Hi everyone! This is actually something I wrote a while ago, but I'm going to be posting some of my older Kai/Max up here. (All thanks to Dark Bia who encouraged me to have stuff where other Kai/Max fans can find it more easily!) I'm still working on Heat of a Frozen Infatuation of course. The next couple chapters still need betaing and editing, but I promise they're coming! In the meantime, please enjoy a moment for Kai and Max in an established relationship.

Takes place early in V-Force, as the team is getting back together. I gotta say, I really wasn't a fan of the new costumes. Then I wrote this, and now I like them. :D

The discussion of how to announce the reunion of the Blade Breakers held little interest for Kai. In fact, it was a conversation he would rather not have any part in. The hassle of being a well-known blader had grated on him enough when he had tried to retire, and he had a feeling it was only going to get worse. The last thing Kai wanted was to participate in any publicity nonsense.

Kai slipped into the dojo joined to the house, his eyes drawn for a second to the extra futons now piled beside the one he had used the night before. One more sign of the company he would be keeping. Not just three teammates, and Kenny (who counted as part of the team even if his role was outside the arena) and Dizzi (at least Kai was used to the wisecracking computer now), but now there was that girl who seemed to be hanging around Tyson ever since he'd come back. How may more were they going to add to this group? Kai was reluctant to dwell on that even as he prepared to slip out into the yard for some peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have underestimated Tyson's power to monopolize the attention of everyone around him. He heard someone hurrying after him, calling out to him in a voice that was still familiar, for all he hadn't heard it in almost a year before today.

"Kai, wait up!"

Kai turned back to the door as Max came dashing in, skidding on the smooth floor in his socks.

"Why'd you leave in the middle of the party? We haven't all gotten together in so long, and I haven't heard three words out of you since I got off the plane. You didn't even give me a chance to say 'hi' properly at the airport!"

"Why do you care?"

Max stopped and laughed for a second, but Kai could practically see him working to re-process whatever he had been thinking. Before Max would have answered, 'because we're teammates' or even, 'because you're my friend' without an instant to think. Now he padded closer, making no noise on the wood floor. He was giving Kai his most endearing smile, but Kai still got the feeling Max was trying to discover what he was thinking before answering.

"How did retirement suit you?"

"Fine."

"Didn't you get bored? You're back looking for a new challenge, right?"

"Something like that."

Kai was a little tired of answering those same questions over and over. He probably could have acted out both sides of the usual interview by himself at this point. He had actually expected better of Max. However, what Max did next was entirely novel.

"Hey! When'd you get to be taller than me?"

Max had stopped in front of Kai, looking up at him, and now he suddenly darted forward. He laid one hand on Kai's bare shoulder, standing on his toes and holding up a hand to the top of Kai's forehead in an effort to compare their heights by touch.

Kai jerked back in surprise, but didn't actually push Max off. Even though his face was suddenly right there, his nose nearly touching Kai's.

"I've always been taller than you."

"You're not that much taller," Max complained, giving Kai a frown that, on him, was more cute than anything.

"You're cheating," Kai pointed out. He put both hands on Max's shoulders and pushed him back down to land on his heels.

When they both stood normally his mouth was about level with Max's forehead, when he remembered it being a little closer to the level of his cheekbone before. Kai hadn't noticed the slight change in his own height until he had a direct frame of reference.

"Well, I notice you still don't like sleeves. At least that hasn't changed," Max remarked cheekily. He actually ran both hands up and down the bare parts of Kai's arms before finally resting them on his shoulders.

"Max," Kai cautioned. His tone didn't do much to warn the blond off of touching him. He hadn't expected it to.

Max just smiled at him, more self-assured than Kai remembered. They studied each other, and Kai recognized the atmosphere building between them. He knew Max was trying to sound him out, study his reactions and find the best plan of attack before he made a decisive move, even though they weren't in the opening moves of a beybattle. Kai was doing the same. He wasn't planning on attacking Max in a literal sense, but he was just as determined not to tip his hand before he was sure of victory.

"Did you get my letters?"

"Yeah."

He'd gotten a letter from Max every few weeks since the team broke up. That was probably the only reason Kai had made sure to leave a forwarding address each time he had to move as he tried to find a place to get settled. He certainly didn't care for the fanmail pleading that he return to the sport or making bitter comments about how bitter he was for quitting. Or. . . he didn't even know what else, actually. After the first dozen or so letters he had started just throwing everything out if it wasn't from Max.

He had even sent back a few postcards, keeping Max more up to date on his address than his life. There had never seemed to be much for him to say, though Max could apparently fill pages and pages in one go.

