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“I am not willing to be anyone’s secret!”
“You’re not a secret, Max!”
“Treating me like we’re nothing in public is keeping me a secret, Luis!”
Mal might have liberated the VKs years ago, and peace might have lasted for years since, but there were still problems.
Problems like the fact that a VK and an HK dating isn’t always the dream romance Mal and Ben made it out to be. Teenage romance is complicated enough on its own, but pairing the son of a villain with the son of a heroine only doubled the chaos.
And the son of a woman like Luisa Madrigal dating the son of Maddox Hatter? That was a thousand times worse.
“Max, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, I swear,” Luis said, following him down the short path. “Family Day is coming up. I told you I was going to introduce you to my mom. Everyone will know we’re together.”
“No, Luis…” Max turned his back on him. “I’m done.”
“But Max—”
“No!” This time Max raised his voice, though he still couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye. “I’m tired of being your secret, Luis. This isn’t working.”
“Max…”
“I’m the son of a villain, Luis. Did you really think we could actually be something?” Max finally turned around to face him. “Did you honestly think we were going to pull off that fairytale nonsense?”
“Fairytale?” Luis repeated, taking a step toward him, his voice cracking. “Max, we’re not talking about some fairytale—I never expected that with you. We’re talking about us. About what we feel.”
Max let out a short, dry laugh, completely devoid of humor. The lightness of it hit Luis like a slap of ice across the cheek.
“‘Us’?” Max tilted his head, scanning him from head to toe with a cold, biting condescension he had never used with him before. “Wow, Luis. You really think you’re the hero of your own story, don’t you? The good son of Luisa Madrigal, ready to ‘save’ the poor bad boy from the Isle. Does it make you feel noble? Does it earn you some kind of Auradon medal of honor?”
“It’s not like that… you know it’s not,” Luis interrupted, feeling a suffocating knot tighten in his chest. Looking at Max now was like staring at a wall of solid stone.
“It’s exactly like that,” Max said, his voice terrifyingly steady. “You were just curious to try something different—something dangerous. But let’s be real here, Luis: I embarrass you. And honestly, I get it. If I were the son of an immaculate hero, I wouldn’t want to be seen walking hand-in-hand with the son of a maniac either.”
“I have never thought that about you!” Luis shouted, desperate to break through the barrier Max was building between them. “I love you, Max!”
The words hung heavy in the air between them. Luis could swear that for a fraction of a second, Max’s gaze wavered—but his armor quickly locked back into place.
“Well, what a shame, Luis,” Max murmured in a cruel whisper. “Because for me, this was just a pastime. A little game to see how easy it was to bring the Madrigal family’s ‘perfect boy’ to his knees.”
Luis froze, as if every drop of air had been stolen from his lungs.
“No… that’s not who you are,” Luis stammered, shaking his head. “I know who you are when it’s just the two of us.”
“When it was just the two of us, I was bored, Luis,” Max said, locking eyes with him without blinking. “I got tired of pretending to care about your perfect life, your moral dilemmas, and your ideal family.”
“Max…”
“Did you really think I could actually love someone like you, Madrigal?” Max took a step forward. “Did you think I’d say, ‘Yes, Luis, let’s live happily ever after’? Did you think we ever stood a chance? ...Because if you did, you’re even dumber than I thought.”
Max turned around and walked away, leaving Luis behind.
And now Max was walking through a covered pavilion in the Castle of Hearts—what appeared to be a conservatory filled with a sea of white, pink, and red roses.
He needed a break from the party inside. He had spent years hearing about the legendary balls hosted by the Queen of Hearts, and this was his first time experiencing one in person.
He sat down on a long, heart-shaped bench adorned with white petals. He took off his top hat to catch a cool breeze against the heat of the ballroom.
He watched one of the rosebushes sway, tossing a single rose up into the air. It hovered for a few seconds before floating down gracefully, and Max watched it descend until it landed right beside him on the bench.
He picked it up by the stem, feeling the thorns brush against his fingers.
“You look a bit downcast, darling,” the rose said.
“Just tired,” he replied.
“I don’t just mean right now,” the rose commented. “You look as if you’re still carrying a heavy sorrow with you.”
“How could you possibly know that?” he asked.
“We roses are remarkably perceptive.”
From the bush behind her, a murmur of agreement rose up.
“Yes, yes.”
“Extremely perceptive.”
“The finest observers in all of Wonderland.”
Max couldn’t help but crack a faint smile.
“Right... and do you all think the same way?”
“Almost always,” the rose replied with obvious satisfaction. “Though Daisy insists we exaggerate. But nobody takes daisies very seriously anyway.”
Max shook his head, amused.
