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Max Puckett had been struggling with math for a while now, and his frustration was starting to show.
Isaac O'Connor, being the older and more experienced one in the subject, had offered to help him with his homework.
So now, Isaac was in Max's home.
"Oh, wise and elderly Isaac, would you ever be so kind to assist me with my pre-algebra?" Max teased with goofy, rapidly blinking eyes.
"I hope you fail." Isaac deadpanned. "Now scoot over."
Isaac plopped next to Max on the couch.
"Okay. Let's just start here, then."
Isaac leaned in close to point out the equations on the page. Max's heart rate increased, his cheeks slightly flushing pink as he noticed their close proximity to each other.
Isaac was completely oblivious to Max's reaction as he continued to explain the concept to him.
"So you literally just need to add together the terms so it's like, even on either side kind of. And then divide it afterwards to get X, I think. Unless you can't, then don't do that. It's like, super easy though."
Max stared at Isaac blankly. He couldn't help but smirk at his crush's dumb expression, as he intensely observed the paper, and his even dumber explanation. He found Isaac's awkwardness almost endearing and charming, but he'd never admit that in a trillion years.
Isaac looked up from the page to meet Max's gaze. Upon realizing how close he was to Max's face, Isaac slightly scooted away, face turning red. He noticed Max's grin and raised an eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" Isaac asked, his tone sounding somewhat skeptical.
Max avoided eye contact and frantically searched for a snarky reply.
"Oh, nothing. You'd make a really good teacher. Like college-level, I'm talking. Great stuff." Max responded sarcastically.
Isaac's mouth forced an irritated smile. "...Of course, Max. Anything for you."
Max giggled. "Doofus," he muttered under his breath.
Isaac rolled his eyes. "Shut up. Now add 6x to both sides of the equation."
As they continued to work on the sheet, Isaac remained close, his arm occasionally brushing against Max's. Max's heart raced every time Isaac even slightly touched him, but he did all he could to keep his focus on what the heck "-9x = 81" meant.
Eventually, they finished, and Max looked up at Isaac with a smile. Isaac cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah I'm kind of like, an expert at this stuff I guess. Just like, ask me whenever you need help again."
"Thanks, dude. I actually... um... learned a lot. Even if your explanations sorta sucked." Max adjusted his hat.
"It's no problem at all," Isaac replied smugly.
Before Max could stand up to gather his stuff, Isaac caught him by the arm and pulled him into a hug. Max was caught off guard at first, but quickly relaxed into the embrace, feeling safe in Isaac's arms. Isaac released him after a moment, but Max didn't want to let go just yet. He looked up at him, his heart going crazy.
Isaac's eyes met his. Max could see the genuine warmth in them. Such a... pretty... shade of blue...
Max nearly leaned in for a kiss until he realized how awfully cheesy that would probably be. He instead immediately broke the hug and scratched his neck awkwardly.
"Thanks for the help and everything. And, uh, the hug. You're a great friend, man. I mean it."
Isaac's eyes lit up, and so began the surrounding anime sparkles. "You're welcome, Max. Any time."
Max blinked, unsure of what to do next. He turned around and clutched his beating chest, grabbing Isaac's backpack and handing it to him.
Max decided to tease him one last time to ease the total corniness of their prior interaction.
"Seeya, dorkface." Max sighed. Yeah, that was good enough. Max stood at the top of the stairs while somewhat gesturing Isaac in the direction of the staircase.
Isaac threw his bag over his shoulder and smirked.
"Your words don't hurt me." Isaac muttered back, shuffling towards the stairs.
"Stairboy." Max poked Isaac's shoulder as he made his way down.
"These are your stairs!" Isaac shouted back at him. Max cackled in response.
"Goodbye!" Max called down. As soon as Isaac disappeared out of his line of vision, he sprinted to his room and dove into bed so he could scream into his pillow.