your mind out of it until you can talk properly with him. It’s weird for him to be so down, and even when he isn’t feeling the best, he tries to see the better of any situation.

An hour or so goes by when you hear a heavy sigh down the hall and the studio door shut, his feet drag heavy on the floor, another sigh leaves his mouth when he sees you, your phone gets tossed aside on the bed, sitting up slightly so your back is resting on the headboard. “You okay?”

Max shakes his head, quietly walking over and climbing into bed with you, his head resting in your lap, his long arms wrapping around your torso, eyes closed as he holds you tightly. He keeps quiet still, shaking his head softly against you. Your hand brushes his hair off his face, it stays on his head, softly playing with it, you can feel the way his body relaxes. “I’m here, it’s okay” you whisper, Max nods slowly, nudging his head up a bit into your stomach, trying to be as close as possible.

“I love you” he whispers so quietly you almost miss it.

“Yo, Max, what is that?”

“Shut up!” Plenty chimes in, his mouth full of reheated food.

“Nothing.” He closes the tab. Stopping his stream.

“Bro, had like 4 plushies on his kart” Eddie laughs and you sit there awkwardly. “Are those for you?”

“Of course not, I’m buying them for a friend.” Max pulls at the collar of his shirt before looking over at your camera, a soft smile on your lips, because about 20 minutes ago, you were telling him which ones you though were cute.

“Ohhh, a friend right” Plenty mumbles, rolling his eyes. “So, can you buy me one too? Oh, I need a new bed for Gilbert, he chewed on the one I bought last month”

“Of course not, buy it yourself”

“I never asked him to buy them” you say.

“I know” “Duh” Eddie and Plenty talk at the same time and they both laugh at how obvious Max is at times. “You probably said, oh that is cute, and he added it to the kart while you talked about how you saw a cat on the street and you wanted to take it home” Plenty rants, running a hand down his face.

“I didn-”

“How do you know?” Max laugh nervously.

“GUYS, MY PC ALMOST DIED ON ME” Jacob screams into everyone’s ears when he joins the call, making everyone jump on their seats. “Hop in the game, hop in the game” he keeps speaking really close to the mic urging everyone to move fast.

----

No matter how many times someone said it, you are quick to brush it off. “Max is just kind” or “we are just close” and “we are just friends”. Just friends, is something Max has said a lot of times to, specially on late night calls when you went to bed and only the 4 guys were left to talk.

“Like, you two act like you have been dating since kindergarten” Plenty says, tired of Max denying he is in love with you.

“No, we don’t” he argues, like always.

“Bro, you cuddle all the time, you are always texting each other, your wallpaper is a picture of the two of you,” Max opens his mouth but Plenty keeps talking “shut up, you ALWAYS bring an extra hoodie just in case, that one time when we were at that arcade and that dude was flirting you got jealous.”

“I wasn’t! why would I be?” Plenty groans, almost plucking his hairs out.

“Because!”

“Dude, just let him sulk, just wait until someone who has balls to come by” Eddie says as he tries to not laugh at the way Max frowns.

---

You sit on the couch of your apartment, the guys were over for a hang out, take out, soda, horror movies, dumb comedies and maybe some videogames. Your leg is pressed into Max, your chin resting on his shoulder as the both of you watch tiktoks on his phone. From time to time, you like one for him or send one to you, his free hand rests on the couch, near your body, tugging at your shirt without thinking about it.

“I’m done” Plenty mumbles, opening up a can of soda.

“Let him” Eddie mumbles between gritted teeth.

“I’m fucking hungry” Jacob groans, interrupting both of them in case you hear. “Let’s go out”

“No, I don’t wanna drive” Max turns off his phone and puts it on his lap “and you are all gonna leave fries all over my car, no way”

“It’s better if we eat there, the food is warm and not soggy” Plenty argues, you nod softly.

“Yeah, let’s go out” you say, stretching out your arms to push the laziness away.

“Yes, let’s go out, sure” Max says, all of a sudden eager to drive. Eddie just laughs, reaching over the couch to grab the shoes he kicked off a long time ago.

----

“Order extra cheese, extra, put extra” Plenty pushes on the screen of the self-ordering machine, you stand close to them, looking over their shoulders to look at the menu.

“It’s not working, I’m pressing” Jacob says irritated.

