I wonder if the reason Max and Red were never friends in the original timeline was because they would fight over Maddox's attention.
Like "dad says it's my turn with the Xbox" but like Max wants to show off his new chess strategy and some research he did on bowties or something but Red just had to debut her new explosives today and she just made this new outfit (in the book, Red is a science nerd and makes her own clothes) and Maddox has to watch because she worked so hard and no one appreciates it like he does but like Max clearly scheduled Maddox time a month ago and it's not fair because Maddox always has to save her last minute but hearts forbid that Max gets an answer wrong on a test because he'll never hear the end of it.
[Photo ID: a screenshot from Descendants: Wicked Wonderland showing Maddox Hatter and Max Hatter playing chess in front of a heart shaped window. Maddox has proudly put his left arm on Max's right shoulder while Max is about to grab a chess piece to make a move. In the background, we can see Red running across the battlements of the castle. This is the vision Max sees from the Oraculum of the past before Red and Chloe changed it in Rise of Red. End ID]
Alex Warren put out a new version of this song featuring Gigi Perez and I immediately went and put it over the original audio of this odypen animatic to see what it would look like
don’t get me wrong i LOVE the centrifugal force scene in the movie, but imo the scene in the book is even better so i’ve compiled a list of moments no one talks about that made me want to explode
grace instinctively grabbing rocky when he sees what happened and burning the palms of his hands on his carapace
grace calling rocky a “crazy bastard” for saving him
grace also burning himself all over his arms while trying to get rocky onto his back to carry him
grace carrying rocky’s body UP A LADDER
grace wondering incredulously why rocky would risk his life to save him, about 2.5 seconds before grace risks his own life to put rocky back in his atmosphere
grace taking off his IV and oxygen mask as soon as he regains consciousness to be able to sit as close to rocky as possible
grace pressing his hand to the wall that rocky’s body is leaning against and then pulling it away because it “feels too melodramatic”
grace checking on rocky about 100 times
“I want to sleep, but Rocky is more important”
grace DIYing a leafblower to try to help rocky heal
grace falling off his bunk and CRAWLING to rocky when he realizes he’s awake
Bridget dumping a mentally ill man and his 8 year old son into poverty they can never escape shows that the “good” QoH isn’t as good as we’ve been shown.
notes: genderneutral reader, implied hk reader (or i wrote this with a hk!reader in mind, but nothing is really explicitly stated)
author's note: that feeling when u make a side blog bc u got attached to a character in a descendents movie n there is not enough fanfiction for him
dating max is getting almost two boyfriends in one. he has his front, the max he shows off to the public, a guard to distract those from his lineage. when he's with you, he softens. pda is not something he is against, but when it is just the two of you, it is different. there's no performance. it can be dizzying, to go from gentle affection to his standard teasing next, but you appreciate seeing the full picture.
only trusts you to help dye his hair. he has done it himself many times, and has no issues doing it, but it's an excuse to have you close and playing with his hair. i do believe he would love if you dyed a matching streak in your own. he isn't possessive, but subtle reminders of him on you is something he eats up.
this goes for his nails as well. he might even prefer this more, its so intimate. proximity at an all time high as you hold his hand, careful to prevent flooding his cuticle. he loves watching your determined face. taking something so lighthearted so serious. he might even let you pick one of the colors, if youre good. (even if you weren't, he'd cave pretty quick)
pets name go crazy with him, and for a while you wondered if he even knew your name, especially at the beginning. sweetheart, darling, bunny, prince/princess, baby in an especially condensing tone that makes you weak in the stomach. the only time he refers to you with your first name is when he's worried about you.
would love to sneak into your dorm window at night. he finds it amusing the way you jump, as if he has never done this before.
some nights he stays in with you, laying on your bed while you do some boring task. he tries his hardest to distract you, with loudly practicing card tricks, hovering behind you with his chin on your shoulder, light tickles to your side, anything to get your attention back on him. (he can take a hint if you truly need to get something done, but he also knows that sometimes you need pulled out of your own head.)
some nights he's taking you out, whether that's somewhere in the forest, the lake, or even wonderland depending on his mood. he finds solace in the moments where when he's with you, he isn't the son of maddox hatter, but simply max.
loves to try and push your limits. he'll flirt with you excessively, knowing exactly what to say to get you stumbling over your words and an embarrassed look on your face. he eats it up. however, he cannot take what he dishes out. if you're able to hit him with a similiar compliment, match his energy, he will turn a lovely shade of pink.
