↳INSTAGRAM: @emiliorodriguez posted a photo to their story:
@maxhayashi16: apollo says you're joining our gym?? omggg welcome!
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year

No title available
Stranger Things
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Game of Thrones Daily
trying on a metaphor
todays bird
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
Monterey Bay Aquarium

@theartofmadeline
No title available
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Not today Justin
Xuebing Du
d e v o n
Keni

Andulka

No title available
One Nice Bug Per Day

Product Placement
seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from United States

seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from Türkiye
seen from Saudi Arabia

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States

seen from Singapore

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
@mrmaxhayashi
↳INSTAGRAM: @emiliorodriguez posted a photo to their story:
@maxhayashi16: apollo says you're joining our gym?? omggg welcome!
↳INSTAGRAM: @loudenverauthor posted to their story
@maxhayashi16: MY BABY LOOKS SO HANDSOME 😭😭😭
↳INSTAGRAM: @frankiemay uploaded a photo:
A little bit from my travels.
@maxhayashi16: oh this, there are cool as hell, frank!
↳INSTAGRAM: @jamesyhan11 uploaded a photo:
What’s more relaxing than yoga? Undoing all our hard work and hurting our necks by staring at our phones, apparently. Thanks for exposing us, @carolanandclover! Lol!
@maxhayashi16: PUPPY YOGA! that's what's more relaxing than regular yoga! let's go to puppy yoga, james.
↳INSTAGRAM: @scottycarterauthor posted to their story:
@maxhayashi16: Ivy signed my permission slip to ask for once chance.
↳INSTAGRAM: @loudenverauthor uploaded a photo:
New York, I love you, and you are not bringing me down in the slightest.
@maxhayashi16: MY BABY LOOKS SO HAPPY!
camera roll: march 25th 2025.
AKIRA アキラ (1988) dir. Katsuhiro Otomo
↳INSTAGRAM: @nodumbbunny uploaded a photo:
Smiling is my favorite!
@maxhayashi16: welcome to the gang!!!
↳INSTAGRAM: @.cassieoh uploaded a photo:
EVERYONE LOOK!! THE SUN IS BACK OUT!! EVERYTHING IS GOOD AND NICE ☀️😊✨
@maxhayashi16: and absolutely nothing bad is happening! 😅
↳INSTAGRAM: @frankiemay uploaded a photo:
Need a bigger mug.
@maxhayashi16: exactly how much coffee have you had today frank??
↳INSTAGRAM: @jamesyhan11 uploaded a photo:
My first ever podcast. Always nice to talk hockey and politics with likeminded people. Thanks for having me on, ladies. 🙂
@maxhayashi16: remember me when you’re famous 🥹
↳INSTAGRAM: @carolanandclover uploaded a photo:
Always nice coming home to @kaitucker 😊
@maxhayashi16: a snack made by a snack or something like that??
↳INSTAGRAM: @jamesyhan11 uploaded a photo:
Lol, great shot from last nights game. Cooper gets a little excited. 🙂
@maxhayashi16: LFGGGGGGG
Ivy knew how much Max wanted her. She wasn’t stupid, and he hadn’t made any efforts to hide his attraction to her. He’d been honest in his intentions and – by some miracle – he'd waited for her. Max Hayashi, ex New York ranger and certified stud, heartthrob and just all-around sweetheart, had turned his back on a city of beautiful men and women to wait for... Ivy. She honestly couldn’t understand it, even now. Much to Wardo’s annoyance, she’d voiced her confusion countless times over the past year, deliberating over why someone as sweet and charming and good as Max would wanna be with someone as fundamentally broken as Ivy.
And yet he did, and Ivy was tired of running from it. She wanted him too and she was ready to try and make this work.
“Fuck, you’re so cute,” Ivy whispered, laughing breathily as she stared up at his sweet, dimpled face. Her cheeks ached from smiling so much, nose twitching as she felt Max’s own tickle her skin. The sappy, sickening truth of it was that Ivy could lay there forever, with Max on top of her, crowding her body and smiling down at her without so much as a kiss shared and she’d be the happiest girl in the whole entire world.
