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Max was happy with how the X games turned out. Of course he was, he won. But the second best thing that happened was Bradley getting exposed for his cheating.
Though, maybe it wasn't a good thing at all, not since now Bradley is the most hated individual on campus. But he deserves it, doesn't he? He's an asshole.
Yeah, he surely deserves it.
That's what Max was thinking during the lecture, when suddenly, Bradley walked in.
His clothes and hair soaked with what seemed like cold water, since he was shaking and shivering like crazy.
The whole room rang out with laughter. Everyone was laughing, and he means everyone, because he started laughing, too.
Why wouldn't he? Brad hurt him, and now he's getting what he deserves, karma. Besides, no one could break Bradley's ego, he's tough like that.
But Max's laughing subdues when he sees that the water falling down Bradley's cheeks is actually tears, and his whole frame is shaking with silent sobs, that no one else seems to notice.
Wow, now Max felt bad.
Bradley sat down somewhere far away from everyone, and the laughing stopped. Max kept looking at Brad though, with a worried frown on his face.
"Dude, he's getting what he deserves. It's karma." Bobby said next to him, noticing Max's frown. So he nods, turning back to the lecture.
Yeah, karma. This is karma. And Max hates Bradley, so why would he care?
The next time something like this happens is the very next day, in front of the lecture hall.
Tank and the other Gammas stole Bradley's shoes. While it's literally raining outside. And Bradley's dorms are pretty much the furthest away from everyone else's on campus.
People were laughing, as always. And Bradley just walked through the mud and wet rocks in only his socks, probably cutting his feet more than once, since his face was grimaced in a painful expression.
But again, this is karma, right? This is what Bradley deserves, so Max laughed along.
For the next days, Max saw everything. Bradley couldn't get through the hall without someone shouting after him, or without Tank and the Gammas pulling some evil prank on him. It was happening constantly, and it was like everyone was in on it.
Bradley stopped going out unless it was necessary, Max noticed that, too. It was so odd, so not like Bradley to hide away. But could he blame him?
Max found himself feeling sorry for the boy. But this is karma, right? This is justice. This is exactly what Bradley deserves. Yeah, it is. It definitely is.
Max was walking out of the dormitories, when he saw a circle of laughing students. He walked closer, also wanting to have a good laugh, but what he saw was not something he would consider funny. Not in the slightest.
Bradley was being held by two Gammas, blood soaking through his clothes in various places, tears streaming down his face. He looked pathetic, and terrified. So very terrified. Max felt his stomach drop when Tank pushed the crying boy onto the floor with force, making him whimper in pain.
This wasn't karma. This wasn't justice. Bradley didn't deserve this.
Soon enough, the laughing hyenas left, along with the bullies, and only Max was standing near.
When he saw Bradley struggling to get up, slipping up in the mud on shaky legs, his feet moved on their own, and he was next to his...rival?
When he held up a hand for him, Bradley looked scared, before he put on a frown of hatred and shame, ignoring the hand that's trying to help him, and instead trying to get up on his own, once again slipping up in the mud with grunts of pain.
"Brad, let me help–" Max was cut off. "Get away from me! Had a good laugh? Now leave!" He shouted, his voice strained and full of emotion. "You succeeded! I hate myself now, just like everyone hates me! But surprise surprise, I hated myself from the start! Now just let me get inside so I don't die from pneumonia or internal bleeding, though maybe that's exactly what you'd want." Bradley was talking as tears fell from his eyes. He didn't think about what he was saying, he just let it out.
Max flinched. Bradley was right though, wasn't he? He also laughed. He was laughing the whole time everything was happening. Bradley had every right to hate him now and feel unsafe. He didn't know Max was being genuine. He thought he was being bullied again.
But still, the boy couldn't even stand up on his own. "I'm...I'm sorry, Bradley. I should've done something." Brad only scoffed, but nothing was funny about it. "Fuck off. I don't need to be saved, if that's what you think." He was so obviously anxious, it looked like he had to force his mouth to cooperate.
"Just let me help, please?" Max said in a gentle tone, and something cracked in Bradley's face. Because now his eyes looked just scared, and hesitant. There was no layer of anger anymore, pure fear and pain. He realized something.
Bradley nodded once with a shaky movement, and Max immediately started to help him up. He stood there for a moment, with Bradley covered in cold mud and blood, his arm drapped around his shoulders for support. "Do you think you can walk?" He asked him, and Bradley nodded. "Just...don't let go of me." He said it so quietly, as if scared of being made fun of again. "Of course, dude." Max assured, and they started walking towards the dorms.
Bradley didn't really look around himself, trusting Max to have at least some empathy for him. He just wanted to get cleaned up and sleep, to get away from this reality as fast as possible.
And now, they were walking into Max's dorm. Wait, what?
Bradley started to back up, but Max didn't let him. "Hey, no, it's fine, it's okay. My roommates are out, it's only us, okay?" And just like that, Bradley relaxed again, nodding.
Max sat him down on the bed, crouching in front of him. "Will you be okay cleaning up on your own, or do you want me to help?" He asked, and it was so genuine. There wasn't any malice behind those words, it was a simple question, with no wrong answers.
Bradley knew he couldn't stand up on his own quite right yet. "Do you have a tub?" He asked instead, and Max nodded. A tub would do. "I'll be fine then." He said, embarrassed.
"Okay." Max led him to the bathroom, already filling up the tub with warm water. "If you need anything, shout. I mean it." A warm expression on his face, and somehow, Bradley felt safe. He nodded, and Max left.
Getting undressed and into the tub was not much of a problem, washing his hair however...
His ribs were cracked, so his arms couldn't go as high up as to his ears, maybe. So he had no choice, but to shout.