“It’s just been too many emotions in too few days,” he finally admitted, letting his smile fade away bit by bit. “My dad kidnapped two queens. I spent two days exploring this kingdom for the first time in my life, even though my family comes from here. I accidentally caused a girl to turn evil for about six hours... and my dad is still trapped inside the chandelier in the throne room.”
“You’ve had quite the grand adventure, I see,” the flower remarked playfully.
“You could say that,” he nodded slowly.
“Yet that isn’t your only burden, my dear,” she continued. “There’s a weight on your shoulders that hasn’t left you. And judging by your eyes, it’s a weight that’s been bothering you for a very long time.”
Max couldn’t say much to that, because deep down, he knew the flower was right.
“Growing up as the child of a villain is... weird. Ever since you’re little, they make you believe your life is already written for you. That no matter what you do, you’ll always just be the bad guy’s kid. The future has already been decided by someone else,” he began. “Then a queen came along who believed we all deserved a chance. She brought us out of the Isle, gave us a home, a school... a different life.”
A bitter smile crossed his face.
“But changing a kingdom is much easier than changing how people think.”
He lowered his gaze to his feet.
“There are still people who never stop seeing the legacy before the person. To them, you’ll always be a potential villain—someone to distrust, someone best kept at a distance. And they say a lot of things about you.”
His fingers tightened around the stem, feeling a sharp prick against his skin.
“And when you hear those things for years... you end up wondering if maybe they’re right. You start to believe that no matter how hard you try to be better, in the end, you’re always going to hurt the people who get close to you.”
Max paused.
“I’m not going to pretend I was a saint. I stole. I cheated. I intimidated people. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of.” He took a breath, looking up. “But out of all the bad things I did... there’s one thing I still can’t forgive myself for.”
Max swallowed hard before finishing, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I deeply hurt someone who meant the world to me…”
“And do you regret it?” the rose dared to ask.
Max heard the question, feeling tears prick at the corners of his eyes. He remained silent for several seconds, and the rose didn't utter any colorful remarks like she had been doing throughout their conversation.
“So much…” he finally answered. “He knew what it felt like to be an outsider. He came from another continent, so he was completely alone here. And when he looked at me, he didn’t see my last name. He didn’t see my bad behavior. He just saw me…”
He paused, swallowing the lump in his throat.
“And it felt good. It felt way too good.”
His fingers began absentmindedly playing with one of the thorns on the stem.
“But like I said, people talk. They always talk. They repeat who you are and who you’re supposed to be so many times, or they warn others to stay away from you. They repeat it so much that there comes a point where those voices start drowning out your own.”
He closed his eyes for a moment.
The words he had spat at Luis that afternoon continued to haunt him, as if he had spoken them merely minutes ago.
“When you grow up without love... you don’t know what to do when someone offers it to you,” he murmured, almost to himself. “You don’t trust it. You wait for it to disappear. You wait for them to listen to what everyone says about you.”
He took a deep breath before continuing.
“And fear makes you do horrible things. You start to believe that if you are the one to break what you have, it’ll hurt less than waiting for the other person to do it first.”
A single tear escaped and rolled down his cheek, but he made no effort to wipe it away.
“So I was the one who destroyed everything… before anyone could convince him to abandon me.”
“You really have a terrible impression of me, don’t you?”
The voice cut through the air, making Max whip around to see where it came from—only to find Luis standing there.
“I’m going to assume that’s him,” the rose commented softly.
“Luis… Have you been listening?” Max asked, trying to force a defensive tone, though he was far too exhausted to pull off the act. “That’s not very heroic of you, Madrigal.”
“It’s not like I meant to,” Luis replied, taking a step forward.
Luis was no longer wearing his blue suit jacket; he was down to his white dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up to his forearms. Max hated to admit it, but Luis looked damn attractive.
“Well, I should get going,” Max said, making a move to stand up, but Luis closed the distance between them faster.
“No, wait,” Luis said. “I want to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” the Hatter replied sharply.
“Of course you do,” the rose interjected.
Max glared down at the flower in his hands and tossed it back into the rosebush.
“Max, even if I didn’t mean to, I heard what you said,” Luis said directly.
Max stayed silent.
“I want… I want to understand, Max,” the taller boy pleaded.
“Luis, you’re the son of a hero, you’re one of Auradon’s golden boys… you can’t understand me,” Max said, turning his face away.
“Then help me understand!” Luis raised his voice, taking another step closer. “Max, I’ve always wanted to understand you, but whenever I tried, you completely shut me out. I was your boyfriend, and I wanted you to tell me how you felt. I didn’t want you to go through that alone.”
“You couldn’t have helped me,” Max muttered, looking away.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t even understand what was happening to me.”
Silence fell over them once again. Only the soft whispering of the roses filled the conservatory.
“They’re both being far too dramatic,” one of them whispered.
“Shhh, Rosalia!”