Before Wardo, Ivy hadn’t known it was possible to feel anything even close to happy. It was a cliche and one she resented, but it was the cold, hard truth. All of her best memories involved her big, dumb friend at her side. And, through Wardo, she’d created friendships and bonds that she couldn’t have imagined even in her wildest dreams, but he’d still always been her one, true constant. They’d nursed each other through the cruelest of heartaches. Even the stuff that Ivy was still too terrified to tell him about, he’d seen the fallout of and helped piece her together one day at a time. She knew he’d laugh in her face if she ever said it out loud, but Ivy had started to believe that Wardo was the only person that could ever love her. There was nothing romantic or sexual to it, obviously, but she genuinely found herself wondering if her sole purpose in life was to look out for him and ensure he was never alone. She’d always known, deep down, that there was someone out there that would love him just as much, if not more, than she did, and Louis had proven that time and time again. But she’d long since accepted that she was here for Wardo and Wardo only, and that whatever soulmate bullshit people believed in, her was hers, even if she wasn’t his.
And then came Max.
Beautiful, sweet Max with his pretty face and his endless charm. It had been a no-brainer to go home with him the night they’d met, and even in all her rage and irritation with him after their first encounter, she’d been drawn to him like this endless tether. He was impossible to resist, even on the worst of days. She understood now, to a degree, that there was someone out there for her. She realised that as much as Wardo was her soulmate and best friend, she didn’t have to resign herself to be alone whenever he wasn’t near. Maybe there was more than one person out there for you, and maybe they came to you in different forms; A smart mouthed best friend with no sense of self-preservation, and a dorky jock who sat on the ice with you and held you, even after you’d practically bitten his face off in anger.
“I want you to kiss me,” Ivy confirmed, finally finding her voice. She tipped her head, angling her jaw as she gave him easier access, only to pause. Her hands stilled against his stomach, thumbs pressed into his skin as she released a nervous laugh. "And..."
“I want you to be my boyfriend, if you’ll still have me?”
There had been instances, during the period of time where he and Ivy had sworn to keep their hands firmly to themselves, where they’d both nearly slipped up. As patient as Max was, he was still a red-blooded male who couldn’t help but let his pupils dilate when Ivy showed up to a team dinner in a low-cut dress. And he was only admitting that because he knew she liked the ego boost and because he’d seen the way Ivy looked at him sometimes.
Just because she’d needed some distance between them, Max hadn’t called it off. He knew Ivy wasn’t quite over him.
Now, it seemed like his patience had paid off as he grinned down at her, her hair fanned out across the duvet. As soon as she gave him permission to kiss her, he leaned down, only to be stopped by her follow-up question.
Rearing his head back, his smile not faltering, he waited to see if she was just pulling his leg. Not that he thought she would do something that cruel, but he also had to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating right now.
It was crazy, the fact that, in a matter of seconds, Max had gone from being single to having a girlfriend. Because there was no hesitation on his part here and he let out a giddy laugh. Immediately, he leaned down and pressed his mouth against Ivy’s, clumsily kissing her. He was smiling too wide for it to be anything other than goofy, but he doubted she’d have any complaints.
“You’re killing me, ace,” he told her, not an ounce of agony in his voice. Cheekily, he pressed a line of loud, smacking kisses along her cheekbone, each one more obnoxious than the last.
“That was a yes, by the way,” he said, leaning back just enough so she could see his face. “If that wasn’t obvious.”
Rolling her eyes fondly, Ivy stared across at Max as he made his dorky little joke. For a single guy in his thirties without any kids, he was kind of the expert at Dad Jokes. Ivy thought he might be able to give Billy a run for his money at this rate. She thought about teasing him back, some kind of playful remark about how if he wanted to put in an order for a real gentleman, then maybe she’d have to take Max in as consideration for dessert. It wouldn’t have been her finest work, given that flirting with Max was just about the only thing that could successfully fluster her.
