Unexplained Feelings *Most Likely on Permanent Hiatus*
Chapter 5
R.I.P. Ryan Dunn and Erik Roner ~ Forever an Inspiration
Chapter 5
Bam groaned as Max and Dunn carried the drunken idiot into his own home. Bam, Ryan, and Max had gone out drinking to celebrate the fact that Novak was back in town and clean. Max had been declared the DD because he was the newcomer, which was fine with him. He’d rather not look like an idiot in front of people he didn’t know. Novak followed them inside, making his way upstairs, passing out in the room that he usually stayed in.
Dunn and Max struggled up the stairs with Bam, cursing Novak in their minds. Reaching Bam’s bedroom, they threw him on the bed, where he curled up in a ball. Max sighed and threw a blanket over him before he followed Ryan out of the room.
“Shit, man. It’s fucking seven o’ clock in the fucking morning.” Ryan cursed. Max had learned that he cursed a lot more when he was intoxicated.
“Yup… and Nitro Circus is supposed to be here in an hour.” Max groaned. “I’m going to go make some coffee. You try and sleep for a little bit, sober up, okay?”
Dunn nodded and walked into his room. Max sighed. Walking into his room, he replaced his jeans with sweatpants and his long-sleeved, black shirt with a white t-shirt. Spring was coming and it was coming fast, the weather had already started heating up. Pulling on a beanie because he couldn’t do anything with his hair, he grabbed his iPod and went downstairs to start making coffee.
--
Almost exactly one hour later, Max heard a knock on the door. The Nitro Circus crew was here. Opening the door, he was immediately assaulted by the sight of cameras, lights, microphones, and the Nitro Circus crew.
“Aw, fuck, man. The lights are fucking bright!” Max cursed at them, covering his eyes and glaring at them through cracks in his fingers.
“Sorry dude, where’s Bam?” The one Max recognized as Andy Bell asked.
“Sleeping, I just shoved him in bed around an hour ago.”
“Awesome. Anyways, I guess introductions and then we’ll go wake up Bam if you’ll show us the way to his room. I’m Andy, the fat guy’s Tommy, the good-looking guy’s Greg, the girl’s Jolene, the really tall guy is Jim, and the short one’s Eric.” Max waved at each one respectively before staring at Eric.
“Roner?” He asked.
“Max?” Eric asked looking at the blackette in awe. “Dude, I thought you were still in Finland.”
“So does everyone else. It’s not common knowledge that I’m back. It’s good to see you though.”
“You too. How’d you end up in West Chester?”
“I moved in with my boyfriend, Lex, but he broke up with me. I’d been working at the salon that Bam’s mom works in and she got him to let me stay here because I don’t have enough money to get out of this town and to somewhere it snows. I’m kind of stranded, but I don’t mind. Bam’s place is nice as hell and he’s fun to chill with. Have you heard anything from Colby?”
“Nah, I thought he was with you.” The Nitro Circus crew was looking at them like they were crazy.
“Last I saw him, he was still in Finland. Whatever, the loser can take care of himself. You guys want coffee?” Max let them into the house.
“Just buckets filled with cold water.” Andy informed him.
“Fuck, I would kill you guys if you woke me up like that.” Max laughed, leading them down into the Pirate Bar where he started filling up two trash cans with cold water.
“You almost did kill me when Colby and I did it to you.” Max shrugged at this statement. He wasn’t lying, he liked to sleep and he liked warm water. He handed a bucket to Andy and a bucket to Eric.
“This way.” He led them back up from the Pirate Bar and up to the third floor, lighting a cigarette on the way. He stopped and pointed at the door, laughing as he watched them go in.
Shaking his head, he walked back down to the Pirate Bar. It was weird seeing Eric again. He hadn’t seen anyone that used to ski with in almost a year. God, he missed it, that connection he used to have with the other skiers.
--
“Max!” Bam yelled walking into the Pirate Bar. The beanie-wearing Max jumped from where he had been sitting on the stool, staring at the counter with unnecessary concentration. “I need a round piece of food, preferably something kind of soft, so none of your apples.”
“I wouldn’t let you use my apples anyways.” Max stated, than groaning at the slight pain in his head. The lack of sleep had started to catch up to him, leaving him with a bit of a headache. “One second.” He reached into the pantry, pulling out the bottle of vodka and two Advil. Swallowing them down, he looked at Bam and the rest of Nitro Circus.
“That’s probably not very good for you.” Jolene stated, looking at him oddly.
“Exactly the point, sweetheart,” he told her. “Bam, you do realize that we don’t eat in this house, right? And the last time April bought food for us, you and Dunn spread it across the front yard for all the animals to eat.”
“Oh… yeah. I think there are bagels in the freezer though.” Max looked at him oddly, checking the freezer and pulling out a bag of bagels.
“Dude, how long have those been in here?”
“Longer than you’ve been here.” Max looked at the bag. Disgust wrinkled his nose. “Can you defrost one of those and make me a hangover cure? I’ve got to find a clean shirt.”
