XP: Wrote this on my phone during a sleepless night. Editing it at 3 am a few weeks later : 'D

"Tyson, it's 4am..."

Max shuffled nervously next to his best friend upon their captain's remark. He knew it was a bad idea, but he never managed to dissuade Tyson. When Tyson was set on doing something, he would never stop. It was both his strength and his weakness, and Max knew that best, being dragged into trouble way too many times because of the boy.

Well, at least it seemed Kai was too tired to get angry, seeing how his words lacked the usual bite to it. Kai was leaning against the doorframe and hugging his own body, as though he found it hard to support his own weight. Max always thought Kai never needed sleep after he saw Kai lurking about in the carpark yesterday night . Turns out he was wrong. Apparently their captain had problems sleeping, and only crashed every few days when he was extremely fatigued.

Now instead of being scared, Max felt horribly guilty. "Um, Tyson, let's just leave and-"

"What! No! I can't sleep, and Kai never hangs out with us. This is the perfect opportunity."

Well, for you. Max almost replied. He didn't though. He was always scared of offending people so he kept his thoughts to himself. He was slightly grumpy from being kept from his sleep as well, but Kai seemed like he could barely stand

"Wanna sleep..." Kai mumbled, peering at Tyson with half lidded eyes.

Max had to admit Kai looked good with his sleepy look and tousled hair. He could see Kai's fanbase multiplying if the media got their hands on such a picture. It just gave so many "aww" feels. Like Kai was a sleepy kitty cat. And that deep husky voice, lowered to a quiet slurred whisper... Max mentally slapped himself.

"Come on Kai, you know I won't leave you alone no matter what," Tyson grinned.

Max saw the slightest hint of a pout on Kai's lips. "I have no energy to hit you..." And then those ruby eyes flickered to Max. Max's heart skipped a beat, then he chastised himself for acting like a fangirl. Kai seemed like he was pleading Max to take Tyson away.

He felt he owed Kai to make a last futile attempt. "Tyson, I can play that multiplayer game with you! The one I told you about last week. Let's just go back to our room and-"

"No, Kai has to come as well if we're doing that."

Max gave Kai an apologetic look. Kai drooped his head a little in appreciation of his efforts. Or maybe he was just sleepy. Max was never sure.

Tyson had the audacity to bodily drag Kai by grabbing his arm, toward the elevator. He would surely regret it tomorrow morning. Kai never left debts unpaid for long.

Max watched as Kai blearily shook his head to try to make himself more awake. He felt really sorry for the older boy and even felt compelled to apologize.

As they walked across the lounge, they spotted Tala sitting alone in a large plush sofa, drinking a cup of starbucks coffee elegantly as he toyed with his phone. Tala had gotten pretty addicted to social media, as seen by his frequent Twitter updates. They sometimes contained insider info and very silly things about the Blitzkrieg boys, and Ian even hacked it once as a prank. As a result, Tala was widely followed.

"Oh hey Tala! You're not asleep?" Tyson greeted cheerily.

Tala rolled his eyes as though Tyson was an idiotic five year old who just shouted "The bus has wheels!".

"Ican'tsleeptooawake," Tala replied in a jittery rush.

And Max knew Tala honestly wasn't much better than Tyson, as he knew from Tala's hourly coffee status updates that Tala overdosed on coffee, but he's drinking more now. And he wonders why he can't sleep?

Kai held his hand out petulantly, and Tala graciously handed his poor friend the drink. Kai sighed when he finally got some caffeine in his system. His half opened eyes widened to show three quarters of his usual eye size.

Wait. They just shared an indirect kiss. Max needed to stop noticing stupid things.

"I want to watch the sun rise at the beach!" Tyson declared.

Tala promptly updated his status that "lol Tyson wants to watch the sunrise at the beach at 4am. Idiot. He even asked me if I'm asleep when I'm right in front of him lol."

"I don't want to fucking watch the sun rise," Kai grumbled.

Tala tapped away. "I'm sure glad I'm not his captain. Poor Kai has to go along. Not sure how Max survives around him either."
And the post was instantly flooded by replies and likes. Talks suspected it was the mention of Kai. Any tweet of his regarding Kai tended to go viral.

"You wanna come with, Tala?"

"Oh, he invited me. Should I go?"

Tala scrolled through his immediate replies. Every single one was a variant of yes, from "yeah!" to "OMFG OF COURSE I SHIP IT SO HARD"

"Uh, Tala?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Tala replied lightly, standing up smoothly.

"Yay!" Tyson skipped away merrily, leaving the other three to trudge behind him. Well, Tala was still being amused by Twitter. Max was pretty unsure of what to do and Kai was yawning. Max noticed Kai had two slightly pointy teeth like a vampire. Max briefly contemplated Kai as a vampire. He had the red eyes. He could jump through Max's window easily and-

"Max, aren't you tired? You've been dragged around by Tyson the whole day," Tala started to make conversation. Tala was really good at that. One of things Max was envious of. He was an awkward turtle.

