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bellysoupset · 9 days ago

Text

The Fun Police

For @probablychasingdragons who requested a sick Bella and Max as unusual caretaker combo!

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Max blinked, dizzily, rolling on his bed as much as the casted foot allowed him and trying to make sense of which way was up or down. He was consistently sleeping past his alarm these past 3 days, since he had gotten full 10 days off work and Vince was there around the clock, before class and afterwards.

He had never been more well fed in his whole life.

His phone beeped and Max drowsily sat up, wincing as it caused a jolt of pain to go up to his knee, and reached for the device. It was around 2 PM, great. There was movement outside his room and Max stumbled up, grabbing the crutch and wobbling out of the bedroom.

He fully expected to see Vince there or maybe even Wendy, what he did not expect was to see a full head of curly auburn hair. Max blinked several times, frozen on the doorway of his tiny kitchen, trying to figure out if he was still dreaming or not.

Bella turned around, she was crouched down under his sink, searching the cabinet and her eyebrows jumped up, "oh hi!" her voice was a whole octave higher and softer than the last time they had seen each other, when Max had made a fool out of himself in the cabin, "you're up!"

"Hi..." Max frowned, not entirely convinced this was real, and jumped on one leg to the stool that separated the counter from the living room, "uh... What-"

"Vince had to go over to Boston today so he wouldn't be able to come after class," Bella answered, standing up straight and holding the sponge and dish soap, "and Wen's still recovering from the flu..."

Max's cheeks burned at the implication he was some sort of toddler who needed constant supervision. He let out a scoff, "I appreciate their concern, but I'm an adult, you really don't-"

"I don't wanna stay home," Bella blurted out, shutting him up. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked away from him, turning her back around as she washed the few dishes inside his sink, "I had a day off and staying home is driving me crazy and I- You can barely walk around, I figured you'd be bored."

Max's eyebrows went up all the way to his hairline. He had the sensation he had just been told something big, but he couldn't quite pin point what it was. There was a beat, then he shrugged, "sure... Suit yourself. But if that troglodyte of your husband appears here to accuse me of kidnapping you, we're gonna have proble-EMHEY!" He squealed, as Bella threw the soap soaked sponge directly at his forehead.

He nearly fell from the stool, staring at her wide eyed, "what the fuck, dude?!"

"Don't call Luke that," Bella glared at him, before circling the island in order to retrieve the sponge, "anyway, I figured we could go for a walk or do something? What do you do for fun?"

Max grumbled over his breath, Bella had some fucking nerve. Still, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her. She was there, when she certainly didn't need to be, willing to keep him company and get all the stuff he wanted from across the room, and really... It was quite refreshing.

"I'm getting a little stir crazy," he admitted, "Vince brought me over to the community sport's center a couple times and it was a lot of fun, we could go over? I guess I'm out of hiking for an indefinite amount of time."

Bella snorted at that, "yeah, but hey, you apparently suck at it, so that's a good thing," she said smugly, then pointed at his bedroom door, "you need to change if we're gonna go out. Unless you want your students' parents to see you in boxers."

Max rolled his eyes, stumbling up and waving her away as she followed him towards the bedroom, apparently unaware of privacy just like Wendy was, "sorry, ginger, I really can't afford to get my teeth punched in right now, you'll need a permission slip in order to see me naked."

"You're such a prick," Bella wrinkled her nose, flicking at his ear since he couldn't pull back fast enough, "I'm going to wait in the living room, just yell when you fall."

Changing was always more than a little bit of a struggle. The shirt was easy, but his closet was made up of mostly jeans, ripped jeans and getting that past his cast foot was nearly impossible.

He hadn't gone out of the house yet, so he had been wearing sweatpants, specifically one pair Vince had brought over that was very oversized, but now he had no choice...

"HEY Bell!"

"I was joking about you falling-" she burst into his room immediately, then paused, "you're not fallen."

Max snorted, "no, I'm not," he pointed the jeans. He had put on one leg, the other was sitting on his lap, "I need the scissors from the kitchen, please. First drawer."

"On it," Bella didn't even question, coming back in less than a minute, "here you go."