“Press harder”

“Hi, are you on the line?” a random voice cuts pulls your attention away from the loud voices of your friends. Besides you a boy with blond hair smiles at you.

“Oh, no, my friends are struggling to order” you say and chuckle softly when you look over at them and watch Jacob try to push Plenty out of the touch screen.

“I’m also here with my friends” he says, his hands on the pockets of his jeans now, smiling “maybe we can hang out for a bit, you know, there is a bar nearby, or an arcade if you are more into that”

“Oh, that sounds fun” you nod along” but I would have to talk with my friends and when they are hungry, they are a bit grumpy”

“I mean, we can always go together, I wouldn’t mind spending time alone with you” he tilts his head “I’m Bryan by the way”

“Nice to meet you, I-” before you can try to work around his answer you feel someone stand near you. “Sorry dude, we have plans” Max says, voice lower than usual, serious.

“Oh, you are one of the friends” Bryan sizes Max up “I came with my friends too, I can introduce you, I have some cute friends that-”

“Not interested” he says and then looks down at you “We are at the table, come on” his hand grabs yours, his fingers squeezing yours as he drags you along without giving you time to say goodbye.

“I told you, wait for someone with balls to come b-” Eddie gets cut out when Jacob elbows him on the rib, making him groan in pain. “Hi friends” he says, his hand on his rib to sooth the pain.

“Hi, oh wow, that’s a lot of cheese” you say as you sit down looking at the bacon cheddar fries in the middle of the table, Max slides on the couch of the booth, his knee searching your yours below the table.

“Yeah, Plenty was an idiot and pressed the button like 5 times” Jacob glares at Plenty who is too busy eating his burger to care.

The ride home was quieter, music on medium volume as you look out of the window. Max opens the door for you after parking the car. Everyone crashes into the couch or the rug on the living room, Eddie turns on the tv to search for something to watch as you walk to the kitchen, Max follows quietly and Eddie makes sure to turn up the volume so Plenty and Jacob don’t snoop in whatever happens there.

“Are you mad?” Max says quietly as he looks at your back, how you close the fridge and put the six pack of sodas on the counter.

“Why would I be?” you look up at him, sometimes he looks so small, no matter how big and strong he is, sometimes he does something with his eyes that makes him look like a lost puppy.

“I just- you didn’t talk to me much at dinner and, you usually bump my knee back…” one of his hands rub the back of his neck, trying to stay calm.

“I’m fine… are you okay?” you ask, taking a step closer “Because if you ask me, you seemed pretty mad, mind telling me why?” your arms cross over your chest, like daring him to speak, urging him to be honest with his feelings for once.

“I- I just didn’t like the guy”

“Why?”

“He was… blond” He shrugs and mentally slaps himself, because what the fuck is that answer. “I mean, he didn’t seem nice, who asks someone to go to a bar? And, he offered to introduce me to cute friends, what guy does that without their friends’ consent? And-”

“You were mad because he asked me out?”

“I- no! I didn’t say that, I said… I mean.” He runs a hand down his face; he is stuttering again. “He seemed like a bad guy for you”

“You always say that”

“Because it’s true, you deserve way better than some random guy, they don’t know you, I do…” Max voice dies down when he realizes what he said. “I-” he freezes, his chest raising and lowering faster than before, this was the first time he said out loud what he has always known, what he has been feeling since that sleepover in seventh grade when you patched up his knee after he fell from his bike, what he write in his diary, what he only admits to himself before bed, that he is in love with his friend, that he is in love with you.

“Yeah? Then do something about it” your voice is softer now, you make the first step and close the gap between the both of you, you can smell the faint scent of his cologne, you can see his eyes dart from your eyes to your lips and back at your eyes, the way he gulps and how his cheek blush.

“Can I?” he whispers, his hands reaching out to grab your hips like a lifeline, scared to let go, scared that if he moves too fast or things too much he will wake up. You nod softly, giving him the final green light, Max closed his eyes when his lips softly touch yours, his hands circling around your back to hug you closer, your own arms wrapping around his neck and playing with his hair.

“OH MY GOD, FINALLY” Plenty stands at the door of the kitchen with an empty water bottle, the both of you jump, breaking the kiss but Max arms lock around you, keeping you close to him, his face hiding in the crook of your neck out of embarrassment. “Men, I just fucking lost 20 bucks to Eddie”