"Oh, it's alright. I'm used to it. Are the Blitzkrieg boys all asleep?" Max replied politely, fighting a blush.

"Yeah, they've been fighting all day long. Ugh, they never shut up," Tala complained, but the fond smile gave him away.

"Spencer too?"

"Yeah. Ian wouldn't leave any of us alone. I had to scream at them a lot of times."

Well, Max knew that from the rage tweets of "I WANT TO FREAKING STRANGLE THAT MIDGET"

Tala starting tweeting again, because Tyson started to hum the powerpuff song and no way was Tyson going to live that down.

"Max."

Max flinched, not expecting to be addressed by Kai all of a sudden.

"H-huh?"

"Are you getting enough rest? I don't want this to affect your health. I'll make Tyson stop."

"It's alright, really!" Max replied in a fluster. "You don't have to worry about me. I get naps in the afternoon."

Tala eyed them for a while, then snorted with amusement. His thumbs hovered over the phone for a moment, but he decided not to air his opinions on public. Max gave a sigh of relief. He didn't want the world to know he had a fanboy thing thing going for Kai.

"It's fucking cold!" Tyson screamed.

And really sandy, besides the large gusts of wind coming from the sea. Stupid sea breeze and maritime effect. Stupid geography lessons. Stupid him for wearing sneakers and getting sand in his new shoes.

Tala seemed to really like the cold though, and was holding his arms wide open to get the full impact of it. Oh yeah. He was from Russia and that country was way colder than this, due to the high latitude.

A fluffy white scarf suddenly wrapped itself around his neck, and Max spun around to see Kai simply dressed in a black t-shirt and black slacks, scarfless. Max was mesmerized by his defined collarbones.

"Oh. Thanks."

"Hn."

"Kai gave his scarf to Max!"

Max felt that Tala was way too addicted to Twitter. But whatever. The scarf was really warm and comforting, just like Kai. He never felt as assured and confident in any other team. He never had competition anxiety anymore unlike when he was in the Allstars. Because Kai was a great leader with great pep talks... And even when Max lost, Kai never blamed him. When he was depressed about it alone, Kai told him he did his best. Max then strove harder to train to overcome his limits.

He was staring at Kai a little too long. Embarrassed by Kai's questioning look, Max rushed off to Tyson's side again as the boy waddled into the water in his slippers.

Max thought it was stupid, until he realised the water would be warmer than than the land because of land and sea differing heat capacities. Wow no wonder he failed his geography.

After some contemplation, he removed his sneakers and socks to join Tyson in the water. The sand was really cool to his feet, until he stepped into the warm water. He rolled up the his pant legs to prevent them from getting wet as he went a little further in.

"Look, Max! Fishes!"

"Huh where?"

Max looked closely at the water near Tyson's feet. Then suddenly water impacted with his face.

"You asshole!"

"Omg Maxie actually swore at Tyson because Tyson was being a jerk ROFLMAO"

Max splashed him back immediately, and Kai ordered. "Don't be stupid. You'll catch a cold. Get back out." Tyson grudgingly stopped in the process of gathering more water and waddled out. Max had a feeling Kai let him have a splash as a revenge first. Smiling to himself, Max waddled out too.

Tyson started his new quest to build a large sand castle, while Tala and Kai sat down on the sand, both quietly enjoying the breeze.

Max decided to go seashell hunting despite it being pretty dark. He was in the midst of finding seashells and putting them in his pocket when the found something unexpected.

"A starfish!" Max exclaimed with excitement. He never saw one before.

"Where!" Tyson ran over immediately.

They poked it with their finger, and giggled when the starfish wriggled.

"Oh, I should put it back in the water," Max said worriedly. "I don't want it to die..."

He picked it up with his hands, and waddled in as deep as he could without getting his clothes wet, and put it back in.

"Max is a hero! He rescued a starfish and sent it back to its watery home!"

"He's really nice huh, that kid?" Tala commented when Kai leaned heavily on him, sleepy once again.

"Too nice for his own good," Kai sighed. "He'll end up getting hurt."

"Isn't that what you're for? To protect him? Don't think I don't know that you lied about that street team he befriended without knowing they were scheming to steal his beyblade. You told him they were transferred to another school for a beyblade scholarship to not break his poor heart after you pounded them to the ground."

"Shut up," Kai growled.

Tala snickered. "You're such a softie Kai. A captain shouldn't pick favorites."

"Yeah, like you're one to talk. You always shield Ian when he makes trouble although you hit and curse at Bryan."