Without hesitating, he grabbed the right leg of his jeans and cut a vertical line on the side, making bell bottom. Next to him, Bella let out a whistle.

"You rebel," she teased, "very punk."

Max rolled his eyes, before sliding the jeans on now seamlessly... Wasn't it for the fact now the ends of it fell like flaps, "uh..."

"Hold on," Bella moved around his room, grabbing one of his boots and removing its cords, "let's actually make it punk," she sat down on the carpet by his bed, grabbing the scissors and making small holes on each flap of the pants, tying them together like a corset around the cast, "hell yeah."

Max was smiling from ear to ear now, he couldn't help it. He thought of how horrified Wendy would've been if she saw him getting out of the house with those pants.

Bella grabbed his arm, pulling him up and Max stumbled, "alright, let's go?"

The community Sport's center wasn't the best option of activity when one could barely walk around, but they didn't just have field sports. There were foosball tables, as well as a ping pong and an air hockey table, so they headed straight to those.

Bella was competitive, something Max sorta had already guessed by watching her with the group in the cabin and the fact that Lucas certainly was very competitive. She had to have a strong personality to handle that asshole, Max decided, grinning as he patted the side of the foosball table and said, "prepare to get fucked over, Bella."

He hadn't expected her to suck, Max was fully prepared for Bell to be competent at everything she decided to do, so it was much to his amusement that she lost three matches in a row, her whole face turning red as she stomped like a toddler, "What the fuck, Max?!"

He chuckled at her expense, "how can you suck so bad at this!?" he said in a gleeful way and Bella flipped him off, looking around the place. There was a small smile tugging at the corner of her lip.

"I guess this town isn't that bad," she grumbled, then gestured to the vending machine, "oh they have White Claw, do you want one?"

Bella didn't wait for his answer as she jogged away and Max let out a happy sigh, rolling his eyes and leaning against the table. His foot was starting to throb, but it wasn't that bad, he just needed to get off of it soon. Maybe they could play cards?

Bell returned with the two cans, handing him one and leaning against the table as she drank, "so what else do you do around here for fun?"

"Get drunk at Stache's," Max leaned in to tell her, "it's a shady bar, at the corner of my street."

Bella snorted, grinning, "sounds great," she said, continuing to drink, "anything else? Because that's sad."

"Well, I hiked, but I clearly can't," he gestured to his foot, "I date around, too, I've been to one million first dates."

"Voluntarily?" The ginger frowned at him, "why'd anyone go to a million first dates by choice?"

"Spoken like a married woman," Max rolled his eyes, "first dates are fun, good food, fun chat-"

"No connection," Bella pointed out, "good sex, no emotional responsibility. I see you, Daniels."

Now his face turned red and Max shook his head quickly. Not that Bella was wrong, but he didn't... He couldn't even deny it, so he slammed his mouth shut and glared at her smug smile.

In all truth, he wasn't expecting the wave of shame that overcame him, as if he was doing something wrong for being single and hooking up around.

As if reading his mind, Bella frowned and poked his ribs, "hey, nothing wrong with sleeping around," she shrugged, "I just can't imagine willingly wanting to meet so many strangers."

He chuckled at her sour tone, then pointed at the air hockey table, "do you suck at that too?"

"You're such an asshole," Bella shoved his arm, hard, causing him to stumble and almost fall.

It wasn't a surprise that she was pleasant to be around, Max had already figured that out back in the cabin. He didn't expect it to be so much fun, though, truth be told.

They were both drunk, playing cards now, although the throbbing of his ankle was long forgotten due to the alcohol.

Bella's cheeks were red and she was muffling little burps against her fist as Max mopped the floor with her at UNO. How she was so incredibly bad at literally every game in existence was beyond him.

"Do you wanna end this? It's getting sad to watch you lose over and over," Max teased her, chuckling, and also because his stomach growled and his head was swimming. He had woken up late, so they had missed lunch and it was certainly catching up with him.

There were dark clouds in the sky, ready for a thunderstorm to start and the temperature was dropping quickly, and Max was not looking forward to limping through the parking lot- Oh no, Bella had driven to the community center. Ugh.

