Happily skipping whilst humming a little tune to himself, Max was heading over to his good friend Tyson’s house. He wasn’t sure whether Tyson would be busy with chores or not today, but it would always be cool to just help him out, and they could have a bit of a natter.
Upon arriving at Tyson’s Grandfather’s dojo, he noticed that the big wooden gate was already open. Max stepped inside, and spotted Tyson’s Grandfather dusting some of his begonias.
“Hey there, Grandpa!” Max said cheerily to the moustachio-man.
“Hey there, little blonde dude,” the man replied. “You here to see Tyson?”
“Sure am. Is he around?”
“He is, but he’s in his room with a ginger friend. Brooklyn, I think it is.”
“Brooklyn?” Max gave a thoughtful look, and bid the old man a little goodbye before heading off in the direction of Tyson’s room.
When he reached the door that had a little piece of paper attached to it with, “TySoN’z RoOm, Do NoT eNtEr” written in an untidy scrawl on it, Max gave a little knock. The door opened, and Max saw that Tyson and Brooklyn were sat on the floor, playing ‘Scrabble’.
“Howdy, there, Max. What brings you to my neck of the woods?” Tyson said cheerily.
“Nothing much. Just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out. Hi, Brooklyn, by the way,” Max replied, waving at Brooklyn, who returned the wave.
“Well, as you can kind of see…” Tyson said, gesturing to Brooklyn and the ‘Scrabble’ board, “me and Brooklyn were kind of in the middle of something.”
“What, and I can’t just hang out with you both?” Max pouted.
“It’s quality me and Brooklyn time… You know how it is.”
“Oh, right…” Max said, pouting even more.
“Anyway, me and Brooklyn need to get back to our game. It’s his turn…” Tyson trailed off.
“‘K,” Max replied miserably, and left Tyson’s room.
He proceeded to walk back through the yard of the dojo, and past Tyson’s Grandfather, who was muttering to his pretty little plants. Once out in the road, Max sighed, and got out his mobile. He knew Kenny was ‘with’ Ming-Ming today (I.e. he was following her around like a faithful little lapdog. She had him twisted round her little finger), and Hilary was out with other friends. He didn’t know if Kai was even still alive, let alone in town. As for Daichi… Luckily, he’d buggered back off to his home town, which left Ray.
Max scrolled down the phone book whilst walking in the direction of the park, until he stumbled across Ray’s number, and dialled it.
“Hello?” a breathless Ray answered.
“Hi, Ray. It’s me, Max. Listen, I just wondered if you-”
“Sorry, Max. I can’t really, erm-OW! ‘Riah! Listen, Max, GET OFF ME! Sorry, it’s just a bad-STOP GROPING ME ‘RIAH-”
Max hung up immediately. He didn’t really want to listen to porn. Sighing again, Max continued his walk towards the park, and when he reached it, he plonked himself down on a bench. There were some kids Beyblading some ten metres away from him. He thought that he could always go and join them, but then he realised his didn’t have Draciel with him. Bugger.
He got out his mobile again, and scrolled down the phone book once more. He even had numbers of other people from different teams, but was sure that most of them would be back in their home countries by now. Which meant… That he was all on his onesy, and his so called chums were too busy for him. How depressed he felt.
Flapping his lips like a horse, Max put the mobile away once more and took a look around. Other than the kids ‘blading, there was nothing. No one. Except for a man in a cart selling some chips and hotdogs. Max sniffed back the dribble of snot that was slowly making it’s way down to his top his, and wiped his eyes. He was actually crying because he was lonely. How pathetic did he look?
“Christ, Max. Why are you so upset?” someone to Max’s right asked.
Max looked round, the tears streaming down his face, and the snot threatening to do the same, and saw red hair, ice blue eyes, and all of that attached to a pair of legs. Well, not just legs, because that would be scary.
“TALAAAAA!” Max yelled, scaring the living daylights out of Tala and making him jump a mile.
Max launched himself at Tala, and stuck to the terrified Russian like a leech. Looking very uncomfortable, and at a loss for words, Tala gently patted the top of Max’s head, making a little ‘shushing’ noise. Max buried his face into Tala’s chest, discreetly wiping his sticky green mucus all over the only friend he seemed to have today.
“Er, Max? Can you get off me now?” Tala asked nervously, but still patting the blonde hair.
Max sniffed, and drew back to sit back down on the bench. Tala sat next to him, and tilted his head, enquiring silently what was wrong. Max launched into a massive rant.