"Touche. Nah, just have different ways of showing affection. Bryan and I are just abusively happy together."

"It's almost time!" Tyson cheered as he took a look at his sports watch. He pulled Max along and rushed over to Kai and Tala to take a seat.

Max awkwardly sat down next to Kai, who was still draped over Tala lifelessly because he was too tired to sit up by himself. Max had to admit he was a little jealous by the good relationship the two shared. He wanted Kai to trust and rely on him like how he trusted and relied on Kai.

Tala chuckled under his breath, eyeing Max knowingly. Max flushed at being caught again.

"Move your lazy head!" Tala pushed Kai off, making Kai lean on Max instead. He stood up and winked slyly at Max. "I'm going to get coffee. Anyone wants drinks?"

"Coffee," Kai's lips was so close to his ear that Max felt his very breath and the vibrations of his deep voice. He blushed even harder and he hoped Kai couldn't hear his rapidly beating heart.

"Hot chocolate for me and Maxie! Right Max?"

"Uh... Um, yes. Thank you."

"I can't hold 4 hot drinks. Tyson! Come with me."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you dragged us all out here, take responsibility."

"Ugh, fine."

There was a deadly silence which followed as their main voice generator disappeared into the distance. Max could hear his rapidly palpitating heart. He hoped Kai didn't. Max didn't dare to move, fearing that the lightest move would disturb his lightly dozing captain.

Huh, looking from here, Kai had pretty thick eyelashes... Kai really looked good from every angle. He was so photogenic, not like Max who had awkward faces.

"Stop thinking," Kai mumbled with a furrow in his brow. Max startled, fearing Kai was a mind reader. "I dont know what you're worried about, but you're too tense."

Max lowered his stiff shoulders, not realizing thus far how he had scrunched up into himself. "Oh, sorry."

Kai made a small grunt of frustration.

Max waited with baited breath when he realized he tensed again.

"Max. I'm not going to scream at you. I've never done that."

"Yeah, I know."

"Then why do you always apologize?"

Max pondered for a bit, struggling to come up with an answer. He did, didn't he? He was always the pacifist one who always wanted to ease trouble. But he quickly realized he just used the word to run away in evading conflict, or avoid saying how he really felt.

"I'm...not too sure, Kai."

"I don't like it," Kai said decisively. "It shows that you lack confidence."

Max felt a little pang of hurt.

"That was not meant as criticism, Max," Kai sighed in frustration once more, bad at expressing himself. He found it hard, but he decided to be more vocal for Max's sake. "I'm worried that you're shortchanging yourself, putting yourself down and not fighting for what you deserve. People will take advantage of you if you show them you can be."

Max bit his lip as he digested his captain's words. "Huh. I never thought about it that way."

Then he smiled a little. Kai always gave him good advice, but he would always think that Kai was angry at him at the beginning.

"Yeah, that suits you more."

Max blinked on mild confusion.

"Smiling."

His face turned a fiery red, and Kai chuckled. Kai's warm breath could be felt on his shoulder, through the fabric of his clothes.

"Relax Max, you're tensing again."

"Well, it's not my fault you're being so sexy!" Max blurted out, before immediately groaning and facepalming himself.

"I am, aren't I?" Kai snorted in amusement.

Well, that was not an answer Max expected. He thought Kai would push him away in horror or ignore him or something.

"If your shoulders are so stiff I need a softer spot to lie on."

And Kai promptly laid on his lap!

"Uh! Kai...?!"

"Shhh."

Ruby red eyes regarded him warmly, before sliding closed.

"You're not... Disgusted?" Max asked meekly.

"I know everything about you, Max," Kai murmured in reply. He was so quiet Max had to strain his ears to hear him over the gentle sound of the waves and the wind. "Since the day you developed feelings for me."

But that was the very first day the team was formed! Max was beyond embarrassed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kai asked lightly as the wind ruffled at his hair. Max felt inclined to touch the soft locks.

"I know I'm not good enough for you, Kai..."

Kai made an incredulous sound, opening his eyes again. Hope bubbled in Max's chest.

"Vice versa, Max."

"What no! You're perfect!" Max burst out again, making Kai laugh. Max's heart seemed to be stuck in his throat, especially when Kai reached for his hand to bring it over to those soft gray locks.

"Vice versa," Kai whispered.

Mac felt tears brim in his eyes. "I'm not dreaming, and I?"

Kai smiled, and merely said, "I'll leave it up to you."

"Making yourself cozy huh?" Tala smirked down at the two of them, handing Max his drink. Max wiped his eyes shyly.

"Thank you Tala."

"Maxie! You okay? Did sourpuss eat you for supper?"

"Another day," Kai said lightly, for Max's ears only. Max blushed like a tomato. "I'll eat you alive for forcing me out here, Tyson."

"OMG NO!"