“This is an important moment.”
“Let them be.”
Max let out a tired chuckle through his nose.
“They really don’t ever shut up, do they?”
“Pink says they never do,” Luis replied, a smile so faint on his lips it barely existed.
That hurt more than any reproach could have.
Because he was still smiling the exact same way. After everything... after all those terrible words.
Max closed his eyes for a brief second.
“Why?”
Luis furrowed his brow. “What?”
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you still...” The word lodged in his throat.
“...love you,” Luis finished the sentence for him, and Max felt his chest tighten.
“Because I still do.”
There was no grand drama. No shouting. Even the music from the party sounded distant now.
Just four words spoken with an unbearable sincerity.
Max shook his head slowly. “No.”
“Yes.”
“You can’t.”
“Who decided that?”
“I did.”
“And when did I give you permission to decide for me?”
Max opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Luis took another step forward.
“That’s what you did that afternoon.”
Max swallowed hard.
“You told me what I was feeling.”
Another step.
“You told me I was ashamed of you.”
Another.
“You questioned why I was even with you.”
One more step.
“And then you decided that one day I was going to abandon you.”
Now, barely a yard separated them.
“You never asked me.”
Max felt an unbearable weight pressing down on his chest, because it was true.
He had never asked. He had only assumed.
He always assumed. Because all his life, others had made assumptions about him.
´He’s the son of a villain.´
´He’ll surely end up just like him.´
´Be careful around him.´
And one day… he started doing it himself.
He assumed nobody could ever love him forever.
He assumed Luis would eventually walk away.
He assumed it was inevitable.
And so, he built a reality around a fear.
“I…” His voice cracked. “I was so scared…”
Luis didn’t answer; he just waited. The way he had always waited.
“Every time someone talked about me…” Max continued, his breathing unsteady, “…every time I heard my last name… I saw how people’s faces changed. Some were scared. Some felt pity. Others looked at me with distrust.”
The words began pouring out on their own.
“And you were still there,” tears welled up again. “That’s what terrified me the most.”
Luis felt a knot form in his throat.
“Because I thought…” Max could no longer hold back his sobs, “…I thought that one day you were going to open your eyes.”
He ended up covering his face with one hand.
“That you’d realize everyone else was right.”
His breathing broke into a helpless weep.
“That you were going to look at me the exact same way they did.”
Tears fell one after another. Uncontrollably… without dignity.
And, for the first time in years… without hiding them.
“I didn’t want to see you make that face…”
Now his voice was barely a whisper.
“So I chose to force you to hate me instead.”
Luis felt something inside him finally shatter.
Not out of anger—but because he understood. He finally understood.
It hadn’t been cruelty.
It had been absolute terror.
A terror so deep that it had disguised itself as horrible words.
He stepped closer, close enough to stand right in front of him.
“Look at me.”
Max shook his head frantically. “No.”
“Look at me, Max.”
“I can’t…”
“Yes, you can.”
“No…”
Luis raised a hand with infinite gentleness.
He didn’t force him to turn. He simply rested his fingertips beneath Max’s chin and waited.
Nothing more.
And, little by little… Max lifted his head.
His eyes were completely bloodshot. His cheeks wet with tears. And his expression was so vulnerable that Luis wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around him right then and there.
“Do you see this face?”
Max barely gave a nod.
“It’s the exact same face I looked at you with on day one.”
The Hatter broke into tears all over again.
“And it’s still the same face looking at you right now, Max,” Luis smiled sadly. “I didn’t find a monster behind you.”
He slid his thumb across a tear trailing down Max’s cheek.
“I found a boy who spent far too long believing he had to become one.”
The touch was so gentle…
That Max felt afraid—not of Luis, but of the relief.
Because for him, it was far easier to bear the pain than to accept that kind of tenderness.
His body reacted on instinct.
He took half a step back, and Luis pulled his hand away immediately.
“I’m sorry…”
Max shook his head frantically.
“No!” he gasped for air. “It’s not that.”
Max wrapped his arms around himself, as if trying to hold together something that threatened to spill over.
“It’s just…” He lowered his gaze. “I don’t know how… how to accept that you love me.”
The silence was absolute. Even the roses went quiet.
And Luis felt his heart shatter into pieces—not because the sentence was sad, but because it sounded like a true confession. Like someone admitting they had never been taught something as basic as how to be loved.
He stepped closer one last time, moving with extreme slowness, giving Max all the time in the world to pull away if he wanted to.
“Then…” his voice was barely a whisper, “…let me teach you. Let me help you learn.”
Max looked at him and broke into tears once more. Because no one—ever—had offered to stay and teach him.
They had always demanded or expected him to change.
To be better.
To prove he was different.
But no one had ever said to him: “You don’t have to do it alone.”