"Uhmmm, maybe," she slurred, planting an elbow on the table and cupping her forehead, "I don't feel so good."

Well, duh. Max rolled his eyes, he felt woozy and he was taller and bigger than Bella and hadn't drank as much as she did. In fact, if he didn't know know any better, he'd think she was drowning out feelings.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Max fished out his phone, "let's go outside and I'll try getting us an Uber."

He could count in one hand the amount of times he had successfully caught an Uber, there weren't many in Doveport and they always cancelled for some bloody reason.

Bella was blinking quickly, swaying on her feet as she got up and tried to help him with the crutch, "a ride? I drove here..."

"And you intend on driving us back, ginger?" Max winced as he didn't have a good handle of the crutch and it caused his foot to hit the ground, "so you can kill us?"

"You're so dramatic," Bella scoffed.

As soon as they were outside, Max leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths against the pain and steadying Bella by putting a hand on her elbow, "don't fall," he instructed, "so are you going to fess up on why you're here or...?"

"I told you," Bella frowned, her words sticking together. She let out another burp, wrinkling her nose and not seeming even the slightest bit embarrassed, "out of work... Bored."

"Why are you out of work?" Max asked, glancing back down at his phone and sighing heavily as the purple dot went from one side to the other in search of a driver. Bella stumbled next to him.

"Had a doctor's appointment in the morning, Luke insisted I take the whole day off," she scoffed, pressing her forehead to the wall and taking slow breaths, "mental health break."

Uh.

Max frowned, eyeing her up and down. She didn't look depressed or sick. But then if his years of teaching had taught him anything was that there was no "depressed" look, but less a "sick" look either.

"Do you need a mental health break?" Max asked, letting out a long suffering sigh as the app cancelled their trip.

Bella scoffed, shrugging, "Lucas certainly thinks I do," she said sourly, then her eyes lit up and suddenly she was straightening up, "Mr. Monacelli!"

Although they looked nothing alike, Max couldn't help but for a split second think it was Vince. Not only because Mr. Monacelli was how his students called Vin, but because Giuseppe was just as tall as his son was. However he had light brown hair, silver at the roots and with a bunch of grey strands peppered around, a grey beard and sparkly blue eyes.

"Isabella," he walked closer, with a soft smile, but a wrinkle between his brows. Again, nothing like Vince, but exactly like him too, Max thought, "what are you doing here, sweetheart?"

Bella gestured in Max's general direction, swaying a little on her feet, and Max immediately knew this didn't look good at all in the older man's eyes. Him, with a married woman, clearly drunk, all alone, in the middle of the week.

"Oh hi Max," Giuseppe offered a tight smile, planting a hand on Bella's shoulder and steadying her, "what's going on?"

Yeah, he was fucked.

"Vince sent her to babysit me and Bella's doing a poor job of it," Max said sardonically, deciding his best option was to rope in the man's son in case Giuseppe wanted to fact check this.

Bella let out a scoff, "I'm not babysitting," she grumbled, stumbling once more, "I'm visiting."

"Yes, alright, Isabella," Giuseppe's voice was soft, but his grip around Bella's shoulder tightened, he moved his arm to wrap around her waist, "you're drunk, bambina."

"It's Max's fault," Bella argued, easily falling into the older man's arms.

"OI?!" Max shrieked, "she's the one who got me drunk!"

Giuseppe pinched his nose bridge, "Max, zitto," he closed a hand in a shut up manner and the blonde scoffed, snapping his mouth shut and crossing his arms as the older man turned to Bella, "is Lucas here too, sweetheart?"

Bella shook her head, vehemently and stumbling as it caused the world to twirl. Max jumped to grab her before she collapsed, which was a bad move as he slammed his cast foot on the ground and his vision went white with the pain.

When he managed to get his senses back, now dizzy from the pain, Giuseppe was staring at him in a worried manner, holding Bella up with one arm, his free hand on Max's shoulder.

"Max?"

"I'm fine..." He rasped out, whole face burning from embarrassment. He didn't need Vince's dad babying him...