“Yeah. You want a spring or winter?”
“Spring.”
“Okay. I did laundry yesterday. It’s still in the laundry room. I think some of your clothes were in there.” Max said as he started shifting through the refrigerator for the hangover cure ingredients.
“Cool. Thanks, Maxxie!” Bam kissed him on the cheek before running into the game room and into the laundry room that was hidden back there.
The Nitro Circus crew walked back upstairs, probably to talk to their producer, but one of them stayed behind. The tall one.
“You’re Jim, right?” Max asked, not looking up from his task at making the cure.
“Yeah.”
Oh, he had a nice voice. Shit Max, you don’t even know him. Max cursed at himself. Lighting another cigarette, he looked up and observed the man in front of him. Tall, baseball cap, there was a little bit of dark brown hair sticking out of the bottom of the hat, black shirt, and jeans.
“Nice,” he muttered before busying himself with making the cure again.
“So you used to ski with Eric?” Jim asked. Of course he did you idiot, Jim criticized himself. That’s such a stupid question.
“Yeah, I did. Do you ski?” Max smiled at him, letting Jim know that he was happy for the conversation starter.
“No. I ride bikes. I’ve tried skiing once, but it didn’t work out too well.” Jim laughed at himself, remembering when Eric had convinced him to attempt skiing.
He has a cute laugh, Max noted. “Did Eric try to teach you?”
Jim nodded.
“Yeah, he’s not the greatest teacher. Just don’t tell him I said that.” Max laughed, finishing up Bam’s drink. “Do you want anything?”
“No, I just didn’t want to wander all around Bam’s house like some lost puppy.”
“So you’re your own person, don’t like to be one of the pack. Hm, I like that.” Max bit his lip as he put a bagel in the microwave to defrost it. Turning around, he leaned on the counter, studying Jim. They held eye contact for a while; Jim not even seeming like the stare from the slightly glazed-over brown eyes was making him uncomfortable. “Nice.” He leaned back as the microwave beeped and pulled out the bagel, cursing at how hot it was, burning his fingers, and dropped it on the counter.
Jim wanted to ask what was nice, but the others entered from the game room, Bam wearing a new shirt and carrying golf clubs. Jim couldn’t even begin to contemplate how the rest of the day was going to turn out, thoughts of what a morning this one was turning out to be already running through his mind.
Chapter 5
Bam groaned as Max and Dunn carried the drunken idiot into his own home. Bam, Ryan, and Max had gone out drinking to celebrate the fact that Novak was back in town and clean. Max had been declared the DD because he was the newcomer, which was fine with him. He’d rather not look like an idiot in front of people he didn’t know. Novak followed them inside, making his way upstairs, passing out in the room that he usually stayed in.
Dunn and Max struggled up the stairs with Bam, cursing Novak in their minds. Reaching Bam’s bedroom, they threw him on the bed, where he curled up in a ball. Max sighed and threw a blanket over him before he followed Ryan out of the room.
“Shit, man. It’s fucking seven o’ clock in the fucking morning.” Ryan cursed. Max had learned that he cursed a lot more when he was intoxicated.
“Yup… and Nitro Circus is supposed to be here in an hour.” Max groaned. “I’m going to go make some coffee. You try and sleep for a little bit, sober up, okay?”
Dunn nodded and walked into his room. Max sighed. Walking into his room, he replaced his jeans with sweatpants and his long-sleeved, black shirt with a white t-shirt. Spring was coming and it was coming fast, the weather had already started heating up. Pulling on a beanie because he couldn’t do anything with his hair, he grabbed his iPod and went downstairs to start making coffee.
--
Almost exactly one hour later, Max heard a knock on the door. The Nitro Circus crew was here. Opening the door, he was immediately assaulted by the sight of cameras, lights, microphones, and the Nitro Circus crew.
“Aw, fuck, man. The lights are fucking bright!” Max cursed at them, covering his eyes and glaring at them through cracks in his fingers.
“Sorry dude, where’s Bam?” The one Max recognized as Andy Bell asked.
“Sleeping, I just shoved him in bed around an hour ago.”
“Awesome. Anyways, I guess introductions and then we’ll go wake up Bam if you’ll show us the way to his room. I’m Andy, the fat guy’s Tommy, the good-looking guy’s Greg, the girl’s Jolene, the really tall guy is Jim, and the short one’s Eric.” Max waved at each one respectively before staring at Eric.
“Roner?” He asked.
“Max?” Eric asked looking at the blackette in awe. “Dude, I thought you were still in Finland.”
“So does everyone else. It’s not common knowledge that I’m back. It’s good to see you though.”
“You too. How’d you end up in West Chester?”
“I moved in with my boyfriend, Lex, but he broke up with me. I’d been working at the salon that Bam’s mom works in and she got him to let me stay here because I don’t have enough money to get out of this town and to somewhere it snows. I’m kind of stranded, but I don’t mind. Bam’s place is nice as hell and he’s fun to chill with. Have you heard anything from Colby?”