"I don't know why you wouldn't just let me email you. It's that much faster, and then I wouldn't have to worry if you'd moved again or gone off to some new school or whatever."

"You already went and gave my contact information to Tyson, didn't you? Why should I give you my email too?"

Kai wasn't going to say the real reason, not over his dead body, but he wanted Max's letters more than any amount of email. It didn't matter how immediate it was. It was the way Max's words flowed. His handwriting would change so that his words became smaller and neater when he was thinking intently about something or spread out across the page in a slanted sprawl when he was excited. Kai could practically hear Max's voice in his head when he read those letters.

"Technically I gave it to Kenny, and I only did it so he could warn you! I didn't think you'd take it seriously if it was just me getting tangled up with some weirdo."

"Well, your warnings came a little too late."

"Are you glad?"

"What?"

Max was giving Kai a funny little smile that said he'd settled on his strategy. "You're glad you faced your opponent on your own terms, same as the rest of us. Which makes this a lot more unfair, since you have the advantage of knowing I've kept thinking about you this whole time while you still insist on keeping me in the dark."

Leaning up again, Max moved to kiss Kai decisively on the mouth. Somewhere in the back of his head Kai had expected it, if only because Max hadn't stopped touching him the whole time they were talking. Not that he was any different when he never made a move away from that touch.

Kai let his hands shift to rest on Max's back, pulling him closer as he felt Max's mouth moving eagerly against his. It was as comfortable as if their last kiss had been no more than a day or two ago, reassuring in a way Kai could never have expected.

Max dropped back out of the kiss, far too abruptly for Kai's liking. He trailed his fingers off of Kai's shoulder and down his chest as if to say, 'your move now.'

"You really have gotten taller," Max commented.

Kai wasn't really listening. As familiar as kissing Max felt, there was a good part of his brain, not to mention his body, telling him that it had been a very long time since he'd kissed Max and he wanted more of that and right this minute.

Cupping Max's cheek with one hand, Kai ducked his head to claim those lips again with a determined hunger that he hadn't known was there until he'd had a taste. He coaxed Max's mouth open under his, instinctively gripping Max hard against his chest when he made an appreciative little groan which Kai felt more than heard.

"Don't you dare bite me again," Kai pulled back to hiss, speaking the words practically into Max's half-open mouth.

The last time they had been together, not just in the same room together but having a proper tryst like this one, was just before the Blade Breakers had finally broken apart and it was obvious they were going their separate ways. Max had given him a soft little kiss goodbye, and then abruptly bit down on Kai's lower lip. It hadn't been a playful bite, either. Kai had been left with a wound on the inside of his lip that he'd kept worrying at with his tongue for days afterward, though at least it hadn't left a visible mark. He was still angry with Max if he thought about it.

"I wouldn't," Max managed to moan out, obviously not even thinking about anything but trying to get more kisses.

"You did it before, remember?"

"That was so you wouldn't miss me so much."

"You thought I was going to miss you?"

Oh, he had missed Max in his own ways, not forgetting to include the physical ache he had almost forgotten until it was renewed. Right now everything down to the throb of his pulse was telling him to crush Max's body as close against his own as possible and get back to kissing him. However, Kai's pride was still a lot stronger than some physical urge. If Max thought he had some power over Kai that made this a battle rather than a game.

Kai pushed Max off and took a few steps back, crossing his arms and appreciating the look on Max's face. Desire and confusion were plain to read, and Max tipped his own hand immediately by trying to touch Kai again. Halfway through the motion he seemed to realize what Kai was doing, and his expression hardened into one Kai might have seen from him in an intense match. Good.

"I missed you. A lot. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

That was exactly the opposite of what Kai had expected. Not only that, but Max actually advanced on him with silent little steps as he spoke.

"I missed battling with you. I missed your support. I missed kissing you. I even missed you being a complete idiot about having anything to do with the people who care about you."

Kai fought the instinct to back up. It should have been a concession, but it didn't sound like one. Wasn't Max showing weakness by admitting what he thought and what he wanted so plainly? Kai couldn't remember a time when he hadn't known that letting the enemy see through your strategy meant defeat. So how could Max deliver every word like a challenge?

Before he knew it, Max was as close as he could get without touching. He had to go on his toes to speak into Kai's ear, and Kai felt an involuntary shudder go down his back at the feeling of Max's breath against the shell of his ear.

"There's a lot I couldn't tell you in a letter. I never told you how I still thought of you every night." Kai felt something wet touch lighting-quick against his ear, even as his stomach tightened at the implication behind those words. A perverted move meant to disarm him?

"So why are you telling me all this now?" Kai wanted to know. Was Max expecting a similar confession from him for his troubles?