"Uh-hu," Giuseppe rolled his eyes, "I'm driving you home," he decided, turning to Bella with a frown on as she squirmed in his hold, "Isabella, quit it."

As if he was her father, Bella's face blushed and she immediately stopped struggling, mumbling an embarrassed, "sorry, Mr. Monacelli..."

Max sat in the front, while Mr. Monacelli put Bell in the back of his car and she collapsed immediately, curling up. The older man had a big frown on, lips pressed in a thin line, but he didn't say a word.

Only when ten minutes passed did Max realize that the older man was not driving back to his place, but back to the Monacelli's house. He let out a groan, "Mr. Monacelli, I need to go home-"

"Shut it, Max," the man snapped at him, "you're staying for dinner and then you can explain to Lucas what happened."

Oh. Great.

"It was not my fault! She's a grown woman-" Max started to defend himself, only for Bella to let out a little groan in the backseat at the loud noise.

"M'dizzy..." She slurred and Giuseppe's hold on the steering wheel tightened as he threw a worried look back.

"Are you going to be sick, bambina?"

Bella shook her head, forcing herself to sit up and promptly nearly smacking her head against the window.

"No..." She leaned forward, so she was sitting directly behind the driver's seat and pressing her forehead to it. A hiccup shook her, "don't think so..."

Max cringed, he didn't believe her for a second.

"She's absolutely gonna hurl," he said and Giuseppe let out a scoff.

He parked in front of his house, rushing to help Bella out of the car, but she wasn't sick. Instead, her knees gave up on her and the older man let out a Oof as he caught her, picking Bella up bridal style and huffing.

"Max, can you get the door?"

He could, although it was a struggle to limp ahead with the crutches and the nauseating pain that was starting to wrap all the way from his foot to his knee. Max was ready for this day to be over.

Instead of trying the keys, since his hands were sweaty and shaky, he simply pressed the doorbell. There was movement inside and then the door opened, to Livia's face.

"BABBO- Ah," she jumped back, spooked, "you're not babbo..."

"LIVIA HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET THE DOOR-" Ma yelled, rushing to the front door just as Giuseppe caught up with them. Her eyebrows jumped up and she mouthed around nothing, before asking, flabbergasted, "che cazzo è questo?!"

Giuseppe responded also in Italian, his voice strained, and Bella let out a little groan as they entered further the house and she was deposited on the couch.

Livia made a movement to follow her parents into the living room, but Max planted a hand on her shoulder, "hey kiddo," he said softly, "aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Her face lit up at being directly addressed and she shook her head, "babbo said I could skip," she wrinkled her nose, "Soph did, to go on a trip with Vinny."

Max snorted, rolling his eyes and pushing the front door closed, ushering the little girl inside, "you wanted to tag along?"

She was a Monacelli through and through, because Livia didn't need any incentive to start blabbing, taking him by the hand and guiding him around, unbothered by Max's limping.

"You, sit down," Giuseppe said roughly, moving a chair from the dining room with his foot and scooping up his youngest child, pointing at Max.

He obeyed, whole body collapsing as the pain made his head swim, and Max gulped down the nausea prickling all over him. He wasn't sure if this was due to the White Claw wanting revenge or just the constant throbbing pain.

"I called Luke," Ma announced, walking into the dining room, "and she's sleeping- You look sick, sweetheart," her dark brows connected as she took in Max, "are you drunk as well?"

Livia let out a gasp, pulling back so she could look at her father, "Bella's drunk?"

Max cringed, then shook his head and gestured at his cast, "just need to let it rest."

"And he's also drunk," Giuseppe rolled his eyes, while Ma planted her hands on her hips. Max wanted to vanish, he couldn't remember a single instance in his whole life where his parents had cared this much and he had no idea of how act around the Monacellis. Besides that, there was the undercurrent of shame, over the fact Bella had drank herself into passing out.

"She's fine," Ma said as if she could read his mind, walking out of the room and returning a second later holding a tiny plastic chair so Max could rest his leg up.

He leaned back his head, trying to wipe the clamminess off and then felt Ma's hand coming to cup his cheek, "are you alright?" she sounded very soft, but Max didn't buy that for a second. She was hot blooded, he knew from all the parent-teacher meetings and from how Vince talked about her.

