Possibly something with trans!MJF if you write him? NSFW or not 👀
(Transing that boy out of this world. Also the timeline of this doesn't make sense but also these boys aren't really trans so SUE ME. Mention of surgical drains below)
"How you holding up, buddy?" Yuta asks, looking up from his spot on Max's floor. Garcia twists around beside him, looking over the foot of the bed, and Moriarity is too focused on getting another star in Mario Party to do more than perk and ear up.
From the bed, Max lets out a long, low groan.
"...Ouch," he grunts. Yuta smiles and shifts up to his feet, then walks slowly around to his friend. Max lays there in abject misery, his chest pillow keeping his arms away from his sides, his eyes half-open, craned back on the pillows. Yuta gives him a quick look-over, but he hasn't really moved much from this position in a while.
"You look good man. Gonna check your drains, buddy," Yuta says, and he gently peels the pillow from Max's chest. Max makes a whine and swears at Yuta, but the curses are garbled by how half-asleep and fully in pain he is. Max's chest is currently being held together by ace bandages under a compression vest, and two tubes stick out of each side with a little bulb on the end.
Yuta smiles when he sees them basically empty, then flips the pillow over and takes out the melted ice packs from the inside pockets.
"Good news, you'll probably get those drains out at your appointment tomorrow. Which probably means some of your bandages can come off," Yuta says.
"I'm gonna get new ice packs," Garcia says, snatching the ice packs from Yuta's hands before leaning over to see Max's chest. "Oooo, Max. You're gonna have a sexy little chest there bro. I call first to put my dick between them."
"Fuck. Off. All the way," Max groans, lifting his right hand to flip Garcia off. He can't lift it very high, but it's high enough to get the point across.
"C'mon," Yuta laughs, and he puts his hand in Max's hair. "He's right, though. You're gorgeous. Your chest is going to be the best of all of us."
"I know," Max sighs, turning his head dramatically. "And none of you are going to be allowed to fuck me. I'm already so out of your league. This puts me in a different sports company."
"Okay, we're all still in CZW," Lee says, then sets the controller down. "Garcia! Your turn!"
"Coming!" Danny shouts from downstairs. Yuta laughs and shakes his head, checks Max's drains one last time, then sets the pillow back.
"...'M gonna sleep," Max mutters, letting his eyes slowly shut. "..S'g'n be so...sexy...."
Yuta leans over and kisses Max on the forehead, tucks a blanket over his legs, then says,
Ugh I love your brain! Trans max gives me such joy and honestly lurks in the back of my head all the time. Like he over compensates in hyper masculinity at time because of his own insecurities but also because he joined the sport so early that he doesn't want anyone to see him as young or feminine.
And as he transitioned so young, on one hand silver lining that Jos let him transition but it was partly cause his dad was just glad he didn't have to have a daughter, and could have a racer. So I imagine like no one knows, so for him to open up and tell Daniel he's trans would be such a big and intimate moment.
Only with Daniel (or who ever you want) he can find ways to enjoy feminine things with out worry or fear. Enjoying painting his nails, earing eyeliner, more feminine clothing, all without fear of being seen as less of a man.
Ugh yeah (totally not just projecting)
<3 yeah dude. He's There. ur right on the money in terms of overcompensating, and the extra pressure wrought by his environment. our brains are the same!
the flip side of the shitty family stuff in this headcanon is his capability to open up to people more as he grows. like sure, daniel is the first partner he has who knows he's trans, but i'm sure there are a handful of other friends who know. who pester him about how he's doing even when he's feeling shitty or self-isolating. who come over and try on clothes with him, when he orders them, and let him feel fashionable.
maybe the femininity with daniel is something they do together: i could totally see daniel wearing nail polish, or being delighted by the tiny designs he can get on his nails! like, imagine when he discovers that he can get flames and checkerboards and stripes. game fucking over for max never being dragged to the salon again. manicures, for max, start as an excuse to care and rest. having someone massage between his fingers feels pretty fucking good! but then over a summer break, daniel is chatting with his manicurist, and max sees this silver chrome, and he's like O_O gotta have it. so max has shiny, gunpowder grey nails. they're chipping by the time he has to take it off for the next race. he leaves one thumb intact, and lets it flake off.
I wanna hear more about your ideas of trans max, as in he's secretly trans femme? Or I also like to imagine a world where he is a trans man who transitioned early and pretends to be cis. ✅
HELLO. GOOD EVENING.
to clarify the tags: as in he's ftm trans and transitioned early and is closeted for safety!! tbh the idea stemmed from iconic dutch makeup youtuber nikkietutorials coming out as trans and talking so graciously about her access to transition healthcare pre-puberty. like, kids can transition in the dutch medical system (good on them!!) so naturally my little goblin brain connected this with one picture of max where he's got The Long Torso Waist Dip and went OH. what if he's been trans since pre-middle-school?
realistically because of his fucking awful father the circumstances were probably very different. AGAIN THIS IS JUST A HEADCANON! in the trans!max verse, i think his forced assimilation is a consequence of the larger drive to Act Manly to make it in the sport.
now. if you are a maxiel. the way i perceive that entire thing unfolding is that max is honest to god jealous of daniel's openness and security in his body. in making fun of his body. in showing off and decorating his body. and i think intimacy would be fraught between them for a while, with this knowledge. like, max can't help but compare himself to daniel as a teammate. it's a big part of why he's so angry at him, for the first two years they're the rbr pairing! and then lo and behold, he's honest to god nice to max's body in bed, and he asks questions that max doesn't know how to answer, and maybe it's a little while longer before they sleep together again, as max figures out the answers.
I TOLD YOU I WAS GIVING YOU A DISSERTATION, but here it is anyways!