That was when Max felt a hand searching for his.
He didn’t take it right away. His fingers were trembling.
His entire life seemed to compress into those few centimeters separating their hands.
If he accepted that hand… he would also have to accept the possibility that someone could truly love him. And that was far more terrifying than remaining alone.
He took a deep breath.
Once… Twice… Three times.
Finally, with an almost imperceptible movement, he laced his fingers through Luis’s. Not tightly—as if he were still afraid the moment might vanish.
Luis didn’t say anything. No “I told you so,” no “it’s over now,” no “everything’s going to be okay.” He simply tightened his grip around Max’s fingers just a little.
Just enough for Max to feel that he was still there.
And, for the very first time since leaving the Isle of the Lost… Max Hatter allowed himself to believe, if only for a fraction of a second, that maybe he wasn’t born to be abandoned.
From afar, the music from the party reached them once more, playing a song much slower than the rest.
“May I have this dance?” Luis asked, and Max blinked up at him.
“Of course,” he answered.
Luis smiled with that quiet warmth Max had always associated with home.
He intertwined their fingers again and led him slowly toward the center of the conservatory. There was no grand ballroom, no polished dance floor—just the white marble ground between the rosebushes and the moonlight streaming down through the glass dome.
The melody drifted softly from the palace, as if it had crossed entire gardens just to find the two of them.
Luis rested one hand on his waist, while the other remained locked with his.
“Is this okay?” he asked in a low voice.
Max nodded.
“This is okay.”
They began to sway slowly, not caring to keep perfect rhythm with the music. For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
For the first time in a long time, the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was peaceful.
Max rested his forehead against Luis’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
He could feel the steady beat of his heart—strong, constant, and real.
“I missed this…” he admitted in a whisper.
Luis let out a soft laugh.
“Me too.”
And they kept moving slowly, as if the entire world had decided to grant them a few minutes of truce.
“Luis…”
“Yeah?”
It took Max several seconds to find the courage.
“I can’t promise you that tomorrow I’ll wake up without fear.”
Luis shook his head gently.
“I’m not asking you to.”
“There will be days when I’ll start believing it’d be easier to push you away again.”
“I know.”
“And I might try to do it again.”
Luis held him just a little closer.
“Then I’ll just come find you again.”
Max felt his eyes growing misty once more.
“That sounds exhausting.”
“Probably.”
“And you still want to do it?”
Luis smiled.
“Max Hatter, I’ve been in love with you ever since you spent twenty minutes lecturing me because I wasn’t answering my math problems correctly.”
A laugh escaped the Hatter—a genuine, real laugh. The first one in a very long time.
“I still think you’re terrible at math.”
“And I still think you’re insufferable.”
The rosebushes let out a scandalized gasp.
“What a bizarre way to flirt!”
“These kids nowadays…”
“They have no concept of romance.”
“Oh, stop complaining, you bitter old bags!” the rose Max had spoken with earlier scolded the rest.
Both boys burst out laughing. And for the first time, that laughter carried no pain underneath.
Luis raised a hand and, with infinite care, tucked a purple strand of Max’s hair behind his ear.
“Hi.”
Max smiled, confused. “Hi?”
“Yeah,” Luis stroked his cheek. “I want to get to know you all over again. Not the boy who thought he had to break his own heart just to survive. Not the one hiding behind the Hatter name. I want to know the Max beneath all of that. The one who completely loses his mind if he misplaces his hat. The one who loves chess. The one who laughs when no one expects it. The one who deserves to be loved.”
Max felt an ache in his chest, but it was no longer a pain that shattered—it was a pain that healed.
With trembling hands, still a bit hesitant, he brought one of Luis’s hands to rest over his heart.
“Then… it’s very nice to meet you.” A tear rolled down his cheek once more, though this time it was accompanied by a warm smile. “I’m Max.”
Luis lifted Max’s hand, softly pressing a kiss to the back of it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Max. I’m Luis, and I’m so very glad to find you again.”
The song came to an end, but neither of them pulled away. Instead, they drew even closer, until their lips met in a gentle, quiet kiss.
All around them, the roses began to sway to the rhythm of a breeze that didn’t exist.
“Do you think they’ll make it?” a white rose whispered.
“Love always requires courage,” a blue rose answered.
“And they’ve already found theirs.”
Inside the palace, the party carried on with laughter, music, and grand celebrations.
But for the first time since that afternoon months ago when he had chosen to break his own heart before anyone else could, Max finally understood that happy stories didn't begin when fear vanished.
They began when you found the courage to let someone stay despite the fear.
And as he walked back toward the ballroom with Luis’s hand intertwined in his, Max smiled as he realized that, after so many years of believing he didn’t belong anywhere...
Maybe home had never been a kingdom at all.
It had always been a person.