"I'm fine," he nodded, only for Ma to squint at him.

"I'll get you some water," she decided, buzzing around.

Max craned his neck, letting out a sigh, so he could see Bella curled up and asleep. What a day.

It was way later at night when Luke pulled up.

They had just finished dinner and Max no longer felt like he was intruding, or like he was going to be sick. His ankle was still killing him, but neither Ma nor Giuseppe let him get up at all, so that helped.

Bell had woken up just thirty minutes before and she looked beyond embarrassed. It was clear she wished the ground would open up and swallow her as she whispered with Mr. Monacelli, repeating herself in what Max could tell was a chanting apology, even from afar.

She refused to meet Luke's eyes as he walked in the house and hugged Ma, planting a kiss on her temple.

"Thank you, ma," Max overheard his deep voice and curiosity got the best of him as he used the table to pull himself up, pain be damned, and limped to the living room.

Lucas' eyes sparkled as they saw him, clearly furious, but he didn't say a thing, waiting patiently for his wife.

"And her car?" Max asked, taking a sip of his cool water, leaning heavily against the wall, "it's at my place."

"I'll get it this weekend," Luke's didn't even look at him, grinding his teeth, "Isabella?"

"I'm going," she finished putting her shoes back on and then hugged Ma, apologizing once more... Then stood in front of Max and he raised his eyebrows, surprised. He fully expected her to leave without saying goodbye.

"I'm sorry I put you in this situation," Bella's cheeks were red, her voice small and embarrassed, "but we had a great day today... So thank you, for helping me take my mind off."

"No problem," Max shrugged, "too bad the fun police got here so soon," the words were out of his mouth before he could think them through and from the corner of his eye he saw Luke's face blanching, fists rolling up.

Bella scoffed, "don't say that," she grumbled, before leaning in and kissing his cheek, "I'll see you around, Daniels."

Then she stepped closer to Luke, who didn't put his arm around her at all, only waved to the older couple and stepped back so Bell could step out of the house and into the car.

Max let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and felt a pat to his back, Giuseppe squeezing his shoulder, "come sit back down, son."

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Bella knew Luke was pissed.

And that he had every right to be, so she didn't even try to say a word as they got in the car and drove off of Doveport. His shoulders were so tense, they were up to his ears and Luke was squeezing the steering wheel, looking straight ahead.

Her head was still swimming, even though she had eaten some crackers at the Monacellis, and Bella felt grossly hungover. Morally and physically.

She had acted like a teenager and the embarrassment was killing her.

It was only when they crossed the limits of Welton, three hours later since Luke had been speeding, that Bella dared to speak up. She was feeling beyond carsick, head spinning and stomach sour, but there was a much more pressing issue at hand, which was apologizing.

"Luke-"

"Uhm?" He grumbled, not looking her way, and Bella gulped down the knot in her throat.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning on her seat in order to squeeze his arm, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make a total fool out of myself, I didn't-" she swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth and Luke let out a scoff.

"I'm not pissed because you're drunk," he shrugged her hand off his arm as if it was burning him and Bella's eyes prickled, "we'll talk tomorrow-"

"No," she shook her head quickly, "I don't want to talk tomorrow, I want- I'm sorry, Luke, I really am-"

"You didn't leave me a fucking note, Isabella!" Lucas whisper yelled, as they stopped at a red light, "you just up and left!? Do you have any idea how worried I was!? All I knew is you had the doctor's appointment and then I come home and you're not here, hours later, was I not supposed to be terrified!?"

Bella let out a sniffle, "I didn't think- I was going to call you, I just- I lost track of the hour and Max wasn't looking at me all worried like you are recently and it felt nice-"

"So it's my fault?" Luke echoed, shocked, "don't you fucking try to-"

"I'm not saying that!" Bella snapped, hitting the glovebox to shut him up, "I'm saying- I'm saying I'm sorry! Okay? I'm really sorry I worried you and I'm sorry I acted like a drunk teenager and I'm sorry I'm putting you through this right after everything, I- I'm sorry!"