“Well, today, I thought I would meet up with Tyson and just chat, because that would be cool, and so I went round to his house, and his Grandfather was there dusting his plants and talking to them, and so I went to Tyson’s room, and he still has that crappy sign up on his door that’s been there since he was about 7, not that I knew him back then, but it probably was from when he was 7. Anyway, I knocked on the door, and he was sat in there with Brooklyn, and they were playing ‘Scrabble’, and they didn’t want me there, and Tyson said he was spending quality time with Brooklyn because he has no friends, but what do you expect when he nearly killed Kai TWICE? Anyway, I came back out of Tyson’s house, and his Grandfather was still talking to his stupid plants, and so I walked down the road, and realised that no one other than Ray would be free, because I don’t know if Kai’s still alive or anything, and so I phoned Ray up, but he was doing unmentionable things with Mariah, because she sounded a bit randy and so I came here and started crying, and my nose is running like mad and I’m covered in snot, and then you turned up, and now you’re covered in snot, tooooooo!”
Tala stared.
“Well… To be honest, Max, that’s no reason to be crying, is it? Not everyone is going to be free every single day. And as for not knowing if Kai’s alive or anything… He is. He just doesn’t want anyone to know where he is. Kai’s like that. He very reluctantly gave me his mobile number, and even then he told me I was only allowed to call him if it was an emergency.”
Max sniffed.
“Are you hungry?” Tala asked, and looked over at the man in the food cart.
Max nodded. Tala pulled him up by the hand, and led him over to the food cart. Max noted that Tala hadn’t let go of his hand, but wasn’t that bothered about it. He was with a friend and they were buying him food!
Tala ordered two cones of chips, and once the food was paid for, they returned to their bench, and ate in silence. Well, almost in silence. Silence except for the sound of Max shovelling the food into his mouth at top speed. Tala watched him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.
Once the chips were devoured, and the rubbish put in the bin, Tala and Max took a walk around the park before sitting under a tree. It was quite a warm day, and so both were grateful for the shade.
“So… You were just upset that no one wanted to hang out with you?” Tala asked.
“Yeah,” Max replied, drawing his knees up to his chest.
Tala smiled, and ruffled Max’s hair.
“Well, I’m sticking around for a while, so if you want to hang out with anyone, just call me.”
“Thanks, Tala,” Max said, smiling, and resting his head on his arms, which were perched on his knees.
“You’re so cute,” Tala mumbled.
“What was that?” Max asked.
“Oh, nothing, my little bundle of fluff.”
“Bundle of fluff?”
“Yes.”
“Christ, Tala, what did that hospital do to you?”
“Are you trying to say that I’m not a nice guy and that the hospital must’ve addled my brain?”
“No! I just-”
“Hahaha, forget it, Max. I was just messing.”
Max pouted, and looked a bit flustered. He’d never seen this side to Tala. He didn’t know Tala could have this side to him. Max pondered for a moment, when he felt something touch his cheek. He looked round to see Tala with his arm outstretched, and just taking his index finger away from Max’s cheek.
“What was that for?” Max asked.
“Wow, first you assume that I can’t joke around, and now you’re amazed that I can actually show affection,” Tala smiled.
Joking? Affection? What the Hell had happened to Tala, and why was Max on the receiving end of it?!
“I can give hugs, too, you know,” Tala said, hinting at something.
Max got the hint, and wrapped his arms around Tala’s neck, letting Tala wrap his arms around Max’s waist.
“What’s all this in aid of?” Max whispered.
“Nothing… You’re just cute. Even if you do wipe snot all over me,” Tala whispered back.
Pulling away from Tala, Max let his arms fall. Tala hadn’t finished, though, and brushed some of Max’s fringe out of the way to plant a little tiny kiss on his forehead. Max blushed scarlet, and Tala laughed at him.
“The way you’re reacting, you’d think someone hadn’t ever shown you affection before,” Tala said, tilting his head again.
Max couldn’t reply, but just shook his head.
“Anyhoo, unfortunately Maxie, I need to get back. I’m expecting a very important call from Spencer involving the delivery of some squid. But we can hang out again tomorrow if you want?”
Max nodded, but then frowned.
“Squid?”
“Just… Don’t ask,” Tala shook his head.
“OK,” Max said.
Both boys got up, and Tala bid Max goodbye and started to walk away. Max watched his walk off, pouted, and called Tala’s name. Tala turned round, and Max ran up, and gave him a hug. Tala smiled, and stroked Max’s hair.
“Can I help with the, erm, squid?” Max asked.
“If you honestly want to,” Tala replied, laughing.
Max grinned, and walked with Tala back to his hotel, just finally happy that he was wanted for the day. Even if it was to help with some squid.