only lets you wear his hat. it is mostly a trust thing, something stemming deep from his time on the isle. the first time you did it he had to remind himself that you loved him and robbing him was the last thing on your mind. he was able to cave quickly, seeing you wear his hat, something known to belong to him left his insides warm, feeling secure in ways he hadn't before. the moment wasn't even ruined when you began to impersonate him, he only laughed.
returning to pda, he enjoys it. using you as an arm rest, fingers brushing as he walks past, pulling you to lean against him when the both of you are standing, quick kisses on the face as a goodbye. the type of stuff that might go unnoticed if someone isn't looking for it. full believer that max would not keep you hidden or a secret, but he is a private person.
if you're a tea drinker, i do believe he can make a killer cup of it. no matter the type, he knows how long to steep it. it's genetic, and something he falls back to when you're sick or upset.
awkward at comforting. growing up on the isle and with his father, it isn't something he is used to. would most likely copy strategies you have used to help him, gauging what you need. think his natural response would be to listen while you vent and pulling you close.
eventually, your dorm would become his too. he leaves clothes, has a toothbrush there, and is often there even if you aren't. he doesn't admit it, but he likes the domesticity of sharing a space. (hopefully, if you have a roommate, they like him). he doesn't daydream often, but picturing a future with you might be his most common one.
you probably say i love you first, but he would want to say it for a while before you do so. he just wants a promise of you feeling the same. you try and tell him that there isn't any rush, that you don't expect him to say it because you did, and he shuts you up with a kiss and murmurs it on your lips.
the first time i write anything for a new character i am hyperaware of how out of character they might be so please be nice lol.
i get so emotional every time i think about fanfic culture. it's just so beautiful that people are writing and anonymously posting these thousand-word stories about characters we all love and not even getting any money or public fame from it. it's literally just for the love of the game.
shout out to everyone who participates in fanfic culture, be it reading or writing fanfics. you are contributing to such a lovely thing <3
species swap gracerocky be upon ye. i like to think eridian grace is very very curious about humans but human rocky is Not equipped to answer all of his questions. bro knows more about machines than people. so he just shoves a laptop at grace and goes "just look it up man idk"
and eridian grace is ENAMORED. he LOVES it. so much knowledge just at the tip of his claws! oh my songs this is so much more than he could ever ask for! thank thank thank... that keeps him occupied for a Long time. rocky gets a break from all his questions. the only problem?
he likes it a little Too much.
so much so that he doesnt do anything else. he used to be so shy eating around rocky but now he'll do it so he doesnt have to step away from the laptop. he forgets to sleep! he's all grumpy angry stupid now >:0
rocky, taking the laptop away: dude i gotta limit your screentime
grace, making grabby claws: noooo give it back give back portable earth thinking machine pleaseee
rocky: man i didnt even think it was possible to get addicted to learning but here we are i guess
some of my favorite underrated moments from the phm deleted scenes:
grace inadvertently pushing the button to bring out the other two beds with his butt, immediately after ripping the catheter out of his rectum
"please do not share the food paste with the medical arm" cut to armando using a polite little handkerchief to wipe its "face"
grace pulling the wrong toilet flush and getting his head vacuum-sucked into the centrifugal-oriented one (also thank you phm deleted scenes for the only other angle of the bathroom we will probably ever get <3)
"wHY IS IT IN RUSSiaN???"
idk if the guys in the spacesuit tutorial video are some of the props crew, but if they are then i'm glad they got to show off their creation and have fun/be silly about it
"goodnight grace" "goodnight rocky" "goodnight armando" "goodnight john boy" "goodnight jim bob" "good night mary ellen" etc etc
"rockyyyyyyyy. it's time to go to sleep!" "okay you start!" "i'm trying" "try harder"
just... the whole sleepover scene. these two i stg!!! four fucking years of this shit. i just know grace and rocky achieved levels of co-dependent friendship previously thought unattainable
the original *shake head slowing becoming a nod* that the later post-rocky-wake-up scene calls back to
"maybe we're cousins" "wOAAUUGGGHHH!"
grace doesnt look even vaguely surprised when rocky whips out the split arm tongue thingy. they probably spent the entire trip to adrian just showing off weird body parts to each other