Behind them a car honked, causing the couple to jump and Luke to curse silently at the green light.

He didn't say anything and Bella curled up even more on her seat, feeling a pang on her chest. She wanted to comforted by him, but guilt was eating at her.

"Luke... Please say something..."

"How was the doctor's appointment?" his voice was hoarse and Bella flinched at the sound, mentally beating herself up for making him so sad.

"It- It was fine..."

He leveled her with a glare and Bella tried to gulp down the knot in her throat once more, but couldn't.

"It was scary," she said in a tiny voice, avoiding his eyes, "it was scary and she did an ultrasound and a- a pelvic exam..." and she deeply regretted not asking Luke to tag along, as Bella had not at all be prepared for the emotional impact of having the pregnancy loss confirmed, the invasiveness of the follow up exams and the questioning about her family history, as if it was her fault. She shook with a little hiccup and pressed her knuckles to her mouth, looking out of the window, "and it sucked."

Luke stopped the car, pressing his hands to his face and letting out a frustrated groan, clearly thorn between being caring and being hurt, "is that why you left?"

Bella did a little nod, "a day off was not a good idea," she explained, carefully keeping any accusation from her words, although it had been him who pressed her to take the whole day off, "I couldn't stay home, I was driving myself insane... And you were at work, so was everyone else, and- And then Vince sent a text about being worried that Max was alone and I figured-"

"He texted you about Max?" Lucas sounded dumbfounded and Bella let out a watery chuckle as he choose this to latch on, out of all things.

"We have a group chat without you," she mumbled and her voice wavered. Bella looked out of the window, they were in front of their house. Her stomach churned once again and she threw her door open, but didn't get out fully, only turned on her seat so she was facing the grass, trying to breath through the nausea.

"Oh baby..." She heard Luke whisper, then felt his hand on her back and the guilt bubbling inside of her stomach spilled over, causing Bella to lurch forward as she retched up the foamy White Claw.

She shrugged his hand off her back, coughing up another rush of burning liquid, "go inside-"

"Bell-"

"Please," Bella sniffled, muffling a burp against her hand and groaning as she wiped the liquid off her chin, "please, go inside."

He hesitated, but then she heard the noise of the driver's door opening and closing, followed by Luke's footsteps disappearing as he entered their house.

Bella let out a groan, using her free hand to grab at her hair, before shoving two fingers inside her mouth and forcing up the rest of the alcohol still burning inside her stomach. It took two more retches, before she started to empty heave, the tears she refused to drop burning her eyes.

Bella sniffled, wiping her hands on her jeans and using the car to steady herself as she got out, walking back home. The front door was not only unlocked, obviously, but open wide and Bella sighed as she leaned on it to close it.

Luke was nowhere in sight, so she walked upstairs, straight to the bathroom to take a shower and get rid of the alcohol smell and the shame.

Lucas was sitting on their bed when she walked out of the bathroom, wearing his shirt and some loose shorts, and he opened his arms for her to come closer, despite the frown he sported.

Bella didn't need any further invitation, crawling on the bed and throwing herself over him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I'm really sorry," she mumbled against his shirt, "I didn't mean to hurt you..."

She felt him nod, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "I know... I'm sorry I forced you to take the day off," Lucas wrapped his arms tightly around her, "I didn't think you'd be all alone here, stewing on it..."

Bella sighed, clutching his shirt, "doesn't justify my behavior, Lucas."

"Yeah, I know, I'm pissed," he scoffed, but his hand rubbing up and down her back disproved that, "I love you, okay? Even if I'm pissed."

Bella's whole body melted, all the tension vanishing as she curled up against him, "I love you too. Even when I'm an idiot."

"Uhm," he chuckled, vibrating deep in his chest, "but you'll deal with Ma when she calls for the rest of the gossip."

"Yeah, alright. Deal," Bella opened a little smile, pressing a kiss over his shirt.

#oof this is long #mywriting #sickfic #emotional whump #whump #emeto #emetophilia #intox #isabella martinez #isabella martinez-atwood #i guess Max counts as a secondary Whumpee here too

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