It became very clear that her efforts were futile. Ivy shrieked in delight as he scooped her up, tossing her so effortlessly over his shoulder that heat unfurled instantaneously between her thighs. There was never a bad time for Max to remind her just how strong he was, and her mind was soon filled with happy memories of her legs wrapped around his waist as he’d easily carried her into his shower, bracing her back against the wall as they’d fucked with water pouring down on the two of them.
God, she missed those days.
As her back hit the mattress, Ivy’s hands went instinctively to his hips, gripping them tight as the two of them steadied themselves on the bed. The room was filled with her laughter as she beamed up at him, impossibly charmed by the softness of his voice, that gentle hey as he stared down at her like she hung the moon.
“Hey back, stud,” Ivy smiled, lifting her head just a fraction. Gently, she brushed her nose against his, her smile stretching wild before she felt the back of her head hit the pillow again.
She wasted no time in sliding her hands further up from his hips, bypassing his shirt entirely as her palms explored the smooth expanse of his stomach, fingers tracing his abs. It had been a long while since Ivy had been blessed with Max shirtless and alone, and even longer since she’d felt the weight of him on top of her. She wanted to freeze this exact moment in time and keep him there forever.
Ivy’s teeth sank down into her lower lip as she allowed her hands to roam, unabashed in her exploration of his chest. Her thumb skirted over his nipple and she thrilled in the obvious way that his body seemed to react to her, even the most featherlight touches. There was no denying the way they both wanted each other. The only obstacle that had been in their way was Ivy, and now all she wanted was to feel the familiar press of his mouth against hers, this time without an audience and with no pretenses. She wanted Max even in the quiet moments.
“I want you,” Ivy whispered, feeling breathless. She was a confident girl, and no stranger to casual sex. But this felt more intimate, more personal. “I only want you, Max.”
At this stage, Max liked to think he had developed a sixth-sense for sussing out Ivy’s boundaries. Kneeling over her like this, on all fours so he wasn’t crowding her, was safe. Anything else, he knew he would have to leave up to her. He didn’t want to give into the desire to kiss her without her permission, knowing it may only serve to make her feel smothered and claustrophobic. They were going slowly, he reminded himself. Not that he minded. He’d wait around forever for Ivy, probably.
His breath hitched audibly when he felt her hands underneath his shirt, and maybe a lesser man might have felt embarrassed about that. However, Ivy already knew the effect she had on him at this point. There was no trying to hide it.
Instead, he laughed bashfully at the way his abs jumped underneath her fingers. He allowed her the time to take what she needed, enjoying the feeling of her hands against his bare skin for the first time in so long.
It wasn’t as if he and Ivy hadn’t spent any time together. For the last year, they’d been practically inseparable, sandwiched together in the media booth as they edited the Rangers’ photos, their shoulders pressed against each other as they took the action shots they needed from behind the plexiglass at the rink. Even outside of work, he saw Ivy more than he saw most people, and although they weren’t sleeping together anymore, it didn’t mean that they hadn’t touched. Max was a hugger. It didn’t make sense to hug Louis and Scotty but not Ivy when they were all hanging out, so he was used to pulling her into his arms, chin resting on the top of her head. Even the journey that had brought them to San Francisco had required Ivy to wrap her arms tightly around Max’s waist as he steered them through the streets on his bike.
This was different though. The goalposts had been moved, and Max was just grateful for the chance to try and keep up.
“Yeah?” he asked, their noses brushing again as he leaned his head down.
There was a warm smile on his face as he gazed down at Ivy, her hands still firmly underneath his shirt and his safely on either side of her head, pressed into the hotel duvet.
“Does this mean I can kiss you?” His voice was soft and unassuming as his eyebrows jumped teasingly. “I won’t be offended if you say no. We can stay like this all night with you feeling up my abs.”
TEXTING: MAX Ivy: so about that instacart?
TEXTING: IVY Max: lmfaooooo Max: do you want sprinkles on your cupcake?
TEXTING: MAX Ivy: yeah please baby :))
TEXTING: IVY Max: on it like an easter bonnet!