“Nah, I thought he was with you.” The Nitro Circus crew was looking at them like they were crazy.
“Last I saw him, he was still in Finland. Whatever, the loser can take care of himself. You guys want coffee?” Max let them into the house.
“Just buckets filled with cold water.” Andy informed him.
“Fuck, I would kill you guys if you woke me up like that.” Max laughed, leading them down into the Pirate Bar where he started filling up two trash cans with cold water.
“You almost did kill me when Colby and I did it to you.” Max shrugged at this statement. He wasn’t lying, he liked to sleep and he liked warm water. He handed a bucket to Andy and a bucket to Eric.
“This way.” He led them back up from the Pirate Bar and up to the third floor, lighting a cigarette on the way. He stopped and pointed at the door, laughing as he watched them go in.
Shaking his head, he walked back down to the Pirate Bar. It was weird seeing Eric again. He hadn’t seen anyone that used to ski with in almost a year. God, he missed it, that connection he used to have with the other skiers.
--
“Max!” Bam yelled walking into the Pirate Bar. The beanie-wearing Max jumped from where he had been sitting on the stool, staring at the counter with unnecessary concentration. “I need a round piece of food, preferably something kind of soft, so none of your apples.”
“I wouldn’t let you use my apples anyways.” Max stated, than groaning at the slight pain in his head. The lack of sleep had started to catch up to him, leaving him with a bit of a headache. “One second.” He reached into the pantry, pulling out the bottle of vodka and two Advil. Swallowing them down, he looked at Bam and the rest of Nitro Circus.
“That’s probably not very good for you.” Jolene stated, looking at him oddly.
“Exactly the point, sweetheart,” he told her. “Bam, you do realize that we don’t eat in this house, right? And the last time April bought food for us, you and Dunn spread it across the front yard for all the animals to eat.”
“Oh… yeah. I think there are bagels in the freezer though.” Max looked at him oddly, checking the freezer and pulling out a bag of bagels.
“Dude, how long have those been in here?”
“Longer than you’ve been here.” Max looked at the bag. Disgust wrinkled his nose. “Can you defrost one of those and make me a hangover cure? I’ve got to find a clean shirt.”
“Yeah. You want a spring or winter?”
“Spring.”
“Okay. I did laundry yesterday. It’s still in the laundry room. I think some of your clothes were in there.” Max said as he started shifting through the refrigerator for the hangover cure ingredients.
“Cool. Thanks, Maxxie!” Bam kissed him on the cheek before running into the game room and into the laundry room that was hidden back there.
The Nitro Circus crew walked back upstairs, probably to talk to their producer, but one of them stayed behind. The tall one.
“You’re Jim, right?” Max asked, not looking up from his task at making the cure.
“Yeah.”
Oh, he had a nice voice. Shit Max, you don’t even know him. Max cursed at himself. Lighting another cigarette, he looked up and observed the man in front of him. Tall, baseball cap, there was a little bit of dark brown hair sticking out of the bottom of the hat, black shirt, and jeans.
“Nice,” he muttered before busying himself with making the cure again.
“So you used to ski with Eric?” Jim asked. Of course he did you idiot, Jim criticized himself. That’s such a stupid question.
“Yeah, I did. Do you ski?” Max smiled at him, letting Jim know that he was happy for the conversation starter.
“No. I ride bikes. I’ve tried skiing once, but it didn’t work out too well.” Jim laughed at himself, remembering when Eric had convinced him to attempt skiing.
He has a cute laugh, Max noted. “Did Eric try to teach you?”
Jim nodded.
“Yeah, he’s not the greatest teacher. Just don’t tell him I said that.” Max laughed, finishing up Bam’s drink. “Do you want anything?”
“No, I just didn’t want to wander all around Bam’s house like some lost puppy.”
“So you’re your own person, don’t like to be one of the pack. Hm, I like that.” Max bit his lip as he put a bagel in the microwave to defrost it. Turning around, he leaned on the counter, studying Jim. They held eye contact for a while; Jim not even seeming like the stare from the slightly glazed-over brown eyes was making him uncomfortable. “Nice.” He leaned back as the microwave beeped and pulled out the bagel, cursing at how hot it was, burning his fingers, and dropped it on the counter.
Jim wanted to ask what was nice, but the others entered from the game room, Bam wearing a new shirt and carrying golf clubs. Jim couldn’t even begin to contemplate how the rest of the day was going to turn out, thoughts of what a morning this one was turning out to be already running through his mind.
♠ ♠ ♠
AN: This one's short because it's really just kind of a filler, but it does have important stuff, so I would say that it's filler-ish, not exactly a filler though. *spoiler* Ville, Linde, and Jonne in the next chapter. :D I'm kind of writing a lot of stuff out about Max's past and I was wondering if you guys might want a kind of background story? Let me know if you do or not.And you might not have figure it out, but this story is taking place in 2008, after H.I.M's final 2008 tour in Australia.