"It was a long flight out here. I had way too much time to think about what I wanted to say to you. I thought, I'll tell you the truth, even if I have to beat you over the head with it, and if you don't care then you don't care. I should have done that from the start, because you want a confrontation, don't you?"

"What?" Maybe his brain was still fogged by the image of Max spending nights with the thought of him, but Max's tone said he was accusing Kai of something and Kai didn't know what.

"I think you want to fight with me because you never lose when it comes to a fight. I also think you're being an idiot, because there's no way you're going to lose here."

It almost did turn into a fight, because Kai could not let something like that go, but then Max was nuzzling at the corner of his mouth, teasing him with the faintest imitation of a kiss. Kai decided he had something a lot better to do with his mouth than argue.

Pulling Max up against himself again, Kai ran both hands down his back and then up under his T-shirt. It was so easy, especially when he remembered fighting with Max's overalls to get at skin, which often just made Max laugh at him instead of helping.

It got even easier when Max took a step back and simply pulled the shirt off over his head. He was breathing hard, smiling, all confrontation forgotten. Kai pursued him immediately.

The futon Kai had slept on the night before was folded neatly by the wall, and Kai practically knocked Max off of his feet trying to get him down across it. His neat pile slid across the floor under their combined weight, but Kai couldn't have cared less. He had other things on his mind.

The first thing Kai did was go after the expanse of flesh still hidden from him. He sat back just enough to slide both hands up inside Max's baggy shorts, groping every inch of skin he could reach. The yelp of surprise Max made as he squirmed in response to Kai's hands was more satisfying than anything he could have said.

Absorbed in his own little victory, Kai let Max grab at the cloth loops that hung from his shoulders and haul him down for another kiss. Kai was more than happy to oblige Max with eager, open-mouthed kisses as he managed to get one hand in far enough to grope Max's backside. His search was made a little more difficult by the fact that he was laying most of his weight on top of Max's body, but the last thing he wanted to do was move, and Max obviously agreed with the way he was pulling Kai down on top of himself.

There was a sound of ripping cloth, and they stopped kissing long enough to look over at the source. Max had managed to rip one of the loops hanging from his shirt clean off, and now he blinked at it in confusion. Kai hardly processed the thought that Max had ripped his clothes before dismissing it as completely unimportant.

Kai was about to go right back to kissing Max senseless, when he heard a second familiar voice and a much louder set of footfalls tromping down the hall right outside the dojo.

"Hey, Maxie! Did you get lost or something?" Tyson called.

Whatever too-long-repressed lust was still boiling up out of him, Kai couldn't tell himself it was worth getting caught in the act by Tyson of all people. Besides, Max had frozen under him at the mere sound of his friend's voice.

In a few frantic movements they managed to get upright again. Max scrambled to put his shirt back on while Kai tried to straighten the now half-folded futon they had been on top of. There was no way to make it neat quickly, so Kai settled for starting to spread it out on the floor instead. Max caught on and joined him just as Tyson actually stepped into the dojo.

"There you are! What are you doing?"

"Um. . . You said we're all sleeping in here 'cause there's more room, right?" Max said.

Even as he tried to make it sound like they were just innocently arranging the futons, the words all tumbled out in a rush. Kai noticed Max's eyes dart guiltily to where he'd ripped Kai's shirt. He was obviously still a bit shaken at nearly being discovered in the act, and whatever other parts of him had grown up he was still honest to the point of being a terrible liar.

Kai was still down on one knee, which gave him an unexpectedly good angle. He eyed Max's legs, from calf to butt, and imagined getting his hands on Max again. He wanted to pull Max back into this lap and see just how much and how thoroughly he could touch before even bothering to slip Max's shorts off.

Tyson apparently didn't notice anything amiss.

"Yeah, but it's way too early to go to bed!" At this point Tyson was close enough to grab Max and pull him along towards the door. "Come on, the party's just getting started!"

Max flashed a smile back at Kai that made him want to throw Max down on the futon and continue their earlier activities, Tyson or no Tyson. With that look Max might as well have promised that sooner or later they would have a chance to continue what they had started.

Before Kai could get properly angry that he was being deprived of something he'd just found he wanted, Max managed to grab his arm, and Kai found himself being pulled just as inexorably as Max was by Tyson's boundless energy.

"Sorry, but you know we can't have a reunion party without the whole team!" Max reminded him.

"That's right! Come on you two." Tyson grabbed Kai's other arm to make sure he came along.

Pulled between his rival and his. . . teammate, his sometime lover and his obsession and his friend. . . ? His Max, Kai decided on for now. This interruption would not be the end by any means. Kai knew that even without seeing the love and mischief in Max's eyes.