"Hey, um...could you help?" He shouted hesitantly, and Max was there immediately, ready to help. "You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I just...I can't..." Bradley tried to explain, showing how far up his arms would go while still covering his torso with his knees, and Max nodded in understanding.
He kneeled down next to the tub and got some of the shampoo on his palm. "You have to wet your hair first." Max reminded, and Bradley submerged his hair under water, then came back up.
Max started to rub the shampoo into Bradley's hair gently, with odd precision.
And Bradley would lie if he said this wasn't nice. No one took care of him like that ever since he stopped being a little kid, and even then it was a rare accurance.
Fuck it. He closed his eyes and leaned into Max's touch with a sigh, relaxing completely. Max smiled, and continued to wash his hair.
Once he was done, he helped Brad get the shampoo off, then took a clean piece of a towel, wet it with warm water, and started to clean off the mud and blood from Bradley's face.
The older boy didn't ask for it, but he also didn't protest.
Max was now waiting for Bradley to dry off and get dressed, having left some clean clothes for him in the bathroom.
Bradley got out, dressed in clean, comfortable clothes. He was still limping, but it seemed better than before. Max led him to sit down on the bed again, and he crouched down in front of him.
"Okay, what hurts the most?" Max asked, checking him over for all the injuries. "Wouldn't you like to know." Bradley scoffed. And Max actually smiled at that, seeing Bradley's usual personality come back was...refreshing. "Sorry." Bradley said, and Max shook his head. "No, no. I'm glad you're getting yourself back."
Bradley felt himself smile, a genuine warm smile. This is the first time he's smiling like this since the X games.
Max also didn't miss the blush on his cheeks.
"Now, seriously, tell me what hurts so we can make sure you dont need a hospital." Bradley nodded at that, thinking. "Probably my ribs. They kicked them in pretty well. And, um, my back too. My head is throbbing though. Shit, if I think about it, everything hurts." Max nodded at that. "Can I see your ribs and back?" He asked gently, holding the hem of Bradley's shirt.
Bradley nodded, letting him pull it up with care. When Max pulled up the shirt, he saw scratches, bruises and bumps. Some of them were old, and some were from today. He couldn't help but gasp.
"I...I didn't know it was this bad..." Bradley only shrugged. "They're not all from the Gammas, it's fine." Max looked at him with genuine concern and confusion. "Um, my dad wasn't too happy about the loss, you know..."
Now, this was definitely not fair. Not in any way. Max couldn't even imagine a father hurting his child like that. "Brad..."
"Don't. It's fine." Max could only nod at him, dropping the topic. He examined his ribs, acknowledging they're cracked, but not broken, so no hospital was needed. "Okay, I'm gonna check your back."
Bradley nodded, letting himself be examined. Max looked over his back, touching with gentle fingers that made the older boy shiver. There were some bruises on his back, but nothing too bad, until Max saw the big, purple bruise going from the side of his back down to his hip.
"Okay, this one looks really bad." Max stated, touching the bruise carefully. "Yeah, this one makes me walk weird." Bradley said, his face flushed in embarrassment.
Max started to pull the band of Bradley's pants down to show off his hip and examine more of the bruise. What he saw there was not only the bruise, though, but scars. Alot of sharp and deep lines all around his hips. They were healed, though some were older and some were not, but none were fresh.
Bradley just now realized what Max saw, and he looked away in shame. "I...it's..."
"You don't have to tell me. But you can." Max said in a soft tone, and Bradley decided to explain.
"I have BPD. This is just the...side effects, of survival." The younger's eyes widened at that. BPD? As in Borderline? "I had no idea..." Bradley laughed at that.
"That was kinda the point. No one knows."
Max felt bad for him now even more. He had no idea Bradley was struggling with a personality disorder. That would explain some of his behaviors.
Max pulled the band of Bradley's pants back up, still touching his bruise gently, now in a more comforting manner than anything else. "Listen, Brad..."
Bradley tensed up at his words, expecting rejection, expecting literally everything bad and nothing of what he's about to hear.
"I don't hate you, you know that, right? And I'm so incredibly sorry for not helping you out. I just stood there with everyone else and laughed along so many times. I didn't realize how serious it was. I'm so, so sorry, Bradley." Max said that in the most genuine voice ever, filled with regret and sympathy.
Bradley felt hot tears running down his cheeks. Did Max just apologize to him? His thoughts were now filled with various questions. How could he not hate me? How could he apologize to me? How could he not see that I'm a monster?
"-adley? Brad? Are you okay?" Bradley realized that he was spacing out and crying, worrying Max even more. The younger boy was sitting beside him on the bed now, wiping his tears away gently. "I..."
Bradley didn't know what to say, so Max just pulled him into a gentle hug, a warm hand in his hair, and the other pushing him in. For a second, Bradley stiffened, just for his body to relax completely seconds later, grabbing onto Max for dear life.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He broke down, babbling apologies over and over again. He needed to apologize for everything, he had to. Max only shushed him like he would a little kid.
"Shhh, I forgive you. I forgive you. It's okay." This was so unlike Bradley, to just break down in tears, trusting someone to hold him, not only someone, trusting Max.
But again, self-harm, personality disorders, bullying and domestic abuse were also so unlike Bradley, and here they are.
The hug lasted about six full minutes, because Bradley fell asleep. The gentle brushing motion in his hair put him right to sleep. Max didn't mind staying like that, even if his back would hurt like a bitch afterwards.
And now he realized something. They never hated eachother. They were rivals, and they were assholes to eachother, but there was no real hatred. If there was, Max wouldn't care, and Bradley wouldn't trust.
And yet they both did.